Flex Lab Specs
Spanning two floors in Northwestern's Technological Institute building, the Flex Lab is equipped to meet the diverse needs of the university's educational, governmental, and private-sector research collaborators in the fields of energy and sustainability. In addition to providing access to a laser lab and basic lab amenities, the lab’s flexible design allows occupants to install their own large and specialized equipment, customizing the space to their unique needs.
Fourth-floor Lab Space
The fourth-floor lab space contains a dedicated, climate controlled laser lab (938 sq. ft.) for synthesis characterization and a customizable flex lab (1,108 sq. ft.) for prototyping and fabrication. Fourth-floor lab equipment includes:
- Amplified Q-switched nanosecond pulsed laser system (10 Hz)
- 2 amplified femtosecond pulsed laser systems (1 kHz, 100 kHz)
- Continuous wave (CW) 532 nm laser sources
- Vibrationally isolated laser tables
- UV/visible absorption spectrometer
Third-floor Lab Space
The third-floor lab space contains an additional customizable flex lab (948 sq. ft.) for prototyping and fabrication as well as a fully equipped synthesis lab (1,785 sq. ft.) with the following equipment:
- 2 analytical balances
- 2 microbalances
- High-speed, high-capacity centrifuge
- Chemical freezer (explosion resistant)
- Chemical refrigerator (explosion resistant)
- Combinatorial photoreactor
- 3 Distillation setups
- 18 fume hoods (w/ 1 schlenk line per fume hood)
- Gas chromatograph
- Prototype gas reactor for CO2 reduction
- Glassware
- Gradient sublimator
- High temperature furnace
- Lab jacks
- Laminar flow hood
- Milli-Q ultra-high purity water source
- Nitrogen gloveboxes
- Nitrogen gas tanks, vacuum pumps, and compressed air
- Oven
- pH meter
- 3 Rotoary evaporators
- Stirring hot plates
- Ultrasonicator
- 6 vacuum pumps, 1 diffusion high vacuum pump
- Water chillers (closed-circuit)