MRI: Acquisition of an X-Ray scattering system for polymer and nanomaterials research and education

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The Chemistry Department at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island (CUNY CSI) will acquire x-ray scattering instrumentation with this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. The award will fund a small-angle X-ray scattering system with wide-angle capabilities (WAXS) that will advance research work on understanding hierarchical structure-property relationship of polymers, liquid crystals, surfactants, nanocrystals, biomaterials, and nanostructured materials. It will guide the synthesis of high-purity, nonporous SiC materials and barium strontium titanate nano crystals; probe the self-assembly of C60/polymer and cationic polysaccharide/anionic surfactant complexes; aid in the study of discotic liquid crystals; investigate semiconducting liquid crystals. The small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique, sometimes combined with wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), has become a major tool for the characterization of nanostructures of soft materials. These techniques are available for solids and liquids, and have been also implemented for thin films and oriented samples, such as polymer fibers. The instrumentation will advance the training of research students in modern diffraction techniques. It will be used in undergraduate research laboratory instruction. Other CUNY campuses and academic institutions in the New York City area will have access to the instrumentation.