Use of an ICP Spectrometer for the Undergraduate Materials Characterization Project

电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱仪(ICP-AES)的使用正在被整合到分析化学本科教学计划中。电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱仪是在我们的仪器分析课程中实施材料表征项目(MCP)的催化剂，目的是让我们的化学专业的学生接受现实世界分析的挑战，并为“分析过程”的基础奠定更好的基础。MCP涉及商业上可获得的产品的完整特征，包括包装。学生们得到了独特的样品，其中包括太阳能计算器、婴儿配方奶粉和铂火花塞或卤素灯泡，并被要求回答有关样品矩阵、纯度和包装的问题。这些问题的选择是为了让学生有机会使用各种仪器技术来表征聚合物、无机、金属和陶瓷成分，直到达到规定的检测水平。进行实际分析(某种逆向工程)的目的是提供一种与工业环境中遇到的体验非常接近的体验。学生们面临着实验设计、技术选择和执行的任务，所有这些任务都与预先设计的“罐装”实验室实验大相径庭。电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱技术在各个领域都处于成熟水平，我们寻求使这一工具适应我们对MCP中使用的样品的各种成分的痕量金属分析的独特应用。我们相信，这种现实的实验室体验将使我们的化学专业学生接触到整个分析过程，从而更好地做好准备。

Use of an Inductively Coupled Plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) is being integrated into the undergraduate instructional program in Analytical Chemistry. The ICP-AES is serving as a catalyst for the implementation of a Materials Characterization Project (MCP) into our Instrumental Analysis course in order to expose our chemistry majors to the challenges of real world analysis and to provide an improved grounding in the fundamentals of the "analytical process". The MCP involves the complete characterization of a commercially available product including the packaging. The students are given unique samples, which include, for example, a solar calculator, infant formula, and platinum spark plug or halogen lamp bulb and are asked to answer questions about the sample matrix, purity and packaging. The questions are chosen so that the student has the opportunity to use a variety of instrumental techniques as they characterize the polymer, inorganic, metallic and ceramic components down to a prescribed detection level. The undertaking of an actual analysis (sort of a reverse engineering) is intended to provide an experience which is very close to that encountered in an industrial setting. The students are challenged with the tasks of experimental design, technique choice and execution, all features which are a vast departure from pre-designed "canned" laboratory experiments. ICP-AES technology is at a mature level in a variety of fields and we seek to adapt this tool to our unique application of trace metals analysis of various components of the samples used in the MCP. We believe that this realistic laboratory experience will better prepare our chemistry majors by exposing them to the entire analytical process.