A pEek on the lab

There are 17 research laboratories belongs to different research groups from different departments such as physics, chemistry, biology, biotechnology, electrical-electronics engineering, chemical engineering and etc. at MEITAM.

Prof. Dr. Selma ERAT has her own research laboratory at which energy materials (nanopowders, thin films) can be produced via sol-gel, hydrothermal, chemical bath deposition, spin coating, solid state reaction methods. SPS/Polos spin coater, Binder Oven/autoclave, Protherm Muffle furnace 300K- 1800K, Microlab Muffle furnace 300K- 1400K, Hot plates, IKA- C MAG HS7, Thermomac, Daihan scientific MSH-20a, precision balance, hydrothermal reactor, Ohaus centrifuge, Dahian scientific ultrasonic bath, GW İnstek GPD 4303S programble power supply, GW İnstek GDM 8261A Precision multimeter, Deltalab fume hood (X2) precision balance and etc. are present at the laboratory.

There are chromatographic devices such as GC/MS, GC, HPLC, Ion chromatography. Chromatographic devices have important advantages such as identification of very small samples, powerful structural analysis, high performance and fast analysis time. NMR, ICP-MS and LC-MS/MS are placed at different laboratories at MEITAM.

There are devices such as an oven, muffle furnace, water bath, melting point device, UV lamp, evaporator, centrifuge.

It is equipped with laboratory devices such as microwave device, bakelite device sanding and polishing device, grinder, vacuum oven, ice maker, precision balance and oil bath designed for the preparation of samples to be examined under the microscope and the preparations of chemical samples.

This laboratory is generally used for preparing samples for XRD, XRF and SEM analyses. There are two grinding machines, two manual press, rough cutting and microwave. The big clay-earth samples are formed to pellet shape by using manual press after grinding in ring-grinder. The surfaces which are investigated for SEM are prepared with rough cutting machine. XRD, XRF, SEM, AFM are placed at different laboratories at MEITAM.

The crystallographic structure of the materials can be characterized via XRD applications (phase determination, qualitative and quantitative phase analysis, microstructure, and crystal structure analysis), stress, residual stress measurements can be performed. The system has a X-ray tube of Cu target and cooling water flow controlling the temperature changes of the X-ray tube. It utilizes a Curved Graphite Monochromator to create monochromatic X-rays. In addition, the system can be rearranged through sets of slits for different irradiation areas. Besides, qualitative analysis of the phases can be done by using PDXL software, which has approximately 200000 diffractograms in its database, after XRD pattern is obtained. Temperature dependent XRD is available for powders up to 1000⸰C at ambient atmosphere. Rigaku XRD has a wide range of applications such as geological analysis of minerals and rocks metal and alloy analysis, ceramic and cement analysis, thin film analysis, polymer analysis Impurity and polymorphous phase determination in pharmaceutical industries characterization of archaeological findings.

X-Ray diffraction is a method used to dissolve the whole structure of crystalline materials such as proteins, complex macromolecules, and inorganic solids. This method provides information on the crystal structure. With the X-Ray Single Crystal Diffraction device, the single crystal structures of molecules are determined at high sensitivity, resolution and speed. It provides highest experimental flexibility, with excellent sample accessibility and visibility. It has been composed of high modularity from best-in-class components and is available in popular all-air-cooled configurations.

FE-SEM provides information on topography, morphology, shape, size, composition and crystallographic structures of ceramics, metals, polymers, thin films, geological materials and biological samples. High-resolution image is obtained with secondary electron image (SE), in-lens SE, back-reflected electron image (BSE) and cathodoluminescence (CL) detectors. A designated point, line and area scan and selected area X-ray mapping are carried out with EDS system and qualitative and quantitative analyses can be made in these regions. High vacuum sputter platinum coating device and carbon coating attachment are available for sample preparation about to the analysis of insulating samples. Besides, there is a critical point dryer for biological samples. In this way, it can be interpreted by analyzing the morphological changes that occur with physiological or pathological methods or with experimental methods.

AFM is a high-resolution scanning force microscope. Achieved resolution is a few nanometers and at least 1000 times more sensitive than optical techniques. The AFM consist of a flexible lever used for scanning the surface and a pointed end thereof. The lever is usually silicon or silicon nitride. For measurements taken under 1 micron (0.5 micron-10 nm), the STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope) is used. Desired zone is displayed using a Pt / Ir alloy wire with a diameter of 0.25 mm. When a pre-tension is formed between the sample and the tip with a very small distance (several Å), due to the quantum tunneling, the electron transitions from the sample to the tip or tip to the sample, which corresponds to a tunnel current in the picoamper (pA) range. This tunnel current formed when tip is scanning on the sample surface is measured and used to obtain a surface topography as it is a function of the distance between the sample and the tip. The surface topographic image can be taken in sizes of about 0.5 microns (about 50 nm). It is used in fields such as Nanotechnology, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Electronics. Researched materials are thin film coatings, ceramics, composites, glass, synthetic and biological membranes, metals, polymers and semiconductors.

X-ray fluorescence spectrometer delivers rapid quantitative determination of major and minor atomic elements, from beryllium (Be) through uranium (U), in a wide variety of sample types — with minimal standards. The light elements are easily and dearly detected due to the top radiant feature and 10 different crystals. When standards for the sample cannot be obtained, the semi-quantitative analysis program (SQX) is used. Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of the materials can be made by XRF. Full-quantitative analysis can also be made only if the standards are available.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer is an instrument used in many fields such as chemistry, pharmaceutical, medicine, biology, and environmental studies. The NMR instrument is suitable for structure elucidation on small samples of organic, bioorganic, organometalic, polymers, and drug molecules. It also gives detailed information for structural analysis of complex molecules such as oils, petroleum products, and natural compounds. It is also possible to determine the 3-dimensional molecular structure and stereochemistry on small samples by using some further NMR experiments such as COSY, NOESY, nOe, HETCOR, TOCSY, HMBC, DEPT, APT, and some other advanced NMR pulse sequences.