Thermal Analysis Equipment for Materials and Bioinorganic Research

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This application is for a Simultaneous Thermal Analyzer, an instrument that couples two fundamental methods in thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DSC tracks any endothermic or exothermic phenomenon (i.e., any changes to the sample) as a function of heating. This includes glass transitions, melting, bond forming or breaking, vaporisation, etc. It measures precisely the energy needed to be added or removed to keep the sample and a reference pan at the same temperature. Thermogravimetric analysis measures sample mass as a function of heating. Minimally, it will tell the amount of volatiles lost at a specific temperature or decomposition. This allows accurate determination of sample composition via correlating with elemental analysis. Both DSC and TGA can be carried out in different atmospheres. For TGA, this can be very insightful as the instrument can also ascertain mass gain in addition to mass loss, including adsorption of carbon dioxide by porous solids. Two research programs are applying. The first team makes new porous solids and studies their applications including carbon capture, proton conduction, and separations. The thermal analysis methods are first steps to understand the conditions under which pores are occupied or voided by molecules. The second program studies the interactions of metal complexes with biomolecules. This requires precise understanding of the molecules bound to the metals to determine exact formulations. The thermal analysis methods provide key insights to what is bonded to the complexes.