Using sol-gel chemistry to synthesize a material with properties suited for chemical sensing - Development and implementation of a materials science experiment for the undergraduate curriculum

This experiment was designed and written to serve as a collaborative laboratory project for first-year B.S. chemistry majors and to provide experience in materials chemistry. One portion of the experiment was discovery-based in that a detailed procedure was not given to students for testing xerogels as platforms for visual sensors (14, 15). In contrast to a recently reported experiment on the combination of sol-gel chemistry with spectroscopy for an advanced undergraduate laboratory (16), the present experiment is adaptable to a range of undergraduate student levels and to various instrumental methods. For example, the residual liquid can be determined by drying in a conventional oven, and the leaching can be quantified by colorimetry, atomic absorption spectroscopy, etc. In this regard, the leaching experiment is not restricted to the dopants used herein. Cooperative learning and reporting results were also focuses of the experiment. Students were introduced to working in pairs and small groups to emulate what is common in the industrial workplace. Introduction to data handling, the requirement of a formal report in the style common in chemistry journals, and the introduction to use of scientific literature were considered important to prepare students for future work. Although many objectives are listed, however, the primary one was to introduce students to the synthesis and characterization of a material.