Research Capability

The Liu lab specializes in polymer synthesis, characterization, and processing, as well as plasmonic metal nanoparticle synthesis, characterization, and integration with polymers for various applications. The lab houses polymer and nanoparticle research instrumentation including numerous synthetic lines, rotavap, centrifuge, ovens, tube furnace, electrospinning station, plasma etcher, glove box, GPC, DSC, TGA, DMA, FT-IR, UV-vis-NIR, Optical Microscope, BET, Battery test station, Fuel Cell test station, Potentiostat, EIS, and others. The Liu lab has regular access to instruments including SEM, TEM, AFM, XPS, Raman, and XRD in shared facilities.

More instrumentation at MACROMOLECULES MATERIALS DISCOVERY CENTER (MMDC)

1. TA Instruments RSA-G2 rheological solids analyzer with gas cooling accessory
2. TA Instruments AR-G2 rheometer
3. TA Instruments DMA Q800 dynamic mechanical analyzer with submersible clamp and gas cooling accessory
4. TA Instruments DSC Q2000 differential scanning calorimeter with photocalorimeter accessory and RCS90 cooling system
5. TA Instruments DSC Q100: Cryo-DSC with liq. N2 gas cooling accessory
6. TA Instruments TMA Q400 thermomechanical analyzer
7. TA Instruments TGA Q500 thermogravimetric analyzer
8. TA Instruments TGA Q500-FTIR : TGA coupled with Nicolet is10-FTIR
9. TA Instruments RSA-G2: Rheological Solids Analyzer
10. TA Instruments Fox 50-Thermal Conductivity Meter
11. Waters Breeze Aqueous Size-Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) system with Waters 2414 refractive index (RI) detector and Wyatt miniDAWN Treos multi-angle static light scattering (MALS) detector
12. Waters Acquity Advanced Polymer Chromatography (APC) system
13. Agilent Technologies-PL-GPC220: High Temperature GPC
14. Brookfield DV-E Model Viscometer
15. Bruker-AFM (Atomic Force Microscope)
16. Thermofisher-Scientific Nicolet is10-FTIR Spectrometer
17. Metrohm-Autolab B.V.-Impedance Analyzer
18. Spincoater-Model P6700 series
19. ESQEC BTL-433-Benchtop Humidity Chamber
20. Autodesk-Ember DLP: Stereolithography 3D Printer
21. Hyrel 3D- System 30M Extrusion 3D Printer
22. Cheminstruments AR-1000 : Adhesion/Release Peel Tester
23. Micromeritics 3 Flex- Surface Characterization Machine
24. Horiba-scientific- Raman Microscope

More instrumentation at NMR center of Chemistry Department

1. Bruker Avance III 600 MHz with solution, solids, multinuclear, and pulse-field gradient capabilities
2. Bruker Avance II 500 MHz with multinuclear, and pulse-field gradient capabilities
3. Varian Inova 400 MHz with multinuclear and pulse-field gradient capabilities
4. Agilent U4-DD2 400 MHz, 96 sample robot with multinuclear, variable temperature capabilities
5. Agilent MR4 400 MHz, 12 sample carousel with multinuclear, and pulse-field gradient capabilities
6. Bruker Avance II 300 MHz with Cross Polarization Magic Angle Spinning capabilities