MRI: Acquisition of a State-of-the-Art Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) Instrument for Research and Education

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This award to the University of Connecticut is for the acquisition of a versatile Small-angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) instrument that can also be used for wide-angle and grazing-angle scattering measurements. SAXS is a powerful tool for the characterization of structures at length scales from a few to a few hundred nanometers. It provides information on the shape, size, molecular weight, polydispersity, and interparticle interactions of materials. This instrument will further ongoing research in polymer science, molecular biology, pharmaceutical science, nanomaterials, and energy research. It will be used to answers fundamental questions, such as: What is the ordering of inorganic templates and catalysts? How does the structure of various targeted drug carriers affect their function? What factors control the associations of bio-derived building blocks? And, how do structures form in molecular assemblies? The SAXS instrument will be housed in a shared user facility, which provides access to researchers across campus as well as local industry. It will enable research projects that improve health care, develop more efficient sources of energy, and produce materials with superior properties. The instrument will be used to train the next generation of scientists through hands-on research experiences for undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-docs, as well as classroom demonstrations in structural characterization courses.