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The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

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Abstract Volume 21 (2016) pp 215-222

Replication of a Published Materials Science Synthesis:An Impromptu Upper-Division Undergraduate Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory Experiment

Marcos A. Amezcua, Jr.,^† Kiefer G. Bell-Wilson,^† Dallas A. Davenport,^† Kenneth S. Gossow-Smith,^† Jeremiah R. Hays,^† Thomas D. Henderson,^† Micah T. Ojeda,^† William D. Pfeifer,^† Shady A. Shafik,^† Mitchell H. Ward,^† Raymond Yu,^† Casey R. Lu,^‡ Joshua R. Smith,^† and Robert W. Zoellner*^,†

^†Department of Chemistry, Humboldt State University, One Harpst Street, Arcata, California 95521-8299, rwz7001@humboldt.edu; ^‡Department of Biological Sciences, Humboldt State University, One Harpst Street, Arcata, California 95521-8299 Received July 6, 2016. Accepted October 4, 2016.

Published: 21 October 2016

Abstract. The impromptu replication of the published “bulk” synthesis of graphene nanoplatelets by students in an upper-division undergraduate inorganic chemistry laboratory is described. In addition to carrying out the synthesis, the laboratory experiment became an example of a collaborative, open-ended undergraduate research project wherein the effects of purposely (and accidently) changing the experimental procedures on the morphology of the product were investigated.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; inorganic chemistry; upper-division undergraduate laboratories; materials synthesis; graphene; graphene nanoplatelets; morphology, scanning electron microscopy

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: rwz7001@humboldt.edu)

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