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Show COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS NANOROD CONTROL Megan Buelte (Agnes Ostafin) Department of Materials Science and Engineering University of Utah Nanoparticles can be produced with variations in size, shape, and composition based on the method of growth. Electrochemically grown nanowires (NWs) can have a range of diameters and lengths with distinct segments produced by using different types of materials along the growth of the wire. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to investigate the optical properties of the completed multi-segmented NWs. Analysis of the spectrum of the N W s was thought to provide information about the concentration, length, number of segments, composition of segments, and surface functionalization . The first step in the project was to determine a base to reference the samples against. This proved to be difficult. The plan was to use a solution based analysis of the unmodified single segment N W s as the control. The first problem to overcome using a UV-vis spectrum was that the N W s settled too fast to get an accurate reading so the length of the NWs required a longer wavelength measurement. To work around this issue, two different techniques were looked into. The first one was to use reflectance accessory to collect data. The second, was to suspend the N W s in deuterated water using deuterated water has seemed to keep the N W s suspended longer, the higher density of deuterated water can attribute to this. In conclusion, there are still some bugs to work out with the UV-vis and getting standard results. Once that is fixed and there is a standard control, research can continue on connecting the rods and being able to check them in solution with the UV-vis. Megan Buelte 17 |
