Particle and material characterisation
Scientific Services offers a wide range of specialised particle and material characterisation techniques. Facilities include:
Colloidal dynamics acoustosizer
Is an electro-acoustic spectrometer that applies an AC electric field
across a concentrated dispersion (minimum 5wt% solids). The charged
particles will vibrate in this field, generating an acoustic signature.
From analysis of this signature, the zeta potential can be determined.
Fluorimeter
Measures fluorescence/luminescence/phosphorescence of light from a
sample. Fluorescence is where a photon of light excites an electron into
a higher energy state, which then re-radiates a photon of light of a
longer wavelength when the electron relaxes.
FTIR spectrometer
Used to scan the infrared range to identify a variety of chemical
functional groups, molecular absorbed species and oxidation.
Malvern mastersizer 2000
Uses static light scattering to measure particle size in the range of
0.02 to 2,000 microns (20 nanometres to 2 millimetres).
Malvern zetasizer nano ZS
Uses dynamic light scattering to measure zeta potential and particle
size in the range on 0.6 (approximately the size of a Benzene ring ) to
6,000 nanometres.
Rheology
Used to study the flow and deformation of matter. It is particularly
concerned with the properties of matter that determine its behaviour
when a mechanical force is exerted on it.
Sessile drop apparatus
Uses an optical microscope and computer software to measure the contact
angle (degree of surface wettability) at which a droplet (usually water)
contacts a surface.
UV visible spectrophotometers
UV visible spectrophotometry is routinely used in the quantitative
investigation of transition metal ions and highly conjugated organic
compounds.
X-ray diffraction (XRD)
X-ray diffraction allows the identification of crystalline phases (for
example, minerals). While techniques such as XRF and XPS can identify
the elemental composition, XRD will determine how the elements are
arranged.