NIRT: FRG: Structure of Nanocrystals

这个NSE纳米科学跨学科研究小组（NIRT）专注于纳米科学研究的核心问题之一：如何确定纳米尺寸颗粒内的原子结构。这是一个重要的问题，因为传统的晶体学技术往往在原子顺序的纳米范围内变得无用。本项目将开发新的方法，特别是原子对分布函数（PDF）方法，用于纳米尺度结构的研究。这些方法将通过快速计算机算法与现代x射线和中子设备相结合。这些技术将应用于纳米晶体材料，其中许多具有技术应用潜力。该项目的目标是在一种涉及建模和综合的反馈回路中使用结构数据来改善所研究材料的性能。其中包括V2O5干凝胶和纳米管，MoS2和WS2纳米管和纳米晶体，在仿生支架中合成的致密形式的钝化金纳米团簇，机械制备的GdAl2纳米磁铁，非晶和纳米形式的药物，碱金属催化的纳米晶体碳和相关电子氧化物的电子纳米相分离。将开发设备和软件，并通过讲习班向对纳米颗粒结构特性感兴趣的广大社区提供。从本科到博士后，研究与教育相结合。该培训包括实验室研究以及在同步加速器x射线和中子研究的国家用户设施进行复杂的现场实验。这个NSE纳米科学跨学科研究小组（NIRT）专注于纳米科学研究的核心问题之一：如何确定复杂的纳米尺寸颗粒和材料中的原子结构。在这里，传统的测量原子结构的工具，x射线和中子晶体学，经常失败。该项目将通过开发利用现代国家设施和先进高速计算的新方法来解决这一缺点，以确定纳米材料中的原子排列。国家设施提供了所需的前所未有的x射线和中子功率。该NIRT将研究人员与合成化学家和化学工程师在新型结构测定方法方面的专业知识结合起来。从结构研究中获得的知识将反馈到样品合成步骤中，以设计具有改进功能的纳米结构材料。该项目的一个重要方面是以专用设施和软件的形式创建基础设施，供希望进行类似调查的其他人使用。新的研究人员将通过实践研讨会、具体项目的合作以及对毕业生和本科生的培训来进行培训。学生们将通过在不同研究人员的实验室工作和在国家机构合作进行实验来扩大他们的研究经验。这将为他们在学术界、工业界和政府的纳米科学和工程领域的职业生涯做好准备。

This NSE Nanoscience Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) focuses on one of the central problems in nanoscience research: How to determine the atomic structure within nanosize particles. This is an important issue because conventional crystallographic techniques are often rendered useless by the nanometer range of the atomic order. This project will develop novel approaches, particularly the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) method, for the study of nano-scale structure. These methods will be integrated with modern x-ray and neutron facilities via fast computer algorithms. The techniques will be applied to nanocrystalline materials, many of which have potential for technological applications. A goal of the project is to use the structure data in a kind of feedback loop involving modeling and synthesis to improve the properties of the materials under study. These include V2O5 xerogels and nanotubes, MoS2 and WS2 nanotubes and nanocrystals, passivated gold nanoclusters in dense forms and synthesized in biomimetic scaffolds, mechanically prepared GdAl2 nanomagnets, pharmaceutical drugs in amorphous and nanocrystalline form, alkali metal catalyzed nanocrystalline carbon and electronic nano-phase-separation in correlated-electron oxides. Facilities and software will be developed and made available via workshops to the broad community with interests in the structural properties of nanoparticles. The research is integrated with education, from undergraduate to post-doctoral level. This training includes laboratory research as well as sophisticated on-site experiments at national user facilities for synchrotron x-ray and neutron research. This NSE Nanoscience Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) focuses on one of the central problems in nanoscience research: How to determine the atomic structure within complex, nanosize particles and materials. Here, conventional tools for measuring atomic structure, x-ray and neutron crystallography, often fail. This project will address this shortcoming by developing novel methods that make use of modern national facilities and advanced high-speed computing to to determine atomic arrangements in nano-materials. The national facilities provide the unprecedented power of x-rays and neutrons that is required. This NIRT combines researchers with the expertise in novel structure determination methods with synthetic chemists and chemical engineers. Knowledge gained from the structural studies will be fed back into the sample synthesis steps to engineer nanostructured materials that have improved functionalities. An important aspect of the project is to create infrastructure in the form of dedicated facilities and software that can be used by others who wish to carry out similar investigations. New researchers will be trained through hands-on workshops, collaboration on specific projects, and by training graduates and undergraduates. The students will broaden their research experience by spending periods working in different investigators' laboratories and collaborating on experiments at national facilities. This will prepare them for careers in nanoscience and engineering in academe, industry, and government.