quantumspinliquid
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Setting up Materials Science Home Lab
Hello,
I have long had an interest in inorganic and organic materials especially those which exhibit peculiar magnetic behavior. I have several projects I
have been interested in, namely the preparation and crystal growth of transition metal oxalate coordination polymers. The materials I plan to use are
various transition metal and rare earth chlorides as well as coordinating agents, particularly oxalic acid. I will need to use common acids and bases
(HCl, H2SO4, NaOH) to regulate the pH of some solutions, and would like to incorporate organic dopants and ligands into these
materials eventually.
I will performing all planned experiments with maximum product yields of approximately 5g in order to minimize heavy metal waste production since it
is bad for fishies and what not. All metal wastes will be neutralized with sodium carbonate to turn them into a less bioavailable form.
Although I have a lot of academic lab experience, I will be performing these experiments as a hobbyist. I'm not enrolled in school currently though. I
hope to find places to outsource NMR, EPR, XRD, and MuSR analysis to understand the structure and properties of these substances and hopefully
something interesting will come of it! The area of hybrid materials and electronic materials is very lively now, so any worthwhile discovery could be
academically lucrative!
My question legally is how do I ensure that my research is up to code? I have heard horror stories of home labs doing nothing illegal being raided,
and as a law abiding, curious, and passionate individual I do not want the same thing happening to me. I'm probably extremely paranoid, but I want to
be on the safe side. I'm in the US. I apparently will not produce enough toxic waste that I have to register my lab (I estimate approx 2kg/year), and
will not be using any listed chemicals. I feel like self education is essential for innovation. Many of the great chemists in antiquity made their
discoveries at home.
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elementcollector1
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Oh trust me, you're going to be using listed chemicals. Those common acids and bases are all on the list.
Elements Collected:52/87
Latest Acquired: Cl
Next in Line: Nd
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quantumspinliquid
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Perhaps it might be best just to wait until grad school to do my research. I don't think doing this type of stuff unless in an academic laboratory is
the best idea, also because analyzing the products with the specialty methods I list above would be very hard unless I have on site or nearby access
to those instruments as I would in a university.
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bob800
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I guess you're technically correct if you're talking about the DEA list II chemicals, but I don't their possession is of any concern... Those
chemicals are so common that it would worthless to keep track of every small purchase. Just keep the quantities at 1L or less at a time and avoid the
list I chemicals, those are the only ones I would be concerned about.
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quantumspinliquid
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I only need to have approx. 250mL of acids each and perhaps 100g or so of bases at a time. That would even be a large supply for what I am doing. Most
reactions will be done on a microscale and the acids/bases are only used to regulate pH. For example, I would like to develop a synthesis to obtain
large crystals of the quantum spin liquid material volborthite/calciovolborthite- (Ba,Ca)Cu(VO4)OH. To make this product, the pH of solution must be
slightly basic. If it is too acidic, the solid precipitate would consist of CuVO4 and other mixed metavanadates, which do not have desired properties
to study, if too basic I would precipitate mixed hydroxides. I do not have use for list 1 chemicals. The only materials at all listed that I would
need to use are the acids and bases I list above...and some of the organic solvents (acetone, toluene..around 250mL of each used per year.) However,
many people like myself have legitimate uses for these. I do not see there being a problem, really.
One more question, is it ok for anyone (don't worry, I am not in Texas) to purchase a microscale kit off Amazon or Ebay? In school, I did a lot of my
reactions using microscale kits and this would be most efficient and clean for this series of experiments I want to pursue. Conical vials would make
perfect reaction vessels to synthesize sensitive inorganic material on the mg scale.
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gregxy
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Its safe to buy pretty much anything on Ebay or Amazon except for list 1 and bomb making chems (NH4NO3,
chlorates, large quantities of finely powdered Al or Mg) .
The thing to be careful of is a nosy neighbor seeing your lab
and reporting you to the police. So if you can work in your
garage with the door closed and put all your chemicals and
equipment out of sight when you are done, you should have
no trouble. Micro-scale helps since there won't be flasks,
beakers, or other "dangerous looking" stuff and no "bangs"
weird smells with what you are planning to do.
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quantumspinliquid
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I am working with some of my professional contacts and sciency friends to try and set up my research operations to a section of a small, legitimate
commercial lab. It is best to have a clean, safe working environment when experimenting with any chemicals regardless of toxicity and reactivity. Home
science is admirable, but risky to my reputation if things somehow go wrong considering I am a professionally involved in the sciences- this project
being my first foray into my own personal research. If things go right, this project will be a huge boost to the research community surrounding the
hybrid materials field. About the only strange thing I will produce are materials with unusual optical properties- they change color, fluoresce, or
exhibit dichroism.
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franklyn
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Just the basics
http://blog.makezine.com/setting-up-a-home-science-lab2
http://blog.makezine.com/setting-up-a-home-science-lab3
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