DAY 3 The Adventure Continues

Today we learnt about making membranes from gel which was prepared on DAY 1,

made from a polymer (Nano Silicon Dioxide powder), dissolved in

N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent. The membrane is produced by

 first spreading the gel evenly on a pane of glass and then baking it for ten or

so hours in an oven. The spreading of the gel can be done through several methods,

and the easiest of which is using a glass rod, our mentor's favourite method due to its simplicity.

Here is a video of the process:

This is a bottle of acetone, which is used for cleaning as it is a good solvent that can dissolve most substances. Be careful though, its vapours are harmful.

This is the controlled coater, which our mentor used with a doctor blade. This instrument provides an alternative method of spreading the gel for membrane production.

In addition to these two methods, there are still two more methods that our mentor mentioned, which do not involve the lengthy process of dissolving of the polymer in solvent. These require various heating instruments, such as a heat press or an extruder.

A Heat Press

An Extruder

More interesting photos:

Look! We found a talking cabinet!

Here's a picture of a cloud that looks like a fish, taken on the way home.