MRI-R2: Acquisition of X-ray diffractometer for nano-bio materials and earth sciences research

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0960256Datye"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."This proposal seeks to acquire a powder x-ray diffractometer for advancing research and education in nano-bio materials and in earth and planetary sciences. This research grade instrument will add several new capabilities not currently available anywhere on the UNM campus. These include parallel beam focusing for thin film and small angle x-ray diffraction from mesoporous silica used for biosensors and drug delivery; monocapillary collimation optics that will enable collection of microdiffraction data from rare meteorite samples, minerals produced by microbial activity as well as ancient pottery; in-situ reaction chamber for controlled environment reaction studies of fuel cell catalysts and catalysts for conversion of biorenewables, real-time experimental studies of gas-solid reactions in geologic materials, and for study of air sensitive electrodes for lithium ion batteries. The special sample stages will allow the performance of new experiments on ferromagnetic materials of great interest for spintronics and magnetic refrigeration. The higher quality data from this instrument will allow quantitative determinations of crystal structures and phase compositions via Reitveld methods. The new XRD will replace a heavily used Scintag Pad V powder diffractometer that was installed in 1984 and has been operated continuously over the past 25 years (with the usual downtime for repairs and maintenance). The laboratory serves as a key resource for researchers at UNM and along the Rio Grande corridor, with users from local industry as well as academics from neighboring institutions. In the past ten years of operation, over 60 different users from twelve different departments on the UNM campus have had hands-on access to this instrument.The lab currently has forty qualified and registered users, 25 of whom are currently using the laboratory on a regular basis. The number of users is severely limited by the speed of data acquisition. The greatly expanded capabilities for new types of analysis and increased speed of data collection will lead to a significant expansion of the current user base (possibly by as much as 100%) within the first year of operation. At present the XRD laboratory is the only open access facility in the Rio Grande corridor and is available to colleagues at other academic institutions, such as NM Tech.