Analytical Chemistry seminars

Simon Bates and Tom Concolino examine how analytical measurements can guide decisions in automated, closed-loop laboratories. They address limited or proprietary instrument interfaces, reliable connections between hardware and automation, and measurement and analysis workflows that deliver results at the speed an experimental loop needs. The presentation covers orchestration software, instrument integration, sample handling, and questions to resolve with instrument and automation vendors when designing a dependable self-driving laboratory.

Reference electrodes combined with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy can separate overpotentials and degradation processes at individual electrodes. Their placement in solid-electrolyte cells is constrained by geometry and pressurized gases, while noise and perturbations can make impedance measurements difficult to interpret. This webinar introduces reference-electrode arrangements and applications, then examines a proton-exchange-membrane water-electrolysis setup. Experimental results illustrate measurement artifacts and a proposed filtering method for recovering interpretable impedance signals. The presentation is followed by questions and discussion.

This seminar connects carbonization conditions with the structure and function of carbon made from discarded plastics and food-derived sugars. Commodity plastics are carbonized under autogenic pressure in sealed quartz capillaries; sugars undergo neutral and alkaline hydrothermal processing in water and ionic liquids. Time-resolved WAXS, SAXS and Raman measurements, supported by ex situ XPS, track organic networks as they become carbonaceous solids. SAXS identifies emerging porosity and density variation, WAXS follows short-range aromatic stacking, and Raman D and G bands measure evolving sp2 domains and defects. XPS distinguishes oxygen-rich hydrothermal chars from plastic-derived carbons with lower oxygen-to-carbon ratios and stronger graphitization signatures. The combined observations relate precursor chemistry to intramolecular rearrangement, intermolecular crosslinking, pore formation and aromatic ordering under pressure.