| Balsara
Laboratory at Berkeley
In
Tan Hall of the University of California, Berkeley, the Balsara
group has 2500 square-feet of laboratory space in 3 laboratories.
The laboratories are equipped with modern hoods and are compatible
with novel organic synthesis and facilities for the characterization
of bulk polymer samples and thin polymer films.
The
Balsara group is equipped with 20 windows based networked machines
running the latest software for data acquisition and analysis.
The
office space for the Balsara group can accommodate up to thirteen
researchers.
The
following instruments are currently operating in the laboratory:
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1.
Two home built high-vacuum lines for anionic, cationic, and
controlled radical polymerization. |
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2.
An Argon glove box (Vacuum Atmospheres) for conducting reactions
under inert atmosphere.
click
for standard operating procedures |
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3.
A 2 L Paar reactor for conducting reactions at elevated
temperatures and pressures.
click
for hydrogenation reaction procedures |
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4.
An Argon glove box (Vacuum Atmospheres) for physical characterization
under inert atmosphere.
click
for standard operating procedures |
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5.
An ARES rheometer (purchased from Rheometrics, now owned
by TA instruments).
Caretaker:
Nisita
click
for standard operating procedures
click for
calibration procedures |
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6.
An ALV-5000 static and dynamic light scattering apparatus.
Caretaker:
Enrique |
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7. A gel permeation chromatograph equipped with light scattering,
refractive index, viscosity, and UV-vis detectors (Waters
Alliance pump and Viscotek columns and detectors).
Caretaker:
Jeff |
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8. Two home built birefringence measuring devices for tracking
order-disorder and order-order transitions in block copolymers.
These instruments can be reconfigured to measure the forward
polarized and depolarized light scattering signals.
Caretaker:
Greg
click for
depolarized light scattering procedures
click
for light scattering procedures |
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9.
A home-built instrument for measuring the forward polarized
and depolarized light scattering from polymer samples under
shear flow.
Caretaker:
Enrique |
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10.
Boeckeler PT Cryomicrotome and staining facilities for TEM
(located in LBL).
click
for standard operating procedures |
 |
11.
TA Instruments (DSC 2920) Modulated Differential Scanning
Calorimeter for thermal characterization of polymers.
Caretaker:
Alisyn
click
for standard operating procedures |
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12.
A home-built guided wave depolarized light scattering apparatus
for studying the grain structure of block copolymer thin
films.-under construction
Caretaker:
Jeff |
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13.
Density gradient column.
Caretaker:
Moon
click
for standard operating procedures |
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14.
Facilities for making polymer thin films (spinning, floating,
ellipsometry, etc.).
Caretaker:
Alisyn |
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15. IR spectrometer for chemical characterization.
Caretaker:
Moon |
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16. Monomers used for synthesis: styrene, isoprene, butadiene,
alfamethylstryrene, ethyleneoxide, ferrocenyldimethylsilane,
vinyl ferrocene, isobutylene, ethylbutadiene, saturated dienes. |
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17. Solvents used for synthesis: benzene, cyclohexane, THF |
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18. Initiators used for synthesis: BuLi |
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19 . Terminators used for synthesis: methanol, isopropanol |
We
have complete access to a variety of central facilities on campus
including the Microfabrication Lab, Electronic and Machine shops,
a Glass shop, and a shared NMR facility.
Access to National User Facilities:
A significant fraction of the experiments conducted by the Balsara
group are conducted at National User Facilities. We (students
and PI) have clearances to operate instruments at the following
facilities:
1. Small angle neutron scattering (beam lines NG-1, 3, and7),
ultra-small angle neutron scattering (beam line BT-5 ), neutron
spin echo spectrometer (NG-5) and neutron reflectivity (NG-7)
instruments at the National Instruments for Standards and Technology
in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
2. Small angle X-ray scattering (beam line 1-4) instrument at
the Stanford Synchrotron Research Laboratory, Stanford, California.
3. Dynamic and static small angle X-ray scattering (beam line
8-ID-I) at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National
Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois.
4. National Center for Electron Microscopy at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, Berkeley, California.
5. Dynamic Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry at University of California,
Santa Barbara, California.
click
for standard operating procedures
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