Community Challenge #3: Solid state structures

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 04/21/2015 - 09:53

This community challenge was to come up with problems on solid state structures. Not exactly my area of expertise. In fact, I ofter turn to VIPEr for help when I teach this these topics. I think we received some really great contributions for this community challenge. I am honored to have co-authored a few of them with Maggie Geselbracht. I look forward to using the rest of these in my class in the future.

Kinesthetic Learning: Crystal Symmetry Through Dance

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:01
Description

This website was put together by David W. Mogk, Montana State University–professor of geology and contra/square dance caller. Using square dancing, he shows symmetry elements present in space groups. There are videos on the website, but everything seems simple enough to do in class.

Spacegroup visualizer

Submitted by Barbara Reisner / James Madison University on Mon, 01/19/2015 - 22:48
Description

This looks like a great resource to visualize the data contained in the international tables in 3D.

My colleague, John GIlje, recommended this resource to me. It's not something I'll use on a day to day basis because it requires a PC.

Fe2GeS4 Nanocrystals for Photovoltaics

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Mon, 09/15/2014 - 14:00
Description

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.

Maggie's LOs

Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Fri, 09/12/2014 - 17:25

Student choice literature-based take home exam question

Submitted by Hilary Eppley / DePauw University on Fri, 01/24/2014 - 15:27
Description

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.

Solar-Powered Oxidation of Water

Submitted by Anne Bentley / Lewis & Clark College on Tue, 01/07/2014 - 18:14
Description

Students in a half-credit nanomaterials chemistry course read an article describing the electrochemical deposition of BiVO4 (Kyoung-Shin Choi and Jason A. Seabold, “Efficient and Stable Photo-Oxidation of Water by a Bismuth Vanadate Photoanode Coupled with an Iron Oxyhydroxide Oxygen Evolution Catalyst” J. Am. Chem. Soc.

Defining Crystalline/Amorphous Phases of Nanoparticles through X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy and X-ray Diffraction: The Case of Nickel Phosphide

Submitted by Carrie Read Spray / Eastern Nazarene College on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 13:30
Description

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

Tuning the band gap of CZT(S,Se) nanocrystals by anion substitution

Submitted by Benny Chan / The College of New Jersey on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 09:45
Description

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.