Cyrogenic liquid nitrogen tank

Cryogenic liquid nitrogen tanks are indispensable in gas sorption studies because they reliably maintain the precise, ultra-low temperature of -77.3 Kelvin (-196°C) required to measure the surface area and porosity of materials. At this exact boiling point of nitrogen, gas molecules can physically adsorb onto a sample’s surface without chemically reacting, allowing researchers to calculate pore size distributions accurately using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The tank’s specialized high-efficiency vacuum insulation ensures a constant, uninterrupted supply of this cooling agent, preventing thermal fluctuations that would otherwise destabilize pressure readings and ruin delicate, multi-hour analytical measurements.

The gas-sorption analyzer

The gas sorption analyzer is used for gas adsorption studies. This equipment can provide information on  porosity, surface area and pore size distribution in porous materials. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen uptake studies can also be carried out on this equipment to identify materials which can be used for carbon capture and for energy storage applications.  With three stations for gas sorption studies, the Autosorb is able to analyze both micro and meso-porous materials. The equipment is also equipped with a water vapor station that allows us to study materials with high affinity for water vapour. This is very important especially when designing materials that can be used for water harvesting from the air for domestics and industrial use.  

The newly installed and commissioned gas sorption analyzer

 

The uv-vis spectrophotometer

Equipped with a double beam, this Uv-vis is used for protein assays in the research group.

 

The Gas Chromatography

The aligent GC is equipped with the FID, electron capture and thermal conductivity detector allowing it to analyse a wide range of analytes.

 

The Powder X-Ray D diffractometer

The D2 phaser diffractometer from BRUKER is used to study the crystallinity of materials (MOFs) prepared in the lab.

 

The thermal analysis equipment (TGA and DSC)

The TGA Discovery 500 is used to determine the loss of volatile organic compounds in materials, their thermal stability and the decomposition temperatures while the DSC provides information on the phase changes and transitions that occurs when a material is subjected to heat.

High pressure Autoclaves for catalysis and Synthesis

The high-pressure autoclave is used for catalytic reactions. This system can be pressurized with both hydrogen and carbon dioxide for hydrogenation reactions. The catalyst is also feed directly together with the reaction medium in the autoclaves. The three autoclaves operate independently and can be controlled remotely and can operate at a maximum of 100 bars and a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius.