X-ray diffraction (XRD) is an analysis technique to determine the crystal structure of crystalline materials. You do this by bombarding the material with X-rays. This is radiation with a wavelength of about 1 Angstrom (10-10 m), in the same order of magnitude as the distance between atoms in a crystal. Where a normal mirror reflects … Continue reading Structure determination with X-ray diffraction
If you want to measure the corrosion progress or the performance of a fuel cell, impedance spectroscopy is a suitable technique. This allows you, for example, to monitor processes within electrochemistry such as corrosion over time by taking measurements at regular intervals. Materials science meets electrical engineering. Suppose you are an electrician and you want … Continue reading Impedance spectroscopy: monitoring of electrochemical processes
The porosity of a material indicates what is the volume of empty space with respect to the total volume. So if you know that a material is 25% porous, then it consists for 75% of ‘real material’, and the remaining quarter is ‘nothing’ or air. But in addition to this absolute value for the porosity, … Continue reading Data processing of membrane characterisation by permporometry
Modern analysis instruments provide a deluge of measurement data. Automatic data processing is necessary to obtain relevant information. But: what is smart software that filters the data stream on important information and how can this properly be visualised? A short course in data reduction for the laboratory. Many analysis techniques in the chemical laboratory have … Continue reading Data reduction: between measuring and knowing
