Scanning Probe Microscopy of Polymer, Biopolymer and Semicrystalline Surface Nanostructures

聚合物、生物聚合物和半晶表面纳米结构的扫描探针显微镜

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04790
• 负责人: Walker, Gilbert
• 金额: $ 4.52万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=748372
• 关键词: Scanning; Probe; Microscopy; Polymer; Biopolymer

The work described in this research program is focused on reducing barriers to productivity. For the team of scientists, this involves actively improving efforts to reduce barriers caused by mental health issues, which are made worse by the stress of social distancing and a lack of community for researchers of diverse genders. The science and technology development itself also aims to reduce barriers - and here we mean ones that cause inefficient uses of chemical energy. The research team will home in on several approaches using new analytical tools and materials invented in past research by the team. The first approach will test ideas for new catalysts based on thin sheets of boron and nitrogen atoms. We propose that mechanical energy and strain at the edges of these sheets creates states of atomic frustration that can be used to pull down barriers to important reactions that could take advantage of resources in which Canada is rich. An example is propane that could be converted to propene, which is an industrially more valuable chemical. This approach will be made possible by studies that will teach chemists and chemical engineers how to guide such useful strain using infrared, light induced mechanical energy - without much loss. The second approach aims to find ways to reduce the randomization of energy which has been the hallmark of chemical reactions for over a century. This involves using new ideas for conserving linear momentum. We will explore a principle illustrated by "Newton's cradle," which is a desk novelty made of a row of steel balls suspended together by strings. Raising and releasing a ball at one end can "knock-on" and cause a second ball at the other end to jump away with momentum that is similar to what the first ball brought in. This efficiency from the conservation of linear momentum was recently demonstrated for molecular systems on rows of copper atoms at a surface, and will be explored more deeply. The third approach is to find ways to reduce the losses of chemical energy in photovoltaic materials using state of the art imaging tools that look for tiny hotspots of inefficiencies. This will provide design rules for the preparation of better materials. And the last approach involves is to exploit similar light induced hotspots as beacons for biodiagnostics. All of these studies will explore new ideas for using energy more wisely.

该研究计划中描述的工作重点是减少生产力障碍。对于科学家团队来说，这需要积极改进努力，减少心理健康问题造成的障碍，而社会疏远的压力和不同性别研究人员缺乏社区使心理健康问题变得更糟。科学技术发展本身也旨在减少障碍——这里我们指的是那些导致化学能利用效率低下的障碍。研究团队将利用该团队过去研究中发明的新分析工具和材料来研究几种方法。第一种方法将测试基于硼和氮原子薄片的新型催化剂的想法。我们提出，这些薄片边缘的机械能和应变会产生原子挫败状态，可用于消除重要反应的障碍，从而利用加拿大丰富的资源。一个例子是可以转化为丙烯的丙烷，丙烯是一种工业上更有价值的化学品。这种方法将通过研究来实现，这些研究将教导化学家和化学工程师如何使用红外、光诱导的机械能来引导这种有用的应变，而不会造成太大的损失。第二种方法旨在找到减少能量随机化的方法，能量随机化一直是一个多世纪以来化学反应的标志。这涉及使用新的想法来保存线性动量。我们将探索“牛顿摇篮”所阐释的原理，这是一种由一排用绳子悬挂在一起的钢球制成的新奇办公桌。在一端举起并释放一个球可以“敲响”并导致另一端的第二个球以与第一个球带来的动量相似的动量跳开。最近证明了线性动量守恒的这种效率对于表面铜原子行上的分子系统，并将进行更深入的探索。第三种方法是使用最先进的成像工具来寻找减少效率低下的微小热点的方法来减少光伏材料中的化学能损失。这将为制备更好的材料提供设计规则。最后一种方法是利用类似的光诱导热点作为生物诊断的信标。所有这些研究都将探索更明智地利用能源的新想法。