Measurement and characterisation
We have our own suite of characterisation equipment within the GEIC in order to measure and assess the materials, formulations and devices produced by our partners and project teams.
Access
The equipment is available to book for our partners to run or we can have our technicians run samples for you at a cost. Bookings can be made on a per usage basis or with quarterly or annual access packages.
Flexibility
We also have systems which can be used ‘on line’, where measurements can be taken to pilot production line equipment (eg. Raman spectroscopy, FTIR and mass spectrometry).
Microscopy
In order to explore the processing / microstructure / property relationship for our applications microscopy elucidates the physical relationship between 2D materials and their matrices. These techniques include
- Scanning Electron Microscopy with EDX (1nm resolution FEG)
- Optical Microscopy (with DIC)
- Raman (Quontor and free space)
- FTIR Microscopy (Bruker Hyperion)
Please contact us for more information on pricing and availability.
Spectroscopy
To gain chemical information for many applications we have equipment to probe the chemical nature of the structures produced:
- UV-Vis
- FTIR (near UV to far IR)
- Raman
- Mass spectroscopy
- Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
Please contact us for more information on pricing and availability.
Physical properties
We have a broad range of analysis techniques to probe the physical properties of the materials and devices produced within the GEIC, as follows:
- Thermoelectric effect measurement
- Ellipsometry
- Thermal conductivity: transient, steady state and light flash
- Phase analysis: differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis
- Viscometry (small and large samples)
- Drop shape analysis (contact angle, interface analysis)
- Porometry: liquid and gas phase (sheet membrane and hollow fibre, WVTR)
- Mechanical: tensile and bending up to 200kN; dynamical mechanical analysis
Please contact us for more information on pricing and availability.
Electrical properties
Many applications in sensors, energy and printed electronics require electrical characterisation techniques for parts or finished devices. We can help design test rigs for particular partner needs. Also for energy applications we have characterisation equipment for battery and supercapacitor analysis:
- Basic electronics equipment: voltage and current sources, source measure units, amplifiers, oscilloscope, function generators
- Spectrum analyser
- Vector network analyser
- Multichannel battery cycling rigs
- Multichannel potentiostats and galvanostats
Please contact us for more information on pricing and availability.
The ethos of the provision of this equipment is more towards quality control rather than academic nuance. Most of our equipment has automated multiple sample changers, improving both the quantity and repeatability of the data collected. The equipment has been selected to measure those properties of interest to all application areas but is not exhaustive; the University as a whole has an extensive collection of techniques which can be accessed through the GEIC for partners.
Philip Hirst / Technical Services Manager