Peter C. Burns

Laboratory equipment

Located in Stinson-Remick Hall (opened 2010), the Actinide laboratories are fully equipped for the safe handling and study of actinide elements. Facilities include numerous radiological fume hoods and glove boxes, as well as an array of radiation detectors.

The Actinide Laboratories are shared by the Burns and Hixon groups, where students, post-docs, and faculty work in a highly collaborative environment.

The Actinide laboratories are approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the study of transuranic elements.

The synthesis laboratory provides the necessary equipment for a broad range of synthetic approaches involving actinides, over the temperature range -20 to 1700 Celsius.

Characterization facilities include three single-crystal X-ray diffractometers, a powder X-ray diffractometer, a small-angle X-ray scattering system, multiple UV-vis spectrometers including one mounted on a microscope, an infrared spectrometer mounted on a microscope with an ATR lens, a Raman spectrometer mounted on a microscope, a dynamic light scattering system, two Setaram C80 calorimeters (room temperature to 300 C), two Setaram high-temperature AlexSys calorimeters, Setaram differential scanning calorimeter, JEOL bench top scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectroscopy capabilities, an electro spray-ionization mass spectrometer (ESI-MS), a BET (nitrogen gas absorption system), an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ESI-MS).

Facilities elsewhere on campus  that are approved for our research with radioactive materials include three ICP-MS instruments, one being a multi-collector system, two ICP-OES instruments, two TEMs, two SEMs, ESI-MS instruments, and an XPS system. Our group uses the ND Energy Materials Characterization Facility extensively.