SBIR Phase I: Novel platform for the preparation of nanomaterial samples for cryo-TEM imaging: capturing nanostructures at unparalleled time scales without artifacts

SBIR 第一阶段：用于制备用于冷冻 TEM 成像的纳米材料样品的新型平台：以无与伦比的时间尺度捕获纳米结构，而不会产生伪影

• 批准号: 1746430
• 负责人: Michael Godfrin
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: NanoSoft, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1746430&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; platform; preparation

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is aimed at developing a superior platform for the preparation of samples for cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy (cryo-TEM). Cryo-TEM provides images of morphologies and structures of liquid-based samples with nanometer resolution, which provides crucial insight for the development of materials in the pharmaceutical, chemicals and consumer goods industries, amongst others. Cryo-TEM sample preparation requires a sample thinning step, which results in a ~10-100 nm thick film that is appropriate for both sample vitrification and imaging. Commercial platforms provide thin samples with a blotting process, which has many drawbacks. Blotting leads to a variety of significant sample artifacts due to shear induced on sample structures. Furthermore, time required for blotting limits temporal resolution for studies of dynamic processes. A proprietary blotless sample thinning strategy reduces shear induced on the sample, and improves temporal resolution of sample preparation, by orders of magnitude. The integration of an innovative process with these advantages into a commercial platform would capture a large portion of the cryo-TEM sample preparation market, and even expand the cryo-TEM market due to improved and expanded characterization capabilities crucial to many industries. The intellectual merit of this project involves the development of an innovative blotless sample preparation process that overcomes the aforesaid drawbacks of the commercial state of the art, while providing extensive areas of thin sample film for imaging. Experiments and simulations will build a rigorous understanding of the critical properties of these processes, namely fluid flow induced by the process, and corresponding shear in the sample, the time required for removal of excess sample volume and the resulting yield of sample film area for imaging. This research will provide control of a superior sample thinning process that will be integrated into a disruptive cryo-TEM sample preparation platform. This platform will provide unparalleled insight into materials and processes that will reduce risk and accelerate development timelines for many industries utilizing nanomaterials.

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一个卓越的平台，用于制备低温透射电子显微镜 (cryo-TEM) 样品。冷冻透射电镜可提供纳米分辨率的液体样品的形态和结构图像，这为制药、化学品和消费品行业等材料的开发提供了重要的见解。冷冻 TEM 样品制备需要样品减薄步骤，从而形成适合样品玻璃化和成像的约 10-100 nm 厚的薄膜。商业平台提供薄样品的印迹过程，但有很多缺点。由于样品结构上产生的剪切力，印迹会导致各种明显的样品伪影。此外，印迹所需的时间限制了动态过程研究的时间分辨率。专有的无印迹样品稀释策略减少了样品上产生的剪切力，并提高了样品制备的时间分辨率，提高了几个数量级。将具有这些优势的创新工艺集成到商业平台中将占据冷冻 TEM 样品制备市场的很大一部分，甚至由于对许多行业至关重要的表征能力的改进和扩展而扩大冷冻 TEM 市场。该项目的智力优点涉及开发一种创新的无印迹样品制备工艺，该工艺克服了商业现有技术的上述缺点，同时提供了大面积的薄样品薄膜用于成像。实验和模拟将建立对这些过程的关键特性的严格理解，即过程引起的流体流动、样品中相应的剪切、去除多余样品体积所需的时间以及用于成像的样品薄膜区域的产量。这项研究将提供对卓越样品减薄过程的控制，该过程将集成到颠覆性的冷冻 TEM 样品制备平台中。该平台将为材料和工艺提供无与伦比的洞察力，从而降低风险并加快许多使用纳米材料的行业的开发时间表。