Resources and Facilities

The Particles and Catalysis Research Group is housed in the 6 star rating (Energy Efficient) Tyree Energy Technology building within the UNSW Kensington campus. It is equipped with modern laboratories and specialised equipment and techniques for material synthesis; an array of state-of-the-art instrument for particle and material characterisation, as well as photoreactor and reactor system for testing photocatalyst and catalyst performance. We are also co-located with UNSW’s Analytical Centre, and possess full access to their nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectroscopy, solid state and surface analysis, and electron microscopy facilities.

To gain access to PartCat Lab, please read the Introduction to Partcat Slide and ensure you have followed and completed the the School Lab Safety Protocol. (Download guideline on step by step process to gain Partcat Lab access) Please be aware of the following type of access for labs:

  • PARTCAT Lab Staff and PhD student access: 24 hour access to all labs
  • PARTCAT Lab Honour students and visitors access: Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm

If you need to access our lab outside those hours, please contact Dr Victor Wong or your supervisor.

 

Instrument Booking and Training

Our laboratories are equipped with state of the art equipment for particle synthesis and characterisation, advanced analytical instruments as well as variety of catalysis rig and photo-electrocatalyst reactor. It is MANDATORY for new user to be trained before getting access to the instrument/gear.

Training of some instruments are held only a few times per term, so plan wisely and ask supervisor to find out what equipment you will be using. Full list of equipments and its respective trainer is available here

Our instruments are currently not available for new external users outside Particle and Catalysis Research Group, unless it is on a collaborative project or with prior agreement with staff/academics in PARTCAT group. If you would like to use our instruments, charges will be applied to reimburse the technical staff time, consumables and chemicals used. For general enquiries about working in our laboratory or how to access the facilities, please contact Mandalena Hermawan.

Click here to access online equipment booking (note: only for authorised user).

 

Lab Clean Up

A COMPULSORY lab clean up is organised every 2 weeks to be held in Week 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 from 2 - 3pm on Tuesday. Contact Dr Victor Wong or Tim Zurrer to have your name included in the rostered list.

The regular lab clean up is to ensure that the lab is CLEAN, SAFE and WORKABLE. The following duties are covered during clean up:

  • Collecting waste (drums for solution and buckets for solid waste) and replenish it with new drums and buckets
  • Cleaning up fume cupboards, benches and sink
  • Filling up wash bottle, stocking of consumables
  • Sorting and storing any orphan glass, misplaced lab gear, etc
  • Throwing out unlabelled samples

Undergraduate students are expected to attend at least 70% of the total sessions per term + including BIG Lab clean up (date TBA). Attendance will be marked for satisfactory lab participation component of THESIS.