Continuation of Film Synthesis
- Following the protocol provided by Dr. Hartings, the films from last Friday, August 27, 2014, were transferred from the teflon dishes into a 250 mL beaker containing 0.2 M Sodium Sulfate solution with added sulfuric acid at 80°C.
- After an hour of gentle stirring (2:00PM), the films were transferred to a warmed, 1% HCl solution at 80°C.
- The PVA only film was torn into pieces by the stir bar during stirring while the PVA + clay film remained intact.
- At 2:35PM, the films were transferred to a room temperature, 0.2M Sodium Bicarbonate solution for 15 minutes. As mentioned, this process will neutralize the acid present on the films.
- Once the 15 minute neutralization was completed, the films were stored into separate beakers containing distilled water for the meantime.
Batch 2 Film Synthesis
- 0.1144 g of Sodium Cloisite (Southern Clay Products) was added to 1.0068 g of PVA (MP Biomedicals); these were dissolved in 7 mL of distilled water in preparation for polymer + clay film synthesis.
- PVA only film was prepared by dissolving 1.0091 g of PVA into 7 mL of distilled water.
- The polymer solutions were stirred and heated at 75°C until mixture was homogeneous.
- Observing no particles were left in solution, the polymer solutions were allowed to cool at room temperature. Once cooled, 0.5 mL of 0.8% glutaraldehyde was added to each polymer solution. Additional stirring was done on both solutions to ensure homogeneity.
- Solutions were cast into their respected teflon dishes and left to dry under the fume hood.
Suspension of 8/27/14 Films in Malachite Green
- 2, 8, 80, and 200 ppm solutions of malachite green were prepared.
- Empty vials were labeled, accordingly, with the prepared concentrations of the malachite green.
- The polymer films temporarily stored in distilled water were transferred into separate petri dishes for cutting.
- Using a falcon tube and a metal spatula, the polymer films were cut into rounds.
- The pieces of polymer film were distributed to the empty vials. The mass of the vial containing films were recorded.
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