Brian D. Lamp

Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
Truman State University
Kirksville, MO 63501
(660) 785-7251
(660) 785-4045 (fax)
blamp@truman.edu

Find more information (course syllabi, exams, etc.) at Dr. Lamp's faculty page at blamp.sites.truman.edu

Education

• B.A., Augustana College, South Dakota
• Ph.D., Iowa State University
• Post-Doc., University of South Dakota

Courses Taught

• Chemistry for Contemporary Living
• Chemical Principles I
• Chemical Principles II
• Quantitative Analysis
• Instrumental Analysis
• Advanced Analytical Chemistry

Research Interests

My research interests are in the areas of surface design and electroanalytical chemistry. Electroanalytical techniques are based on the oxidation and reduction of species in solution and hold promise in the sensor arena because they are relatively straightforward, robust, and cost-effective. Many of the challenges in electrochemical measurements center on the ability of the technique to distinguish one analyte from another. Most of our projects are aimed at improving this "selectivity" for electroanalytical measurements.

Specifically, I am interested in the design and characterization of modified electrode materials with locally tunable chemical and electrochemical activity. In these projects, we attempt to "build in" some selectivity by controlling the chemistry that occurs on portions of the sensor surface. Such surfaces will be useful in enhancing the selectivity of electrochemical devices and will have importance in the design of miniaturized sensors.

In order to construct and characterize our surfaces, we must be able to study their local reactivity with fairly high spatial resolution. As a result, I am also very interested in the development of techniques that allow spatial and chemical characterization of such interfaces. The image at the right is a three dimensional "map" of one of our locally active surfaces, collected using an instrument (a scanning electrochemical microscope) built by our students. The x and y-axes on the map correspond to the size of the region being imaged in micrometers (10-6 meters), while the z-axis represents the activity of the electrode toward the reduction of a probe molecule.