MRI: Acquisition of a Powder/Thin Film X-ray Diffractometer for Alternative Energy Research and Education

该奖项授予南达科他州立大学(SDSU)，以表彰其购买X射线衍射仪(XRD)系统，以推进替代能源研究和教育。该系统将实现薄膜、可变温度/大气、反射率、散射和粉末细化的测量。它将成为圣地亚哥州立大学校园的核心研究设施，支持几个由NSF、NASA、能源部资助的项目，包括用于高效太阳能转换的混合纳米材料、极薄的吸收太阳能电池、CdSe纳米棒的生长、用于光伏应用的结晶型低带隙共轭聚合物以及用于生物质转换的新型催化剂。该仪器将被安置在SDSU的高级光伏中心，并在一座新建成的建筑中分配空间，以确保该仪器将完全运行并在安装后保持满负荷运行。收购最先进的单晶X射线衍射仪将大大提高SDSU的研究能力、竞争力和生产率，并有望吸引更多的研究人员来到这个人口稀少的州。这一工具将被整合到南加州大学高级光伏中心，这是一个活跃的研究集群，吸引了研究生和本科生、博士后研究人员以及材料研究方面的高级研究员。由该仪器实现的研究预计将产生有关所开发材料的大量信息，推动具有成本效益的太阳能电池和替代能源技术的发展，以满足我国的需求。该仪器将通过为本科生和研究生提供研究经验，使多个学术部门能够改善教育。该项目还将通过将该仪器纳入既定的推广计划，如成功学院和南达科他州科学与工程博览会，扩大对科学和工程研究的参与，以鼓励高中、中学和美洲原住民学生在科学、技术、工程和数学领域追求职业生涯。

This award to South Dakota State University (SDSU) is for the acquisition of an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) system to advance alternative energy research and education. The system will enable thin film, variable temperature/atmosphere, reflectance, scattering, and powder refinement measurements. It will become a core research facility on the SDSU campus to support several NSF, NASA, DOE funded projects, including hybrid nanomaterials for efficient solar energy conversion, extremely thin absorber solar cells, growth of CdSe nanorods, crystalline low bandgap conjugated polymers for photovoltaic applications, and novel catalysts for biomass conversion. The instrument will be housed in the Center for Advanced Photovoltaics at SDSU with assigned space in a newly completed building, guaranteeing the instrument will be fully operational and remain at full capacity upon installation. The acquisition of a state-of-the-art single-crystal X-ray diffractometer will substantially improve the research capability, competitiveness, and productivity of SDSU, and is expected to attract more researchers to this sparsely populated state. This tool will be integrated into SDSU's Center for Advanced Photovoltaics, an active research cluster that engages graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and senior investigators in materials research. Research enabled by this instrument is expected to generate a tremendous amount of information on the developed materials, advancing technology in cost-effective solar cells and alternative energy to meet our Nation's needs. The instrument will enable multiple academic departments to improve education by providing research experiences to undergraduate and graduate students. This project will also broaden participation in science and engineering research by incorporating the instrument into established outreach programs, such as the Success Academy and the South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair, to encourage high school, middle school, and Native American students to pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.