nanotube synthesis and lunch

Today, I worked in lab with Zhang Guoming to hone my nanotube synthesis skills before tomorrow, which will be the first day I’ll be given the chance to carry out the whole process through (from start to finish); Therefore, the majority of my morning consisted of typing up a protocol from the notes I had taken on nanotube synthesis, which will support me in this pursuit tomorrow. Also today, our whole group went to eat at a Japanese restaurant for our weekly group get-together. Each week different students from our Chemistry group are given the opportunity to bring their grad students along to eat out on Mondays at our usual meeting time of 11:30. This week myself and Allison were given the opportunity to bring our grad students so I chose to bring Zhang Guoming who is the student I predominantly work with as well as another grad student named Pan Zhonghuai; mainly for the reason that Zhonghuai invites me to many of the lab’s social events like soccer on Sundays. However, it was quite an escapade to get to the van that took us to the restaurant, since there was a traffic jam on the side of the road that the Joint Institute lies on. Since I had originally been told to meet the group at the Joint Institute, I had to switch our route on the fly, which meant switching sides of the road once Prof. James Lee called to say they were waiting there for us, where the traffic was less dense. On top of this I was trying to convince both grad students that we had to hurry and that this was not like one of our leisurely walks to the Campus’ dining hall. I think they finally got the message when I started to jog and eventually we got to the van, although we were to last ones to get there.

When we arrived at the Japanese restaurant we were led by the restaurant’s staff to a small private room with sliding bamboo-like doors, which had an outer cobble-stone edging to lay our shoes on. The room made it possible for us all to eat together and share experiences from lab and experiences with eating out at other places in Beijing ironically. The food at this restaurant was different from many of the restaurants we had visited, not just because it was Japanese and many of the other places were Chinese, but that the meat such as the chicken was served without bones. Although this difference may be thought of as minuscule, it is a happy alternative to clearing our meat of bones before taking a bite as we’ve grown accustomed to at many of the Chinese restaurants. From all the dishes that were served I found the steamed cabbage and hotdog dish to be my favorite from the restaurant. Prof. Lee told us that each week we go here there will be a new assortment of dishes served, which will give us all something to look forward to each Monday. However, looking forward to lunch is something I’ve found to be fairly consistent among Peking U’s students, regardless of the day or place since it gives them a break from school, studying and whatever else might be on a restless Peking U student’s mind.

When I arrived back at the lab after lunch, I helped clean the machine that deposits a thin layer of titanium (appox. 6nm) on the quartz that is the photo-catalyst layer instrumental to Zhang’s PhD work. Zhang’s tells me that this machine is probably the oldest piece of equipment still operational in the lab, but as long as it gets the job done he doesn’t mind that it’s slow. I’ve been studying how to use the machine quite closely for fear if I mess with a wrong dial I’ll break it somehow. Therefore, I’ll probably just leave this machine alone for now, since my primary task tomorrow will be to synthesize a nanotube array solely from my notes’ guidance.

4th week entry

This last week I have been working hard in my mentor’s lab to learn the method of nantotube synthesis. The procedure is straight-forward enough, but like everything done in lab it takes much practice to achieve a good result. Since I am more familiar with biological lab procedures such as DNA polymer-chain-reaction (PCR), cell-culturing, and preparation of Western blots I am amazed at how much manual engineering is involved. For instance, the first step of nanotube synthesis involves cutting thin square-sheets a few micrometers in width from a larger circular sheet of SiO2. This is done with a diamond tip pen that must shear through the SiO2 at a perpendicular angle. Furthermore, all the measurements for where to cut are made with a metal ruler; it makes one feel as if they are a mechanic and a scientist at the same time.

Unlike the intricate handiwork involved in the first step, it is the solution that does the labor in the second, where small squares of SiO2 are put in a solution called “piranha” for a few minutes in order to wash away a thin protective layer which coats the surface. Some of you might wonder why they name this solution after a vicious, sharp-toothed fish that resides in the Amazon. If you guessed it’s because it must be handled with care, you’ve guessed right. Since it is composed of 1 part H2O2 and 3 parts H2SO4, the solution is very corrosive; however, great care is taken to make sure the only surface this solution comes in contact with are the SO2 square wafers. This is why administration of the "piranha" solution is done under a hood with acid-resistance gloves stretching to the forearms (so grandparents please you can relax now). After the thin protective layer has been removed, the square pieces of SiO2 are washed with ultra-pure H20 and dried with N2 before a FeO2 catalyst is deposited on them. After these preliminary steps, the silicon wafers are all set for the furnace, which is the key to the whole experiment, much like an oven is key to cooking a good roast after all the ingredients have been added. I will safe the details on what buttons are pushed and which parameters are set to facilitate nanotube synthesis in the furnace, but here's the jest: The furnace is heated to around 900oC and Carbon and Hydrogen are allowed to flow in the furnace at particular time-points to fuel nanotube formation from the catalyst. Theoretically, after 45 minutes or so you should have a linear array of nanotubes on the silicon wafers, but I am still working to meet this objective since all the ones I have done so far show as an entangled network on SEM (scanning electron microscope). By next week, hopefully I’ll get the eureka result I’ve been waiting for.

The person I've been working with to do nanotube synthesis in the lab is Zhang Guoming. He is very helpful and I believe his English vocabulary has improved significantly since the first time I met him. Everyday, he asks me for the English name of some instrument we have in lab. The other day he asked me for the English word that describes little pinchers that grab tiny objects; when I told him that I call them forceps, he was puzzled since he thought they were called tweezers. Then, I told him that they could be called that too and it made me even wonder why there was even a difference. The conclusion I came up with is that forceps is the name given to this instrument in lab, while tweezers is the cosmetic alternative that American consumers reserve for their home-body care use. Therefore, this last week has made me realize just how many words there are in the English language to describe the same thing.

Other members I have met in the lab are very welcoming as well. Last Sunday one of the other grad students in my lab named Zhonghuai invited myself and others from our study abroad group to take part in a soccer match, including Marko, Xu and Spencer. Though I felt like I still had some foot-skills leftover from my AYSO (Am. Youth Soccer Association) days when I was 12, I found out just how much these skills needed improvement. As a result I left most of the offense to Xu and Marko, while I supported our team on defense as the striker (or, in other words, the guy who tries to stop the ball and kick it back down-field). I hope this weekend to try my luck in our lab’s badminton tournament, a sport I used to be decent at as a high-schooler. I’ve been told that apparently Prof. Liu is the best player, so I’m interested to see if this hype turns out to be true or if the lab-members have been instructed to say this.

I continue to enjoy the Chinese food, but some of us (Kelly, Spencer, Justin and I) decided to take a break from the food offered at the University dining center for an All-American burger at “Lush”. On second though, only two of us par-took in eating a juicy, savory, delicious burger, since Kelly and Justin are vegetarians. However, Justin is what I like to call a bandwagon vegetarian since he is easily swayed when there isn’t another vegetarian at the table to encourage him to not eat meat. This was evident as he continued to ask me “How my food was”, which was really code for “If Kelly wasn’t here I’d so devour that burger too.” Anyway, it was a good break from the cafeteria to eat at “Lush”, which is located near the Wu-Dao-Kou subway station above a quaint bookstore. Nevertheless, I believe I’m at the point where I could eat Chinese for the rest of the trip and be content.

In addition to the badminton tournament this weekend, our lab also has a discussion tomorrow at 2pm, which will consist of students presentations of their work. I’ve already attended one of these discussions with Zhang Guoming serving as my Chinese translator, but even with this aid the discussion can be hard to follow at times; my saving grace is that the slides are in English. Honestly, though the feedback given by peers and Prof. Liu is very constructive. The other day, for example, Prof. Liu made a point of telling one student that he needs more than a few data points to verify that a linear relationship exists between film thickness and transparency. I hope in the coming weeks I might also get a chance to present some experimental ideas I’ve come up with. However, I may have to take the reverse approach by presenting my slides in Chinese, since I will need to speak English. (I guess that’s why it’s good to have a roommate like Xu, even if his Chinese reading ability may only be at a freshman level).

The Great Wall

Our transportation vehicle a.k.a "the van" waiting to pick us up to see the Great Wall



Crazy tri-wheel truck that I snaped a photo of on way there



Probably favorite pic of the bunch because it captures the expansive length of the Wall



Close-up of one of the Towers



Segment of an older portion



Me with mountainous back-drop



Nian, Justin, and Tom on a Coke excursion before going to next section of Wall



Xu, Kelly in first car and Tom in the back-ground on lift to Si-Ma-Tai section



Group's hike up Tower in Si-Ma-Tai section



Me and another gorgeous back-drop

duplicate pic

3rd week

Since my last post a lot has happened. We did make it to the Great Wall and viewed two different sections of this magnificent construction project, which was probably one of the most memorable events of this last week. When I first viewed the wall from afar it looked like an image from a book. It was not until we took the chair lift up to the top of the wall that the realness of the experience set in. It is amazing to think that something as old as the Great Wall, which was build by the Ming Dynasty, has persisted through time to still be around today. We were told that we were very fortunate to view the Wall the day we did, since the sky was very clear (an event that rarely every happens). I hope to upload some pictures as soon as I get new AA batteries.

I also enjoyed the drive to see the Great Wall outside of Beijing, since it allowed me to witness what rural China looks like. The rural towns of China reminded me very much of rural towns I had seen driving through some western states on my trip to Yellowstone Park many years ago, such as Colorado and Wyoming. These rural towns in China, like those in these states, had small shops to attract tourists, a few restaurants, and usually a small gas station. Even though the United States and China are on opposite sides of the world, I witnessed the connectedness that these two countries share even at the rural town we stopped at for lunch, before we visited the Shi-Ma-Tai section of the Wall. Here, we saw three small boys each wearing different NBA jerseys as they ran after one another. It was evident that these boys were up-to-date on what was happening in the NBA western conference finals since one was wearing a Spurs jersey, while another wore a Lakers jersey. The third boy as you might expect was wearing a Yao Ming, Houston Rockets jersey in support of his fellow countryman.

Another memorable moment of this last week was our group’s feast of Peking Duck at the famous Quanjude restaurant. This restaurant was established in 1864 and apparently it has kept track of all the Ducks it’s served since that time, where a certificate is given with every duck to confirm its authenticity. For instance, our duck’s number was 1.15-billion-629451. Eating such exquisite cuisine is truly a great experience since I’m used to choosing foods based on what is cheapest between my classes at U of M. Later that night we went to a Beijing opera not far from the Quanjude restaurant.

The Beijing opera was something I had never experienced before and very unlike the traditional European opera that most of us are used to. It was a story communicated in gestures with no need to understand the Chinese language, which was great since I can only comprehend a few Chinese words so far. During the opera, I was able to witness a culture different from my own convey similar messages of comedy and love. It shows that two cultures are never totally distant, but connected to each other through the expression of emotions. The two most interesting points of the opera were the clothing and the dances: the emperor, emperoress and those of the imperial court wore bright colors with layered wardrobes that appeared to weight them down considerably, especially with all the flips and twirls they preformed. My favorite part of the performance was the scene where the disguised guard to the imperial court who came to protect the emperor fought the emperor in a darkened room, unaware of whom the other was. The choreography of this scene consisted of brushes of the hand/sword to seek out the other. Both men for the better part of the scene would strike in a reciprocal way to as to just miss one another. This continued for some time until they finally contacted another with fist strikes. Even though there was no indication by a prompt that the room in which they fought was dark, one could discover this simply by the action of these two characters.

With the start of our regular research approaching, a group of us decided to pay a little extra and take a plane with Dr. Coppola to visit the city of Xi’ an, where we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. However, the tone of the trip was set when Spencer had his #1 ADA recommended toothpaste confiscated by airport security. Although I know it was frustrating for him to lose this item, it made for intriguing conversion as the topic was brought up frequently. After we had landed, we were met by our charismatic tour guide for the trip named Daniel. He provided us with many jokes on our way to the airport, including his joke for how he would remember Justin Lomont’s first name based off a comedy sketch.

When we made it to the Terra Cotta Warrior site, we were first escorted by Daniel to a short panoramic film on the statues. On our way inside we passed the farmer who discovered the first Terra Cotta Warrior artifacts; Daniel told us that every since his discovery he’s been treated as a celebrity. This fact was made clear by the shade he relished under while signing books on the soldiers for 120 RMB a piece. After the film, we all made our way to the Terra Cotta statues inside building number 1. It was incredible to see this vast army encompass a space about a football field in width and a couple football fields in length. We were told that many booby traps had been set in place to deter grave robbers such as bronze crossbows that are thought to remain active in some parts of the excavation. The amount of detail imprinted on these soldiers is what has made them so special. Some of the soldiers still had remnants of paint left on them, even after they are exposed to ambient air. Scientists are still trying to figure out a way to preserve the paint on these soldiers, but have yet to come up with a good method to do this since the paint is soon oxidized with exposure of oxygen. Also, since the soldiers are hollow inside if they were to be encapsulated in an airtight jar to preserve the paint they would explode; this is because there would be an air pressure difference between the jar and the soldiers’ hollow inside. Since our group consisted of all chemistry majors, we debated ways in which preservation might be possible.

The same day we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors, we went to a dumpling restaurant supplanted by a Chinese-like musical performance. In total there were about 15 or more dumplings to try consisting of pork, vegetables, seafood, and nuts. My favorite of the bunch came down to a tie between the Walnut dumpling and a dumpling with a Pork/Seafood combination. Ironically, at our table sat another couple from Holland, Michigan who came to China to teach English. This occurrence made me question whether the six degrees of separation rule is still accurate, or rather should be reduced. We came to a general consensus among our group that acrobatics portion of the show was the best. In this scene 6 or 7 girls spun a yo-yo like contraption on a string, while they did flips and somersaults in the air; I am sure if I tried to do this I’d find myself in a Chinese hospital. After this show we all went to crash at our luxurious 5-star hotel, it will probably be a while before I stay in a room as nice again.

The next day in Xi’an we visited a Muslim Mosque, which can hold 1,000 individuals at one time during prayer. This mosque is unique because it is the only Muslim mosque designed with Chinese architecture. The city of Xi’an is home to more than 100,000 Muslim, where is due the Tang’s dynasty’s recruitment of Muslims to help them in their civil war. Daniel told us that after the civil war had ended the emperor encouraged the Muslims who fought for him to stay and raise families in the area, which is why the Muslim population is so large here. We also walked along a narrow merchant path on our way to the mosque, which sold many knock-off items like the things we saw for sell at the Pearl Market. Rather than buying anything of material value along this path, I opted to purchase some snacks that were sold in the market near the entrance of this path. I brought some dried Ki-Wi and a delicious peanut snack that tasted much like a crumbling granola bar.

Afterward, we went to a factory that fabricated hand-made rugs from different colors of thread. These rugs were the most intricately constructed rugs I had every seen. We were told that a small 2 ft. by 2 ft. 1000 knot rug took a worker more than a year to make. Since the pattern for this rug was very complicated, workers can only spend 3 hours a day at most constructing them. If the rugs had not been so expensive, where the 2 x 2 rug was 400 USD I may have considered purchasing one. It was a place I am sure both my Grandma’s could have spent all day at.

To end our tour of Xi’an we went to watch an elaborate water show next to the Big Goose Pavilion. This show had a façade of fountain springs that danced to the music of traditional Chinese tunes, where one of the springs reached a height of 60 ft. high. It was fun to watch young kids run through these fountains in swim trunks. If I get a chance to come back again, I’m going to bring a slip-and-slide and set it between two adjacent rows. I could envision something like this being designed at a Disney amusement park. The water show I thought was a fitting closure to the Xi’an weekend before our departure back to Beijing.

Once I arrived back at Wan Liu apartments yesterday, Marko, Tom and myself, tired of all the Chinese food we had eaten, decided we would go get some real American food at Papa Johns for 100 RMB each. Even though this amounted to about 15 USD per, it was well worth it and served as a treat before the commencement of our regular research schedule that began today (the focus of our group’s trip to China).

Today, I met with my research professor, Prof. Liu, and talked further about what kinds of things I would be involved with in the lab for the next two months. As a stated previously, I believe my work will involve cutting and modifying nanotubes with a Titanium catalyst. Tomorrow, a visiting professor from Harvard who is renowned for his research in the field of Nanotechnology will give a talk at the Chemistry building. I am excited for this talk because I hope it will reveal some more real-life benefits that nanotechnology holds, and more so because the talk will be in English. Therefore, I will be able to understand what he is describing, even if I not yet know all the science behind nanotube construction. With that note I think I’ll close this absurdly long entry.
And in case anyone was wondering, I did get to listen to my Billy Joel song on the Great Wall.