Research Planning Grant: High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis of Carbon Clusters

这项工作的目标是利用高分辨率电子显微镜(HRTEM)设备对富勒烯进行初步结构分析。本质上，这项研究计划补助金旨在促进安装HRTEM设备的首席研究员与同一研究所的另一个小组成员之间的合作，后者发现了批量生产富勒烯和随后的晶体生长的方法。来自两个小组的研究生接受了HRTEM技术的使用培训。HRTEM设备特别适合于在10到100-OA范围内对各种结构和形貌进行结构分析，例如更高的富勒烯、管状和插层几何结构，以及研究碳骨架之间或碳球内具有金属原子或离子的新型化合物。初步研究的结果将被用来为NSF准备一份完整的提案。富勒烯化学为合成和制备具有不同寻常的光学和磁光性质的新材料开辟了一条前沿途径。富勒烯和相关化合物的表征由纳米分析的透射电子显微镜设备提供了独特的服务。对研究生进行关于这一设施的培训，以及作为这项研究规划建议的结果而取得的初步结果，将有助于更好地了解富勒烯领域，并有助于女科学家在化学前沿领域的发展。

The goal of this work is to conduct preliminary structural analysis on fullerenes, using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) facility. In essence, this Research Planning Grant is designed to develop a collaboration between the Principal Investigator who installed the HRTEM facility and members of another group at the same institute who discovered methods for bulk production of fullerenes and the subsequent crystal growth. Graduate students from two groups are trained in the use of the HRTEM technique. The HRTEM facility is uniquely suitable for structural analysis in the 10 to 100-oA range for a variety of structures and topographies such as higher fullerenes, tubular and intercalated geometries, and for examination of novel compounds having metal atoms or ions in between carbon frame or encased within carbon spheres. The results of preliminary studies will be used to prepare a full proposal for NSF. Fullerence chemistry has created a frontier avenue for the synthesis and fabrication of new materials with unusual optical and magneto-optical properties. The characterization of fullerenes and associated compounds is uniquely served by the use of the nanoanalytical TEM facility. The training of graduate students on this facility, and the preliminary results obtained as the consequence of this research planning proposal will contribute to the better understanding of the fullerene field and to the development of women scientists in the frontier areas of chemistry.