Glove Box

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A glove box (or glovebox) is a piece of laboratory equipment that creates a stable, sealed environment for handling hazardous materials, chemicals, or samples that react readily with air. Samples can be transferred into the glove box via the glove box antechamber, and glove box gloves can be used to manipulate the contents of the glove box.

There are two main types of laboratory glove box, isolation glove boxes (or inert atmosphere glove boxes) and containment glove boxes. Isolation glove boxes protect sensitive materials from the outside environment, while containment glove boxes protect the user from infectious samples or radioactive materials.

Inert atmosphere isolation glove boxes create an environment that is completely isolated from the external atmosphere by filling the main chamber with an inert gas, usually nitrogen or argon. This is known as purging. Once the glove box has displaced all the air in the system with the inert gas, the main chamber is sealed, and the glove box maintains an overpressure to ensure that no gasses leak into the system. This type of glove box is sometimes referred to as an argon or nitrogen glove box.

Glove boxes like the Ossila Laboratory Glove Box are a straight-forward and affordable way to create an atmosphere void of H₂O and O₂. They are useful for any process that might be affected by normal atmospheric conditions, particularly in chemistry and materials science. Common applications include chemical synthesis, thin film device fabrication, and the handling, preparing, or storing air and moisture sensitive materials. Perovskite materials are particularly sensitive to the presence of moisture in the atmosphere.

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Inert Atmosphere Processing

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Inert is just another word for chemically inactive, so an inert atmosphere is a contained environment filled with a gas that won’t react with sensitive chemicals. Inert atmosphere glove boxes are useful for a wide range of experiments across several different fields, including materials science, chemistry, biological research, and pharmaceuticals.

Nitrogen, argon or helium are generally used to create inert environments as they are very stable elements. Nitrogen is the most common choice for inert processing, as it is the cheapest choice. However, nitrogen environments can have issues with static which can make powder processing difficult. For some biological applications, H₂ and CO₂ can also be used to create an inert environment.

Broadly speaking, any application that involves samples that have any degree of sensitivity to water or oxygen would benefit from being performed inside a laboratory glove box. In some cases, you may find that working in an inert atmosphere is essential for the success of your experiment. In particular, it is important that you use a glove box when:

• Working with or storing materials that oxidise, hydrolyse, or degrade when exposed to air
• Working with hygroscopic materials that start to absorb water (and clump) as soon as they are exposed to ambient conditions
• Working with pyrophoroic chemicals, such as alkali metals, metal hydrides and alkyl metal hydrides, which react violently with air or with moisture and must therefore be used under controlled, inert conditions
• Working with emergent technologies that can suffer degradation if exposed to ambient conditions, such as modern material combinations used in 3^rd generation photovoltaics or lithium-ion battery technology

Applications

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The Ossila Laboratory Glove Box can create and maintain an inert atmosphere within the main chamber, isolating the environment where you handle samples or materials from the conditions elsewhere in the lab and making it perfect for any experiment that requires isolation from oxygen or water.

Because the glove box automatically keeps the internal atmosphere below your set threshold, it is suitable for use over an extended period of time. In addition, the low cost and ease of use allows the system to be set up as a dedicated environment for specific experiments which reduces the chances of cross contamination with other users of your lab space.

Glove boxes are an essential piece of equipment if you are handling, preparing or studying air-sensitive samples in scientific research; there are a wide range of different fields and applications that require glove boxes.

Chemical Synthesis

The automated atmosphere control process built into the Ossila Glove Box ensures the utmost safety for both your stored materials and the experiment itself, shielding them from any exposure. The ability to access services such as power, vacuum lines, and cooling feedthroughs via the use of standard connectors means you can explore a wide variety of synthesis routes.

Organic Electronics

You can use equipment such as spin coaters, with or without a syringe pump, within glove boxes to deposit thin film structures without exposing them to air. With the antechamber, transferring samples to other systems for testing or the processing of other layers is simple, without having to expose the main processing chamber to air. Examples of electronics fabricated in a glove box include organic light emitting diodes, organic lasers and other semiconductor devices.

Additive Manufacturing

The Ossila Glove Box provides the low-cost solution to integrating an inert environment into your 3D printing process. By housing your printer inside the chamber, it is simple to move parts manufactured inside the glove box outside ready for testing or shipping. In addition, you can leave materials inside the system without having them exposed to air. Move new spools or resin containers into the glove box through the antechamber to keep the internal atmosphere inert.

Materials Handling and Storage

Using a glove box means that you can store materials permanently without risk of exposure to water or oxygen. By incorporating microbalances inside the glove box, it is also possible to decant small quantities of materials for use without having to expose stocks of materials to atmosphere. You can also use the glove box to seal materials under nitrogen or argon for safe transport.

Characterisation of Air Sensitive Materials

The Ossila Glove Box has ample space inside the main chamber to conduct a number of simple characterisation and testing experiments. Just from the Ossila testing range, the Solar Simulator, the Solar Cell Testing Set Up, the LED Measurement System and the Optical Spectrometer could all be set up inside the glove box. This means you can characterise air sensitive samples and electronics without exposing them to ambient conditions and without encapsulation.

Battery Technology

Manufacture devices in a moisture free environment by using an inert atmosphere glove box. The incorporation of standard feedthroughs allows you to use data and power feedthroughs so that you can interface with equipment to measure your devices. This gives you complete control and the ability to eliminate moisture from your experiment.

Photovoltaics / Solar Cell Research

Glove boxes are often used to in solar cell research such as for organic photovoltaics or perovskite solar cells. Fabrication of thin film perovskite devices in atmosphere often leads to incorrect morphology or incomplete conversion and results in devices that do not work. By using an inert atmosphere glove box, you can optimize parameters in your fabrication routine in a consistent environment. This eliminates the uncertainty that atmospheric conditions and protects air sensitive layers in your device from degradation until they can be suitable encapsulated.

Nanotechnology

If you are working with or synthesising nanoparticles, nanowires, and other nanoscale materials, using a glove box will prevent contamination or oxidation of their samples during synthesis, manipulation, or characterization which will enable you to consistently make high quality materials. Due to the scale of nanotechnology, these materials are extremely surface dependent, making them all the more vulnerable to contamination. This makes careful control of synthesis environment extremely important.

Catalysis and Chemical Engineering

You can use a glove box to manipulate catalysts, reactive intermediates, and other sensitive materials used in catalytic reactions, which often require moisture- and oxygen-free conditions. There is adequate space in the Ossila Laboratory Glove Box to set up the hot-plates and glassware needed conduct simple reactions, and air sensitive materials can be brought into the glove box easily using the antechamber.

Environmental Research

Often environmental samples, such as metal complexes in soils or water samples, require controlled atmospheres to avoid sample degradation. For this, you can employ glove boxes to handle, store and study these samples while maintaining their integrity.

Glove Box Support

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