This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program will assist the Department of Chemistry at George Washington University to acquire thermal analysis instrumentation for polymer, inorganic and materials research. This equipment includes a differential scanning calorimeter and differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis instrumentation. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including (i) low temperature solution routes to non-oxide ceramics, (ii) characterization of monodisperse rigid rod polymers, (iii) synthesis of covalently bound organometallic compounds, and (iv) the study of electron-phonon coupling in cuprates. Differential scanning calorimetry, differential thermal analysis and thermal gravimetric analysis are basic tools of materials chemistry and science. They provide fundamental information on the thermal stability and characteristics of novel materials.
