I asked the students in my junior/senior inorganic course to develop their own literature discussion learning objects and lead the rest of the class in a discussion of their article.  Student Johann Maradiaga chose this article describing the synthesis and characterization of Fe₂GeS₄ nanocrystals with potential applications in photovoltaic devices (Sarah J. Fredrick and Amy L. Prieto, “Solution Synthesis and Reactivity of Colloidal Fe₂GeS₄: A Potential Candidate for Earth Abundant, Nanostructured Photovoltaics” J. Am. Chem.

During my junior/senior level inorganic course, we did several guided literature discussions over the course of the semester where the students read papers and answered a series of questions based on them (some from this site!).  As part of my take home final exam, I gave the students an open choice literature analysis question where they had the chance to integrate topics from the semester into their interpretation of a recent paper of their own choice from Inorganic Chemistry, this time with limited guidance.

This literature discussion activity is designed to highlight the use of different instrumentation and what details can be gained from each instrument.  It should also help the students review their knowledge of crystal structure, types of crystals, and amorphous solids.  The paper is from Chemistry of Materials, 2013, 25, 2394-2403 (DOI: 10.1021/cm303490y).  The paper should be given one week prior to class discussion, ideally after covering some of the instrumentation in class including X-ray dif

This literature discussion was created at the NSF-TUES sponsored workshop at Penn State, June 2013.  It is based on the article from Ray Schaak’s group (Buck, Matthew R.; Bondi, James F.; Schaak, Raymond E. “A total-synthesis framework for the construction of high-order colloidal hybrid nanoparticles” Nature Chemistry, 2012 4, 37-44, DOI: 10.1038/NCHEM.1195), which Ray presented at the workshop.

This Literature Discussion learning object (LO) is based on the paper “Template Electrodeposition of Single-Phase p- and n-Type Copper Indium Diselenide (CuInSe₂) Nanowire Arrays,” Emil A. Hernández-Pagán, Wei Wang, and Thomas E. Mallouk, ACS Nano, 2011, 5 (4), pp 3237–3241. DOI: 10.1021/nn200373k

The paper from the Prieto group, Riha, S. C.; Parkinson, B. A.; Prieto, A. L. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 15272-15275, is proposed to be an excellent literature article for achieving several learning goals in the understanding of fundamental solid state and materials chemistry. The learning object was developed as a part of the 2013 VIPEr workshop and has not been tested in the classroom. We have developed a set of discussion questions that can be used as a guide for the students.