Synthesis
and Characterization of Blue Pigments, an Undergraduate Laboratory Module
Latona, Amber; Sinagra III, Charles W.; Aitken, Jennifer
A.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA 15282
Blue pigments of the formula YIn1-xMnxO3
were prepared by high-temperature, solid-state synthesis in air. These
industrially useful pigments were used as a case study to design a module for
the junior/senior level integrated laboratory course normally taken by
undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors at Duquesne University. Through
this laboratory module, students will become familiar with several instruments
that are crucial to the study of solid-state materials. X-ray powder
diffraction was used to identify the structure of the compounds and to
investigate the phase purity of each sample. Scanning electron microscopy was
utilized to determine morphology and particle size of the powders. Energy
dispersive spectroscopy was used for semi-quantitative elemental analysis of the
synthesized materials. The band gap energy was estimated using optical diffuse
reflectance UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopic data.
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