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2009-02-27 Poland: A modern laboratory to examine solid surfaces in Lublin

A modern laboratory to examine the properties of surfaces of solid bodies in broader ranges of temperature and pressure has been opened at Lublin's Marie Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS) in Chemistry Department. The modern lab technology cost over 6.3mln PLN. The cost of the laboratory was covered mainly by a grant the University got from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education for equipment investments, said the universities spokeswoman, Joanna Reszko-Zygmunt. The installed equipment us used in complex research of catalysts and catalyst nano-materials.

Prof. Andrzej Machocki, from UMCS' Chemical Institute, explains that they research the quality of the surfaces' composition. This means we examine what atoms and what elements are on the surface of solid bodies, and how much of each element is on the surface. We examine whether the element is oxidized, is it metallic, and also what types of atoms are placed on the surfaces - the Professor explained. Prof. Machocki underlined that the modern equipment - that is composed of the largest in Poland multi-chamber analytical system - allows to examine the same sample with different methods, without taking it out and in contacting the atmospheric air. We can examine any chosen solid body in different gas atmospheres, that have a huge influence on how the atoms will arrange themselves on the surface. Depending on what gas in over the surface of the solid body these atoms move around, change, and go in and out of the body - explains Machocki.

The high-tech equipment will serve the Lublin scientists in researching new optic fibers, optic fiber sensors, adsorbents (bodies that have a surface on which the process of liquid or gas particles binding with particles from solid body occurs) and catalysts.á It can also be used for research work on the surfaces of steel, alloys, glues, varnishes, nano and microelectronic matters, and different types of implants.

Izabela Klockowska
Source: Polish Press Agency