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About the Richmond Lab

Motivation:

In the Richmond lab, we study buried interfaces of water and hydrophobic media to better understand the interfacial molecular behavior for a variety of applications and general surface science knowledge. We are currently conducting experiments at the planar CCl4/water, curved hexadecane/water, and planar hexadecane/water interface for applications in drug delivery, cosmetics, food science, and oil remediation. Our main technique for studying these interfaces is vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy. See our publications for more information on our research and goals!

Instrumentation:

Laser Systems:

Vibrational Sum Frequency (Planar Interfaces):
– Ekspla PL2250 laser with Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier
– Ekspla PL2143A/SH laser with Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier
– Ekspla PL2143A laser with Nd:YAG regenerative amplifier
– Ti:Sapphire (Coherent Mira) laser and Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier (Spectra Physics Spitfire Pro XP)

Vibrational Sum Frequency Scattering (Curved Interfaces):
– Ti:Sapphire laser (Vitesse) and Ti:Sapphire regenerative amplifier (Libra)

Dynamic Light Scattering:
– Malvern DLS for size and zeta potential measurements

Surface Tension:
– Wilhelmy Plate (Electro-balance KSV instruments)
– Pendant Drop (Theta Optical tensiometer from KSV)

Computational Technology:
Talapas supercomputer usage provided by the University of Oregon

Other Resources:
– Bruker Tensor 27 FTIR Spectrometer
Shared Laser Facility (SLF): confocal Raman microscope
CAMCOR (Center for Advanced Material Characterization in Oregon) at the University of Oregon

Lab Space Tours:

Click to see a tour of our upstairs and downstairs lab spaces!

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