Friday, July 18, 2008

Labwork and a little adventure

Right now I am actually in lab and taking a break. I have chosen my project and will be spending the next several weeks finishing it up. I'm working on the self-assembly of monolayers using an STM. Specifically, I'm interested in co-assembly and the promise that has for developing organized functional monolayers for surfaces. To study this I have a variety of compounds including one photoelectric molecule with an intended use in OFET's synthesized by the Jian Pei group. I want to see if this compound will self-assemble and if it can co-assemble with a "host" molecule that has bee shown to aid co-assembly. Additionally, I hope that I will have time to try and modify the tip of the STM probe to improve visualization of the sulfur groups in my compounds. Because I have learned how to use the STM, I've gained a lot of independence on my project; and even if my results do not work out, I will be satisfied with how much I have learned both about the research process and about my own capacity to work alone.

On to a different subject. What I do outside of lab ranges from going to our trusty art dealer located deep in the 琉璃厂 area of Beijing, to going to clubs and my new favorite pizza place around--Pyro Pizza. This last weekend, I went with a group to look at paintings again; and on our way back, we couldn't find the bus we were looking for. So instead of asking for directions, we decided to explore and found a mall with a great, inexpensive restaurant. We ended up staying for several hours just enjoying the atmosphere and ended up getting home at past 10pm (we left for the art dealer at around 3pm). Exploring seems to be a good idea.

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