Recently, smart sensing/actuation paper has attracted significant interest due to its potential usage as a sustainable component in future electronics, robotics, and intelligent sensing devices. In acknowledging the importance of this topic for the engagement of students at the university level in conjunction with Industrial Revolution 4.0, it is…

Electrochromism encompasses reversible changes of material's optical properties (color, opacity) under the influence of an external electric current or applied voltage. The effect has been known for decades, but its importance continues to grow due to the rapid development of smart systems and the accompanying demand to build devices that consume…

An organic solar cell fabrication kit has been developed for demonstration in both undergraduate teaching classes and high school laboratories to promote the growing field of renewable energy and to facilitate empirical comprehension of solar technology. The laboratory focuses on fabricating organic photovoltaics (solar cells) and testing the…

Cyclic voltammetry (CV) is the most popular electrochemical technique for the study of electrode processes. One of the reasons for its popularity is its adjustable timescale which can vary several orders of magnitude simply by varying the rate at which the potential is scanned. Changing the scan rate affects CV features including the current,…

Many types of batteries power an ever-growing number of devices. Electrochemical devices like batteries and fuel cells can, in principle, exceed Carnot efficiency for energy conversion. In this novel laboratory experiment, students explore the partitioning of the enthalpy change of a battery's electrochemical reaction between useful electrical…

Scanning probe-based microscopes (SPMs) are widely used in biology, chemistry, materials science, and physics to image and manipulate matter on the nanoscale. Unfortunately, high school and university departments lack expensive SPM tools and materials microscopy activities to educate a large number of students in this vital SPM imaging technique.…

A series of hands-on experiments including the synthesis and application of flexible, conductive silver-nanopaste were designed to gain knowledge of conductive soft nanomaterial and the synthesis and the application of silver nanopaste (Ag nanopaste). The aim of this laboratory experiment is to provide undergraduate/graduate students an…

In electrochemistry, the concept of a reference electrode is fundamental. Introductory courses might mention the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), its working principle, and its theoretical design; however, chances are that students will never have the opportunity to work with one. A hydrogen electrode should be a device readily available at the…

An undergraduate electrical conductivity measurement experiment in a physical chemistry lab and basic fitting procedures are presented that allow a characterization of micellar system of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) in binary mixture of water and acetonitrile (ACN) as a cosolvent (10%, v/v) at 30.0 °C.…

A student laboratory experiment to investigate the intrinsic and extrinsic bandgaps, dopant materials, and diode design in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is presented. The LED intrinsic bandgap is determined by passing a small constant current through the diode and recording the junction voltage variation with temperature. A second visible…

The use of the Beer-Lambert law in spectroscopy is the core of standard methods for determining a chromophore concentration in a solution. Its application requires an understanding about interaction of light with a colored solution and the use of light emission and light detection devices. We build here a simple electronic circuit formed of…

The teaching of instrumental analysis for many small colleges and high schools continues to be stymied by high-cost, complicated maintenance, high power requirements, and often the sheer bulk of the instrumentation. Such issues have led us to develop inexpensive instruments as part of a SMILE initiative (small, mobile instruments for laboratory…

A laboratory experiment is described in which students fabricate disk-shaped gold and platinum microelectrodes with diameters of 10-50 [mu]m by sealing sodalime glass with metal microwires. The electrodes are characterized by performing cyclic voltammetry in aqueous and acetonitrile solution. Commercial microelectrodes are expensive (cost depends…

A "one-pot" method for acquiring kinetic data for the reactions of a series of substituted aromatic esters with potassium hydroxide using [supserscript 13]C NMR spectroscopy is described, which provides an efficient way to obtain sufficient data to demonstrate the Hammett equation in undergraduate laboratories. The method is…

Historically, manufacture of automotive electronic components and screen-printing of automotive instrument clusters at DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, Inc. required washing of equipment such as screens, stencils, and jigs with sizable quantities of volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. Collaborative efforts between the Maryville…