Greetings everyone!

 

This week went by quick, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m ready to have some time off and work on other things at home.

 

Monday: This day, I used the palladium-doped copper nanocubes catalyst to spray coat the gas diffusion layer for my next experiment. Spray coating always hurts my hand because I have to remain steady and keep my hand a certain way, but the payoff is great.

 

Tuesday: I went to the weekly meeting, this time a presentation by Dr. Lynn Frostman about her career path and the Syzygy company. I found the science behind this start-up to be very applicable and interesting. She mentioned how some of the reactions in their proprietary reactor core can produce CO gas, which I use in my lab to produce valuable fuels. After the meeting, a few of the other REU students and I went to the library to practice our presentations for next Tuesday. I found it to be extremely helpful. I’ve always been afraid of presentations, but the other interns gave great advice to communicate effectively and overall liked the design of my slides. My mentor also brought some of my catalysts that I synthesized under the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and took a few photos:

Wednesday: I ran a flow cell experiment with the palladium and copper nanocube catalyst, in which I won’t find out the results until later using the NMR. I was at first having issues setting up my experiment because there was an applied voltage somehow even without the wiring turned “on.” Luckily, my mentor helped me adjust it!

 

This week has felt like a repeat, in which I don’t mind. I’m looking forward to testing out new catalysts in the next weeks!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you,

Chloe