Changmin Shi’ Group Major Equipment List Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University 

1. Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) System This ALD system, which is thermal-based ALD, is integrated with an Argon-gas-filled glovebox. It is capable of depositing both oxide and nitride compounds. Currently available precursors include Al, Ti, and Zn. However, new and additional precursors can be bought based on the needs. It can do ALD for 3D structures, powders, and planar surfaces. 

The Central Research Facilities of the BioInspired Materials Research Core (MRC) at Syracuse University encompasses approximately 15,000 square feet of multiuser space on the 4th floor of Bowne Hall. Polymer Chemistry Lab (2,385 sq ft) Processing equipment includes an electrospinner (Fluidnatek, LE-50). This commercially supplied system replaces a lab-built system, and enhances safety by including fume exhausting, high voltage safety interlocks, and an emergency shut-off. The system features two controllable syringe pumps, so that two materials can be electrospun at the same time through a single emitter, stationary plate, and rotating drum collectors, and a translating emitter. The rotation speed of the collector can be changed, as can the translation speed and distance between the emitter needle and the collector. 

An extruder (Microtruder RCP0625, Randcastle) for compounding polymer mixtures and making filament; a custom-built melt spinner for generating polymer filament; a hydraulic press (model 3851, Carver) to facilitate compression molding, embossing and thin-film preparation are all useful for processing polymer materials. 

A temperature/humidity-controlled room (75 sq ft) facilitates experiments under specific environmental conditions. The entire SBI central research facility has reverse osmosis deionized (RODI) water plumbed to the sinks from a water purification system on the first floor of Bowne Hall. Millipore (MilliQ) water purification system facilitates operations. There is also a supply of compressed air, nitrogen gas, and compressed air to enable various syntheses. 

Thermal Analysis Lab (93 sq ft) Houses instrumentation to probe thermal stability and mass loss of materials by heating samples up to 1000°C using a thermogravimetric analyzer (Q500 TGA, TA Instruments). 

Crystallization, melting and glass transition temperatures are measured using a differential scanning calorimeter capable of heating samples to 400°C and cooling to -90°C (Q200 DSC, TA Instruments). Physical Characterization Lab (878 sq ft) Includes two dynamic mechanical analyzers (Q800 DMA, TA Instruments) with a variety of clamp configurations (tension film, tension fiber, compression, three-point bend, submersion film) to measure polymer mechanical and thermal properties over a temperature range from -150°C to 600°C. 

Material Morphology Labs (473 sq ft) Includes instrumentation for analyzing the morphology and surface chemistry of materials studied. Within this lab are a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR, Nicolet IS5, ThermoFisher) This instrument is capable of analyzing progress of chemical reactions as well as surface chemistry using KBr pellets in transmission mode of in reflectance mode using a diamond crystal ATR (attenuated total reflectance). A dynamic light scattering instrument (DLS; Zetasizer Ultra, Malvern Panalytical) is useful for analysis of particles in solution, including nanoparticles and proteins. This instrument can yield data on the size, concentration and charge (zeta-potential) of such particles. A high-resolution digital microscope (KH8700, Hirox) is capable of imaging material surfaces at up to 3500x magnification and generating 3D reconstructions without the need for gold coating or vacuum, thus facilitating the imaging of hydrated samples such as hydrogels and biological materials. A scanning electron microscope (SEM; JSM5600, JEOL) allows for imaging of surface structures at the micro-scale. An atomic force microscope (AFM; Nanoscope IIIa, Multimode, Bruker) has a standard “J” scanner capable of scanning a 100µm x 100µm area and an “E”scanner capable of scanning a 10µm x 10µm area to facilitate high-resolution imaging of nano-structures to nearly atomic levels. In addition, this lab houses a low voltage transmission electron microscope (TEM; LVEM5, Delong Americas) capable of examining thin sections of samples at the nano-scale, nanoparticles, and nanofibers, and equipment for ultracryomicrotomy (MT-7000 ultramicrotome with C21 cryosectioning system, RMC) and a glass knife maker (RMC). Finally, this lab houses a contact angle goniometer (250-F1, ramé-hart) for the assessment of material surface hydrophobicity. 

Other Resources Researchers have access to other analytical instruments located outside of the Central Research Facilities. These include but are not limited to laser-scanning confocal microscopy (SU Department of Biology), surface profilometry (SU Department of Physics), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR, SU Department of Chemistry and SUNY ESF), Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS, SUNY ESF), N.C. Brown Center for Ultrastructure Studies (SUNY ESF) and Microcomputed tomography (Micro CT, SUNY Upstate Medical University). 

Facilities and Resources Availability to this Project All shared facilities and resources required for this project are available on a daily basis via the standard reservation system, with access provided under the facility’s established recharge rates. 

Trained technical staff support scheduling, training, and safe operation. we use an electronic calendar, and instrumentation is available to trained, approved users on a first-come, first-serve basis.