MRI: Acquisition of a Scanning Electron Microscope for Imaging and Elemental Analysis in Research at Duquesne University

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With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Duquesne University will acquire a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to support imaging, elemental analysis and elemental mapping. This instrumentation will enable significant advances in projects focused on materials science, nanotechnology, biology, energy and the environment. Examples of projects include: i.) The elemental composition and composition gradients in inorganic semiconductors at the nanoscale will be studied. This will be combined with data detailing bulk phase analysis to understand the resulting physical properties of the semiconductor and the fine-tuning thereof; ii.) The analysis of alloy oxide surfaces will be studied where elemental maps of the oxide surface via EDS will be combined with atomic force microscopy imaging information to understand why or when the reactivity of an organic moiety varies with surface content; iii.) Nanoscale elemental analysis (EDS) and morphology determination (SEM) will be used to optimize the efficiency of carbon-modified(CM)-n-TiO2 thin films for photoelectrochemical splitting of water to hydrogen by visible light. Scanning electron microscopy is a widely used technique for providing an image of a sample surface. The image is obtained from scanning the surface with a beam of electrons. Energy dispersive spectroscopy is combined with a SEM to provide elemental analysis i.e. chemical characterization of the sample. The SEM/EDS acquisition will be fully integrated into graduate and undergraduate research projects, as well as three regularly offered courses in chemistry, biology and forensic science, providing students with cutting-edge microscopy experience. Many of Duquesne's summer research students will have access to the instrumentation via a NSF-sponsored REU program, as will high school students through an outreach project to Sto-Rox High School. Faculty from Indiana University of PA, Slippery Rock University and St. Vincent College will also use the instrument.