MRI: Acquisition of an Automated X-Ray Scattering Instrument for in situ Multiscale Studies

MRI：获取用于原位多尺度研究的自动 X 射线散射仪器

• 批准号: 2117523
• 负责人: Rebecca Taylor
• 金额: $ 99.22万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117523&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Automated; Ray; Scattering

The development of cutting-edge nanostructured materials for applications like smart surfaces, batteries, and synthetic tissues requires highly interdisciplinary teams as well as tools that can characterize materials across scales. Advanced functional materials have the potential to drive advances in sensing (for uses such as environmental monitoring, disease diagnosis and advanced manufacturing), energy storage for enhanced energy sustainability and robotics (with applications ranging from providing support to amputees and stroke victims to disaster response). The behavior of materials that have nanostructural features from Angstroms to hundreds of nanometers in size must be measured under realistic conditions to characterize their structural properties during use. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will support the acquisition of a Small to Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) system at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to address these needs, enabling high-throughput studies at a variety of length scales and under a variety of stimulation conditions. By customizing the system to enable high-throughput and robotic control of experiments, this instrument will facilitate the broadening of participation in X-ray scattering research to users across science and engineering. Through an “Initiative for fully-automated high-throughput SAXS/WAXS” and annual meetings of the Western PA SAXS/WAXS Interest Group, this project will seed new collaborations that enable next-generation robotics applications and developing methodologies for machine learning-based discovery. Short courses and case studies in existing courses will support the integration of research and teaching, and outreach on SAXS/WAXS will target women and underrepresented groups. Ease of use, automation and remote operation capabilities will facilitate utilization at a national level.The research enabled by this instrumentation seeks to link material function to structure from the atomic to micron scales. The SAXS/WAXS system will enable researchers to conduct in situ and in operando studies across these scales to address a variety of important fundamental knowledge gaps. Specific goals include the use of the instrument to develop research contributions in the following areas: (1) solution-dependent conformation and dynamics of responsive nucleic acid nanosystems, (2) understanding and mitigating the structural evolutions in lithium ion battery electrodes that eventually lead to damage and catastrophic battery failure, (3) linking structure to function for novel antibacterial peptides, (4) elucidating the interplay between ion clustering and molecular packing/morphology of polymer matrix in governing the efficient transport in ion-transport membranes, and (5) the development of novel copolymer-based architectures in which lock-and-key interactions facilitate self-healing properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

用于智能表面、电池和合成组织等应用的尖端纳米结构材料的开发需要高度跨学科的团队以及能够跨尺度表征材料的工具，先进的功能材料有潜力推动传感领域的进步（用于诸如此类的用途）。环境监测、疾病诊断和先进制造）、用于增强能源可持续性的能量存储和机器人技术（其应用范围从为截肢者和中风受害者提供支持到灾难响应）具有从埃到数百纳米纳米结构特征的材料的行为。必须测量尺寸该重大研究仪器 (MRI) 奖项将支持卡内基梅隆大学 (CMU) 购买小到广角 X 射线散射 (SAXS/WAXS) 系统，以满足这些需求。 ，能够在各种长度尺度和各种刺激条件下进行高通量研究，通过定制系统以实现高通量和机器人控制实验，该仪器将有助于扩大 X 射线散射研究的参与范围。通过“全自动高通量 SAXS/WAXS 倡议”和西宾夕法尼亚州 SAXS/WAXS 兴趣小组年会，该项目将促成新的合作，以实现下一代机器人应用和开发方法。现有课程中的短期课程和案例研究将支持研究和教学的整合，SAXS/WAXS 的推广将针对女性和代表性不足的群体。该仪器的研究旨在将材料功能与从原子到微米尺度的结构联系起来。SAXS/WAXS 系统将使研究人员能够在这些尺度上进行原位和操作研究，以解决这些问题。具体目标包括使用该仪器在以下领域做出研究贡献：(1) 响应性核酸纳米系统的溶液依赖性构象和动力学，(2) 理解和减轻核酸纳米系统的结构演化。最终导致损坏和灾难性电池故障的锂离子电池电极，(3) 将结构与新型抗菌肽的功能联系起来，(4) 阐明离子簇和聚合物基质的分子堆积/形态之间的相互作用，以控制离子的有效传输-传输膜，以及（5）开发新型共聚物基结构，其中锁和钥匙的相互作用促进自我修复特性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。