Week 4 -- A New Take

Last time, it took me one week to get catalyst, drying, dehydrating and all. The result? 0.8 grams. A pretty solid percent yield, all things considered (80%), as I had to replace so many steps with my own due to not having access to advanced equipment. However, this is far too slow, even if each trial only uses 0.2g (half the paper’s) of catalyst. Therefore, this week, I decided to try to double everything: double the volume of acetic acid, double the initial copper and chitosan. I mixed in the copper separately, so it didn’t take forever to mix. Then, I slowly added chitosan until I ended up at a smooth, thick solution I got in the first trial. Upon adding the NaOH, though, I saw some different results, as it seemed like the moment a drop of NaOH would hit the solution, it would precipitate some copper (indicated by the solid blue on top of the solution). After drying (for much longer this time, due to much more water being there TO dry) I was left with the same result: a slimy film that would need to be dehydrated in the desiccator before crushing.

Next week, I hope to start running trials with degradation and figure out the optimal concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide (if you don’t remember, in a previous blog, I mentioned that Hydrogen Peroxide was required to generate the ROS to start the reaction, but too much would lead to it inhibiting the reaction instead). I also need to learn how to use the UV light.