Initial NREL Shenanigans

It's been a fun first week and a half at the lab, with various adventures at the laboratory.

Caleb the Security Guy

I got to know Caleb the security officer pretty well, which was fun. At NREL, all of the buildings are locked by keycard, so we need to beep in. My keycard didn't let me into any of the buildings I worked in until the end of the third day of work, so I always got to talk to Caleb on the Intercom. We developed a system:

*beep* [I press the intercom button]

"Hi this is Caleb at Security, how can I help you?"

"Hi, this is David Martin at the South entrance to the SERF..."

"Hello Mr. Martin, let me unlock that door for you. Have a good day."

"Thanks. You too Caleb."

It was almost tragic when my card started just letting me into the building. I haven't talked to Caleb since.

You can't have a monitor *wink*

At orientation, they said that as interns, we wouldn't have access to any of the fancy setup stuff that's available to other workers at NREL since we're only here temporarily. I beg to differ. After talking with Joe and borrowing things from five different scientists and purchasing a mouse, I had two monitors, a laptop, a keyboard, a desktop, two mice, and an external hard drive. Now that's how you science!

Sciencing in style!

I've since returned one of the mice, the desktop and the second monitor (I was just looking for a file), but it's still a pretty legit setup. I like it.

I tot's know what I'm doing. I got this bro.

So, I mentioned I'm taking measurements of the angle water makes on stuff (contact angle measurements as they say) and that I wrote a procedure for taking these measurements last year. I can't find that procedure. At the end of my internship last year I printed it, posted it in my dropbox, copied it to my laptop, copied it to an external hard drive, copied it to my flash drive, and gave it to Joe (my mentor/boss).

Since then, the paper has been lost, my laptop has been wiped, my dropbox got too full and automatically deleted it, I failed to copy the correct portion to my external hard drive, I lost my flash drive, and Joe changed computers and lost it (hence why I borrowed one of his old desktops in the above picture). Fortunately I remember the important parts of what I did, and I wrote a paper for the SULI program in which I wrote a paragraph on the procedure, so I can still do the measurements in a very similar way, there just might be a slightly different number of seconds between when I pull out the samples from the plasma cleaner and put them in the sonic cleaner.

Our Plasma Cleaner is in another Castle

(Not-so-subtle Mario reference)

I need access to a lot of different labs. Last year, I cleaned samples in the Organic PhotoVoltaic (OPV) lab in the SERF, initialized humidity and temperature measurements from the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) lab in the SERF, and took contact angle measurements in the Field Test Laboratory Building (FTLB, another building). This year, the plasma cleaner I use was moved to the Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL) in the Science & Technology Facility (S&TF, another building).

So, I needed certification to work in another laboratory to do the same stuff I was doing last year. I this happened today (the seventh day on the job) right before I left. I finally won Mario!

Dawn of the First Day! (also Perovskites)

The first day working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has arrived! We went to NREL at 7:45, and had orientation all day. We got our badges, learned about the dangers of texting and walking, and got to meet a bunch of other interns. I met my namesake, David Marin, and out copatriot, David Brown (of course we all sat next to each other). Also, they had free food. Lots of free food. It was wonderful.

The Solar Energy Research Facility (SERF) where I'll be doing most of my work at NREL (Image Credit: IEEE)

My cubical is on the left side of the building

I got to leave orientation early, because I had covered it last year, and went to meet with Joe, my mentor. Joe and I talked about what project I'll be pursuing the next 10 weeks, and decided on a bit of a combination project, which I'll describe briefly below (hopefully in an understandable way)

I'm working on solar cells. Solar cells are things we can make which produce electricity when the sun shines on them. They currently account for approximately 0.4% of all the energy the United States consumes.

Specifically, I'm working on Perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are a type of material which follows a specific structural makeup (as shown below). It was discovered from the mineral Perovskite (hence the name). In 2009, someone figured out we could use perovskites in solar cells, and they made a device which converted about 3% of the sunlight which shined on it into electricity. Now, six years later, we're making Perovskite solar cells which convert about 15% of the sunlight shining on it into electricity!

The structure of the perovskites I'll be working with (Image credit: Wikipedia)

This is really cool! Not only are perovskites getting better really fast, but they're also  really easy to make (essentially pour hot liquid on a surface). This means they are much cheaper than the solar cells people manufacture now (Silicon solar cells).

There are a couple downsides to perovskites, and a lot we don't understand since they're so new, but we think we can overcome the problems they have (primarily breaking really fast and not super consistently having the same results). I get to be a part of this solution!

I'll be doing two things with perovskites at NREL (at least, that's the plan as of now). First, I'll be measuring the angle water makes on different materials we may put under perovskites. This I'll be doing in the first couple weeks using a procedure I developed last year while working at NREL.

Second, I'll be automating some analysis of surface properties of perovskites that Philip is working on so we can do more interesting studies of the surfaces which require too much work to do by hand.

That probably enough of an information dump for now, so I won't bore you with exactly why I'm doing these two things now, but trust me: they're gonna save the planet! Also, they may let me contribute towards a paper or a patent (depending on if the devices work).

The Pre-NREL Hype

Everyone at Sig Ep (where I'm living) has been super excited, as we start work tomorrow. More and more interns keep moving in, and we can already tell it's going to be great. As for me, I got up and read James, then ate at a Cafe in Downtown Golden with Daniela, since neither of us has any food yet. Then we drove to The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (partly to show Daniela what it looks like and partly for me to remember how to get there tomorrow). Unfortunately, I misread 11:05 as 11:45, so missed the church service I had been hoping to go to. On the way back, I found the School of Mines Physics department, which had a similar sounding builing name. 

School of Mine's Physics department sign (in Meyer Hall)

(Wheaton's Science Building is called the Meyers Science Center)

Myself, Daniela, Will, and Isaiah all went on the Mt. Galbraith loop trail, but not before eating tons of Chipotle (Daniela had not had Chipotle before, so that was clearly a must). With full bellies and happy hearts, we hiked up Mt. Galbraith, an approximately 4.5 mile round trip with 1000 feet of elevation change.

Daniela, Will, Isaiah, and myself on Mt. Galbraith (Image credit: Passing Hiker)

While there, we took lots of pictures, climbed trees, took little trails off into nowhere, stood majestically on out-jutting rocks, and got to know each other.

Downtown Denver peaking out between the hills

We went back, watched a movie, and went to bed tired but happy and ready for work the next day.

Back to Gold(en) (5/30/15)

This morning I got up and drove to Golden. It was a pretty long drive, but it covered pretty much all terrains, so I'm not complaining. To begin, I drove through forest, then hilly desert, then canyons, then live green canyons, then green plains, then mountains, then snowy mountains, then got to Golden. Here's a slide show:

Forests near Flagstaff, AZ

The Utah-Arizona border

A fun canyon in Utah I drove over (note I had the camera pointed up as I took this picture)

A Canyon in Utah I drove through

The Utah-Colorado boarder

Unfortunately, the most fun locations were the ones I couldn't safely image, notably the cow in the middle of the road in Utah, and the Rocky mountains.

I got to Golden at 9:15 PM (I aimed for 9:00) and checked into the Frat house I'm staying at for the summer (Sigma Phi Epsilon). It's pretty fabulous. There are 12 SULI interns staying here this summer, so there's always something to do, which is great. There's also a giant kitchen and a fair bit of space.

I found out that I only have one bed, which is slightly problematic because while driving, I had been in contact with Daniela, another SULI intern flying in tonight, and promised her a place to sleep for the night, since she doesn't have housing worked out yet. Fortunately, there was a spare Futon I commandeered for my room, so neither of us had to sleep on the floor.

Now that I'm back in Golden (I was here last year), I'm ready to start working at NREL and hopefully meeting lots of interesting people. It's gonna be great!

Arizona, Take 2 (5/29/15)

I made it safe and tired to Prescott, where I'm staying with Michael for the night, then tomorrow it's onward to Golden (just 12 hours of driving left).

Last night I stayed up too late with David C and his church friends, but we had fun. We went to In-n-out, which was nice to check off of my California checklist (even if I'm not eating their delicious burgers). When I eventually looked at the time, I left and slept to prepare for the long drives ahead.

Friday morning I left in the morning for Phoenix, hoping to get there by noon to meet with Daniel again.

The morning mists of CA

I got to Phoenix by around noon, and met Daniel at his house. They made vegetarian burritos for me, and we ate together. It was an enjoyable afternoon with Daniel, his mother, and his sister. After eating their delicious food, Daniel and I talked physics for about an hour and drank tea (he gave me a tea with a hadron collider on it).

I cut my visit short in Gilbert with Daniel, but with the promise to return after my internship, then it was off to Prescott! The drive to Prescott was interesting, as it slowly transitioned from a desert wasteland to lush valley.

When I got to Prescott, I met Michael and his sister Alyssa. We hung out, went to a pool, and played games, then turned in for the night. 

Next Stop: Golden, AZ