MRI: Acquisition of an Ultra Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Instrument for Multidisciplinary Materials Research

非技术性：在多个长度尺度上操纵和测量材料的形态已成为解决当今人类面临的突出技术问题的关键策略，这些问题包括负担得起的太阳能、清洁水、更好设计的药物和碳封存的巨大挑战。 获得能够研究从纳米到微米长度尺度的工程材料系统的设备至关重要，不仅对于科学进步，而且对于教育和培训也至关重要。这些科学发现工具对于基础研究和应用研究都是必要的。这些工具为学生培养新技能，为下一代提供合理材料设计所需的技能。技术：将合成方案和工艺变量与形态和最终性能相关联的复杂问题是材料研究的基础。它最适合通过散射技术来解决，该技术捕获倒易空间中的三维结构信息（包括块体和埋藏结构）。该项目的目标是获得一台超小角度 X 射线散射 (USAXS) 仪器，以研究与一系列多学科应用相关的材料，包括有机太阳能电池、钝化金属薄膜、纳米结构膜、碳纳米管、纳米颗粒和催化剂。这些研究活动的共同主题是需要准确探索从纳米到介观尺度的层次结构，因为多个长度尺度之间的相关性产生了决定性能的独特功能。 USAXS 项目通过定量探测关键长度尺度域来满足这一需求，并补充了广角散射、针孔小角散射、光散射和 X 射线反射率等现有资源。因此，该项目通过为科学家提供涵盖 5 纳米到 1 微米长度尺度的定量结构数据，改变了代顿大学和俄亥俄州西南部地区的其他用户（迈阿密大学、宝洁公司、环境保护局、Clopay Plastics）与材料相关的研究。

Non-technical: Manipulating and measuring the morphology of materials on multiple length scales has emerged as a key strategy for addressing the prominent technological problems confronting mankind today including grand challenges of affordable solar power, clean water, better designed medicines, and carbon sequestration. Access to equipment capable of investigating engineered materials systems on length scales from nanometers to micrometers is crucial, not only for scientific progress, but also for education and training. Such instruments of scientific discovery are necessary for both basic and applied research. These tools engender new skills in students, equipping the next generation with the skills necessary for rational materials design. Technical: The complex problem of relating synthesis protocols and process variables to morphology and final properties is fundamental to materials research. It is most appropriately resolved by scattering techniques, which capture three-dimensional structural information (including bulk and buried structures) in reciprocal space. The goal of this project is to acquire an ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) instrument to investigate materials relevant to a range of multidisciplinary applications, including organic solar cells, passivating metallic films, nanostructured membranes, carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles and catalysts. The common theme in these research activities is the need to accurately explore hierarchical structure from the nano- to the meso-scale, since correlations between multiple length-scales give rise to unique functionalities that determine performance. The USAXS project meets this need by quantitatively probing critical length-scale domains, and complements existing resources such as wide-angle scattering, pinhole small-angle scattering, light scattering and x-ray reflectivity. The project thus transforms materials-related research at the University of Dayton and various other users in the south-west Ohio region (Miami University, Procter & Gamble, Environmental Protection Agency, Clopay Plastics) by providing scientists with quantitative structural data covering length scales from 5 nm to 1 micrometer.