The four of us staying in Beijing don’t classify ourselves as city folk, so after five weeks in the city, we decided to escape for a weekend with a trip to the coastal town of Nandaihe.  We greatly enjoyed the beach and life at a little slower pace, in addition to the best fish ever!  The area is famous for its seafood, and it did not disappoint (which means a lot coming from a girl who is spoiled with fresh fish from Gloucester, MA).  But this was no ordinary fresh fish. 

When one goes shopping along a city street for a good restaurant for dinner usually they take a look at the menu.  But in Nandaihe you simply scan the rows of fish tanks to see if they have something you might enjoy.  We decided on the yellow fish.  And not just the yellow fish, I mean THE yellow fish.  We pointed at little Nemo and our friend with his net pulled him out of the tank and “Slam!”  It all happened so fast.  In the time it took for us to realize that the man wanted us to take a step back, Nemo was now limp on the ground and our legs wet with salty spray.  He had swung the net up over his shoulders and hard down on the ground, killing the fish in an instant.

But little Nemo did not die in vain!  They fried him up and covered him with all sorts of delicious spices.  The fish was so amazingly delicious that we let absolutely none of it go to waste.  All that was left was the bones.  I even tried an eyeball.  This was one meal that I’m sure none of us will ever forget!

·        Research Topic: hydrothermal synthesis of In₄Se₃ for thermoelectric material application

·        Research Abstract: During the experiment, the hydrothermal synthesis method was used with the goal of synthesizing In₄Se₃ for thermoelectric material application. All reactions were carried out in a Teflon-lined autoclave at 220^oC for 8-24 h. It was determined that In must be present in the +2 and +1 oxidation states in order synthesize In₄Se₃. Therefore, various reducing agents, including ascorbic acid, formic acid, oxalic acid, and NaBH₄were reacted with InCl₃ and Se in water, ethanol, methanol, and DMF systems. Elemental In was also reacted with Se and KOH in methanol and DMF. XRD results indicate that only reactions with NaBH₄ in DMF resulted in the reduction of In to its +2 and elemental states, however the presence of In₄Se₃ was not observed. Reactions with ascorbic acid and oxalic acid resulted in Se and In₄Se₃, while XRD results of all other reactions could only indicate the presence of Se. Various concentrations of NaBH₄ were tested in order to alter the reducing power of the system, however the desired product was never realized.