Acquisition of Dynamic Light Scattering Device for Nanoparticle Characterization (Small Equipment Proposal)

在过去的十年里，人类工程纳米颗粒在制造业、电子产品、食品安全和消费品中的使用急剧增加。因此，了解纳米材料对环境的影响是很重要的。需要最先进的设备来进行必要的分析。该奖项用于购买怀俄明大学最先进的动态光散射仪，该仪器将用于表征纳米颗粒的尺寸、电荷和在液体介质中的稳定性。附件包括粘度计和用于测量纳米颗粒聚集的自动滴定装置，以及用于样品和滴定剂的脱气装置。该仪器将用于广泛的环境纳米技术研究。包括表征有机酸和含磷纳米颗粒之间的相互作用，用于太阳能转换的光活性薄膜的纳米颗粒的合成，研究氧化还原催化中细胞色素和氧化还原酶的氧化还原连接构象变化，废水膜预处理和纳米颗粒过滤效率，以及非传统滤膜的开发等。这项工作的更广泛影响包括增加EPSCoR机构最先进的科学基础设施，以及为至少7名教职员工和相关研究人员提供研究支持，其中一些人是职业生涯早期和/或女性。该仪器还将用于学生研究培训，并将纳入目前实验室课程的课程。该仪器将作为怀俄明大学工程学院中学女生夏令营的关键教学工具，该夏令营致力于向中学生展示纳米材料使用的环境影响以及用于研究它们的工具。该仪器还将用于培训6-12年级学生的在职教师。

Over the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of human-engineered nanoparticles in manufacturing, electronics, food safety, and consumer products. It is important, therefore, to understand the impact of nanomaterials on the environment. State-of-the-art equipment is needed to carry out the requisite analyses. This award funds the acquisition of a state-of-the-art dynamic light scattering instrument at the University of Wyoming that will be used to characterize nanoparticle size, charge, and stability in liquid media. Accessories including a viscometer and automatic titrating attachment for measuring nanoparticle aggregation, as well as a degassing unit for samples and titrants, are included. The instrument will be used in a wide variety of environmental nanotechnology studies. These include characterizing the interactions between organic acids and phosphate-containing nanoparticles, the synthesis of nanoparticles for photoactive films for solar conversion, studying redox-linked conformational changes of cytochromes and redox enzymes in redox catalysis, wastewater membrane pretreatment and nanoparticle filtering efficiency, and the development of unconventional filtration membranes, among others. Broader impacts of the work include increasing state-of-the-art infrastructure for science at an EPSCoR institution and research support for a minimum of seven faculty members and associated researchers, a number of whom are early career and/or female. The instrument will also be used for student research training and will be integrated into the curriculum of present laboratory courses. The instrument will serve as a critical teaching tool during the University of Wyoming's, College of Engineering, Middle School Girls Camp which is dedicated to showing middle school girls the environmental implications of nanomaterial usage and the tools used to study them. The instrument will also be used to train in-service teachers of students in grades 6-12.