RESEARCH
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  Research  Projects
   
 

    There are currently two projects that we are working on

 

Research Laboratory

  • The  chemical analysis, and the study of the stability of  chlorophylls a and b.

  • The study of Underpotential Deposition processes using Atomic Force and  Scanning Tunneling  Microscopy  
                                                    
                              ANALYSIS AND STABILITY OF CHLOROPHYLLS a AND b

Chlorophylls are stable in the chloroplasts found in the cells of plants but are unstable when extracted from the plant cell

 

Structure of Chlorophyll

 
UV/Vis. Spectra of Chlorophylls a and b
         HPLC Chromatograph of a mixture of Chlorophyll a and b
Studies are being made on the stability of Chlorophylls in a variety of solvents. Typically Chlorophylls are stable in the absence of light but are unstable in the presence of light. The Figure opposite shows the response of Chlorophyll b in an acetone water mixture to the absence and presence of light. In the absence of light  Chlorophyll  b is stable for many weeks but in the presence of light it decomposes in a matter of days. The stabilities have been followed by HPLC and by UV/Vis. spectrophotometry
 

 
                        UNDERPOTENTIAL DEPOSITION STUDIES USEING ELECTROCHEMICAL

                                             AND ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY         

 

 

 
Techniques are being developed to produce smooth polycrystalline Silver electrodes. Surface roughness factors in the range of a few nanometers is our goal. Micro-electrochemical cells for use with Atomic Force and Scanning Tunneling microscopes are under test. The development of these technologies will allow us to study in real time the deposition of the first monolayer of Lead onto a  polycrystalline Silver surface using underpotential deposition techniques       
 

 

                              Atomic Force Microscope
        Deposition of Lead on a Silver polycrystalline Electrode

             0.1M NaClO4, 9.7x10-4M Pb2+, scan rate 100mV/s
 

 

 
 

 
                  Atomic Force Micrograph of a prepared polycrystalline Silver surface showing the surface roughness across a section
 

 
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