The chemical analysis and characterization capabilities at AALTO Chem cover wide range of tools related to chromatography, spectroscopy, rheology, microscopy and mechanical testing. Special analytical tools include for example advanced liquid and solid state NMR with probes for the detection of various nuclei.

Moreover, a wide variety of particle size and elementary analyses are in use (XRD, XRF, TEM, SEM etc.) for instance for catalysts characterization. In situ DRIFTS (diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy) can be used to characterize catalysts under real reaction conditions, i.e. at high temperatures (up to 600 °C) under reactive gas mixtures. Using different probe molecules, information on different surface sites of oxide catalysts can be obtained.

Biotechnology related specific analytical capabilities include HPLC (including GPC and mass analysis) and GC systems, Maldi-TOF and Äkta protein purification equipment. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) with columns for both aqueous and organic solvents and RI/MALLS detectors is routinely used for molecular weight characterization of oligomers and polymers. Flow and rheology research is supported by several viscometers and rheometers. Thermal characterization methods (TGA, DSC, DMTA) are widely used in different research groups. Mechanical properties of polymers and composite materials can be comprehensively characterized with varios tests (tensile, bending, compression, impact). For fiber properties there is a special equipment to measure fiber length, length distributions and fractions, fiber width, curl, coarseness, fines content, wood species ratio and many other properties. Fiber width and wall strength can be measured at 1 μm resolution.

In addition to microscopes and spectroscopy methods (FTIR, UV/VIS, Raman, UV- Raman, AFM-Raman) available in research groups we can utilize OtaNano facilities. OtaNano is is an open access RI, operated by Aalto University and VTT, and available for academic and commercial users internationally. Nanomicroscopy Center is part of OtaNano and provides a wide scope of imaging applications. The instruments include the only sub-Ångström transmission electron microscope (TEM) in Finland, a liquid helium cooled cryo-TEM, cryo scanning tunneling microscopes (STM), scanning electron microscopes (SEM), atomic force microscopes (AFM), and X-ray scattering equipment (SAXS/WAXS).

 For further information, please visit http://bio2.aalto.fi/en/research_equipment_and_services/