Help create osmium (Os) film?!

Joshua Montague said:

I'm in search of a chemical method to create a thin film
of Osmium (1-3 microns) for irradiation and X- and gamma-
ray analysis. I need to be able to put/get the film onto a
mylar backing (or comparably thin material), and
completely enclose the sample for irradiation. I'm more a
physicist than a chemist, so I need some help coming up
with a feasible way to do this. I have the Texas A&M
University chemistry and physics departments at my
disposal. ANYONE with any ideas, please suggest them. Also
you can email me at [email hidden], or
[email hidden]. Thank you.

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and that
destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium tetroxide
should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum sputtering
onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the deposition
with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium thin films
using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors is in the
literature, but an organic substrate may not survive
reaction conditions.

--
Uncle Al
mazepath.comqz.pdfOpen ↗
mazepath.comeotvos.htmOpen ↗
(The parity Eotvos experiment is queued)

Indeed, check out news.bbc.co.uk3604857.stmOpen ↗
Cheers, Syms.
"Uncle Al" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and that
destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium tetroxide
should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3.

Uncle Al said:

Joshua Montague said:

I'm in search of a chemical method to create a thin film
of Osmium (1-3 microns) for irradiation and X- and gamma-
ray analysis. I need to be able to put/get the film onto a
mylar backing (or comparably thin material), and
completely enclose the sample for irradiation. I'm more a
physicist than a chemist, so I need some help coming up
with a feasible way to do this. I have the Texas A&M
University chemistry and physics departments at my
disposal. ANYONE with any ideas, please suggest them. Also
you can email me at [email hidden], or
[email hidden]. Thank you.

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and that
destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium tetroxide
should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum sputtering
onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the deposition
with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium thin films
using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors is in the
literature, but an organic substrate may not survive
reaction conditions.

Yeah, there should be plenty of box coaters in EE if not
physics. Another method if you want to operate at lower
temperature would be laser ablation.

josh halpern

Quoted message said:

--
Uncle Al mazepath.comqz.pdfOpen ↗
mazepath.comeotvos.htmOpen ↗ (The parity
Eotvos experiment is queued)

in article [email hidden], Uncle Al at
[email hidden] wrote on 6/4/04 1:58 PM:

Quoted message said:

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and that
destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium tetroxide
should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum sputtering
onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the deposition
with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium thin films
using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors is in the
literature, but an organic substrate may not survive
reaction conditions.

If osmium is so unstable as to oxidize readily, should it be
considered a platinum group metal? What makes a platinum
metal? Is it an artificial classification?

Bill

In sci.physics, Repeating Rifle
<[email hidden]>
wrote
on Sat, 05 Jun 2004 06:37:37 GMT
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

in article [email hidden], Uncle Al at
[email hidden] wrote on 6/4/04 1:58 PM:

Quoted message said:

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and
that destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium
tetroxide should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum
sputtering onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas
thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the
deposition with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium
thin films using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors
is in the literature, but an organic substrate may not
survive reaction conditions.

If osmium is so unstable as to oxidize readily, should it
be considered a platinum group metal? What makes a
platinum metal? Is it an artificial classification?

Bill

webelements.comwebelements.comOpen ↗

Osmium is a Group 8 metal, along with iron, rubidium, and
the ridiculously rare hassium (atomic number 108).

I would suspect the "platinum metals" are a comment on the
rarity thereof:

Ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and
platinum together make up a group of elements referred
to as the platinum group metals (PGM).

Ruthenium: 44 Ru 101.07(2) -- period 5, group 8 Rhodium: 45
Rh 102.90550(2) -- period 5, group 9 Palladium: 46 Pd
106.42(1) -- period 5, group 10 Osmium: 76 Os 190.23(3) --
period 6, group 8 Iridium: 77 Ir 192.217(3) -- period 6,
group 9 Platinum: 78 Pt 195.078(2) -- period 6, group 10

I also suspect part of osmium's toxicity is because it does
not perfectly replace iron in the bloodstream. However, I'd
have to look.

--
#191, [email hidden]
It's still legal to go .sigless.

Josh Halpern said:

Uncle Al said:

Joshua Montague said:

I'm in search of a chemical method to create a thin film
of Osmium (1-3 microns) for irradiation and X- and gamma-
ray analysis. I need to be able to put/get the film onto
a mylar backing (or comparably thin material), and
completely enclose the sample for irradiation. I'm more
a physicist than a chemist, so I need some help coming
up with a feasible way to do this. I have the Texas A&M
University chemistry and physics departments at my
disposal. ANYONE with any ideas, please suggest them.
Also you can email me at [email hidden], or
[email hidden]. Thank you.

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and
that destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium
tetroxide should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum
sputtering onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas
thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the
deposition with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium
thin films using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors
is in the literature, but an organic substrate may not
survive reaction conditions.

Yeah, there should be plenty of box coaters in EE if not
physics. Another method if you want to operate at lower
temperature would be laser ablation.

And after the coating... he has to decontaminate or overcoat
the coater.

--
Uncle Al mazepath.comunclealOpen ↗ (Toxic URL! Unsafe
for children and most mammals) "Quis custodiet ipsos
custodes?" The Net!

Repeating Rifle said:

in article [email hidden], Uncle Al at
[email hidden] wrote on 6/4/04 1:58 PM:

Quoted message said:

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and
that destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium
tetroxide should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum
sputtering onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert
gas thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the
deposition with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of
osmium thin films using pyrazolate complexes as CVD
precursors is in the literature, but an organic
substrate may not survive reaction conditions.

If osmium is so unstable as to oxidize readily, should it
be considered a platinum group metal? What makes a
platinum metal? Is it an artificial classification?

Everything is reactive if you tickle it correctly. The
inert gasses aren't inert. The room temp volatility of OsO4
means it cannot protect the surface. It has a fat
thermodyamic pushing force, too. Bulk pure osmium has a
detectable odor if you sniff it. Sponge metal or powder
will damage your corneas.

--
Uncle Al mazepath.comunclealOpen ↗ (Toxic URL! Unsafe
for children and most mammals) "Quis custodiet ipsos
custodes?" The Net!

Uncle Al said:

Josh Halpern said:

Uncle Al said:

Joshua Montague wrote:

>I'm in search of a chemical method to create a thin film
>of Osmium (1-3 microns) for irradiation and X- and gamma-
>ray analysis. I need to be able to put/get the film onto
>a mylar backing (or comparably thin material), and
>completely enclose the sample for irradiation. I'm more
>a physicist than a chemist, so I need some help coming
>up with a feasible way to do this. I have the Texas A&M
>University chemistry and physics departments at my
>disposal. ANYONE with any ideas, please suggest them.
>Also you can email me at [email hidden], or
>[email hidden]. Thank you.
>
>
Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and
that destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium
tetroxide should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try vacuum
sputtering onto Kapton film - and keep it under inert gas
thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the
deposition with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of osmium
thin films using pyrazolate complexes as CVD precursors
is in the literature, but an organic substrate may not
survive reaction conditions.

Yeah, there should be plenty of box coaters in EE if not
physics. Another method if you want to operate at lower
temperature would be laser ablation.

And after the coating... he has to decontaminate or
overcoat the coater.

Come now, given some of the coaters I've seen.....OTOH, that
is an argument for doing it by laser ablation because you
could use a small vacuum cell in a glove box with maybe a
Gast or a sorption pump. Take the sample out, put it in some
sort of metal box with an appropriate window, seal at +1 atm
nitrogen and do your thing. Read the MSDS and safe handling
procedures first and follow them.

josh halpern

Quoted message said:

Uncle Al <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Repeating Rifle said:

in article [email hidden], Uncle Al at
[email hidden] wrote on 6/4/04 1:58 PM:

Quoted message said:

Osmium rapidly oxidizes in air to volatile OsO4 - and
that destroys corneas. Toxic, too. Exposure to osmium
tetroxide should not exceed 1 microgram/m^3. Try
vacuum sputtering onto Kapton film - and keep it under
inert gas thereafter.

Electroless plating invariably contaminates the
deposition with boron or phosphorus. Deposition of
osmium thin films using pyrazolate complexes as CVD
precursors is in the literature, but an organic
substrate may not survive reaction conditions.

If osmium is so unstable as to oxidize readily, should
it be considered a platinum group metal? What makes a
platinum metal? Is it an artificial classification?

Everything is reactive if you tickle it correctly. The
inert gasses aren't inert. The room temp volatility of
OsO4 means it cannot protect the surface. It has a fat
thermodyamic pushing force, too. Bulk pure osmium has a
detectable odor if you sniff it. Sponge metal or powder
will damage your corneas.

Osmium Tetroxide is available from electron microscope
suppliers. It is decomposed by heat to produce a conformal
coating of Os on samples. OsO4 is very hazardous and should
not come in any contact with skin. I imagine that if you
talked to the people at SPI Supplies, they could help more.

David OHaara