Instrumentation Facility
The Instrumentation Facility is a joint operation from the Departments of Chemistry and Forensic Sciences in the College of Humanities and Sciences.
It houses several modern instruments for primary use by upper-level undergraduates and graduate students for teaching and research use. Instruments in the facility include:
- Chromatography techniques of high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatograph and ion chromatography
- Mass spectrometry instrumentation includes gas chromatography – quadrupole, direct analysis real-time – time of flight and inductively coupled plasma – triple quadrupole
- Spectroscopy techniques include inductively coupled plasma optical emission and UV/Vis absorbance; near, mid and far infrared absorbance; near infrared emission; Raman and UV/Vis emission
Additional resources include electrochemical techniques, a microwave synthesis reactor, microwave digestion, thermogravimetric analysis and a permanent magnet NMR.
Open access is typically 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday.
If you need to use the facility but have not been trained in the use of the instruments, please contact Joseph Turner, Ph.D., at (804) 828-5377 to schedule a time for instrument data collection or method development assistance training.
More information on the facility, a list of individual instruments and their status, or submitting a service ticket can be found on the Rampages website.
- Students in undergraduate labs have priority for use during the scheduled lab times.
- Contact the instrument TA, analytical faculty coordinator or director of instrumentation for training before using any departmental instrument.
- Research usage is currently done on a first-come first-serve basis. Before using the instruments as a walkup user, ensure your time needs will not overlap a scheduled undergraduate course slot. Minimum time slots are fifteen minutes.
- Be sure to fill out the applicable information on the log sheets located on the clipboard beside each instrument. Students in undergraduate labs should put the lab number in the comment section, as budget code information is not applicable (i.e. CHEZ304, 5-XXXXX).
- Most scheduling slot minimums are fifteen minutes. If it is determined a user is not logging their usage properly, facility privileges may be restricted or revoked.
- All user solutions and samples must be removed from the facility at the conclusion of the experiment. There is minimal bench space, thus no experimental set-up in the facility is permitted.
- Gloves worn for sample preparation must be removed before using any instrument computer.
- The doors need to remain closed and locked if the rooms are unoccupied.
- Notify the director of instrumentation immediately in case of accidents or problems with an instrument or other facility equipment.
- Eye protection must be worn at all times.
- Neither eating nor drinking is permitted in the instrument facility at any time.
- All workstations must be left neat, clean and cleared of all chemicals, vials, weigh papers, refuse, writing implements, etc.
- FTIR/FT-Raman/FT-Microscope
- FTIR/FT-Microscope
- Dispersive Raman spectrometer (532/785)
- FTIR/ spectrometers (Far, Mid, Near) - diamond ATR, transmission, HATR, DRIFT
- UV/VIS-Fluorescence spectrophotometer
- UV/VIS-Spectrometer (diode array): with kinetics and stirring
- UV/VIS/NIR Abs/CD/FL spectrophotometer
- Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES)
- Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP-Mass Spectrometry)
- E-chemical Analyzer, CH Instruments, 600E
- E-chemical Analyzer, CH Instruments, 621E
- HPLC with UV/VIS Abs/FL/RI detector
- Ion (Anion and Cation) Chromatography
- Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry
- Gas Chromatography with FID detector (GC/FID)
- Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA; TA Instruments)
- MSP UV/VIS Microscope
- Microwave Reactor
- Vapor Deposition
- Circular Dichroism – UV-Vis
- DART-Mass spectrometer
- Surface Area and Pore Size Analyzer
Instrumentation Usage Rates
| Vibrational Spectroscopy | $20/hour | |
| Molecular Spectroscopy | $10/hour | (*) |
| Liquid Chromatography | $30/hour | (**) |
| Gas Chromatography-MS | $45/hour | (#) |
| Electrochemistry | $10/hour | (##) |
| ICP-Optical Emission | $20/hour | |
| ICP-Mass Spectrometry | $100/hour | |
| CEM Synthesis Microwave | $1/sample | (%) |
| (*) | Users supply their own sampling cuvettes |
|---|---|
| (**) | Instrument may be 1/2 price with user supplied solvent and column |
| (#) | per injection rate is $15/sample |
| (##) | users supply their own electrodes |
| (%) | sample vials are available for purchase |
Contact the director of instrumentation facility for outside pricing.