General chemistry nanoscience laboratory

Table II. Nanoscience Laboratories for General Chemistry for Large General Chemistry Programs ...

All of the experiments described in this chapter have been performed by freshmen students in Florida Tech s Nanoscience and Technology (NST) introductory laboratory course. Since the only prerequisite of the NST lab is completion of one semester of general chemistiy, implementing these experiments in a general chemistry laboratoiy should not be difficult. The experiments are designed to use common reagents and laboratoiy equipment. Procedures yield only a small amount of solution containing nanoparticles so that the volume of chemical waste is minimal. 

Nickel nanowires are prepared using a nanoscale template to control their dimensions (50-52). Prior to performing this experiment, students should learn about electrochemistry and the components of an electrochemical cell in their general chemistry lecture class so that they urrderstarrd the procedtrre. Freshmen in Florida Tech s Nanoscience and Technology laboratory cotrrse fourtd this experiment to be the most challenging experiment due to the ntrmber of steps involved. Some students did not achieve satisfactory resrrlts due to their inattention to details. 

Two new classes have been developed to support nanoscience awareness at JMU. The first is a general education class entitled ""Physics, Chemistry and the Human Experience" (GSCl 101). The second is an upper-division elective lecture-laboratory course primarily designed for science and technology majors entitled, ""Science of the Small An Introduction to the Nanoworld" (CHEM 480P). Each course will be discussed in further detail. 

Hands-on nanotechnology content materials based on semiconductor quantum dot nanociystals were developed for use in a broad range of educational settings including undergraduate major and non-major chemistry courses, an upper level undergraduate chemistry laboratory course and outreach activities for K-12 and general public audiences. The focus is the colorful trend exhibited by cadmium selenide (CdSe) and cadmium selenide sulfide (CdSCxSi.x) quantum dots, which is correlated with the physical size of nanosized quantum dots. This visual trend illustrates one of the central themes in nanoscience that physical properties often depend on size at the nanoscale. 

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