MRI: Acquisition of an Ultra-Small-Angle to Wide-Angle Dual Source X-ray Scattering Instrument for Materials Characterization

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This award supports the purchase of a state-of-the-art X-ray scattering instrument that will be operated as an open-access facility within the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM), host of an NSF-funded MRSEC at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). The Xeuss 2.0 from Xenocs allows the structural characterization over length scales from 0.09 to 600 nm and thus facilitates study of hierarchical structures in a wide range of hard and soft materials. The anticipated scope of materials to be studied includes metals, ceramics, plastics, biological tissue, and novel combinations of these. The instrument will also play a vital role in the materials education and training of the many high school, undergraduate and graduate students, visiting scientists, post-doctoral associates and local high school teachers who participate in LRSM programs. The facility will also develop and administer workshops and online training materials to promote its broad use by beginners and to fully develop expert-users and thus promote knowledge exchange and technology transfer. The open-access facility will be used by scientists and engineers from local companies and colleges/universities to advance their research. Besides providing unique training in fields critical for US technological competitiveness, the discoveries and understanding facilitated by the new instrumentation will underpin future technologies, thereby informing industry, stimulating the economy, and offering benefits to society at large. This grant enables the purchase of a state-of-the-art X-ray scattering instrument for an open-access facility within the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM), host of an NSF-funded MRSEC at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). The Xeuss 2.0 by Xenocs enables materials characterization across an extraordinarily wide range of cutting-edge research programs at Penn and in the Philadelphia/Delaware-Valley region. The dual Cu-Mo source and adjustable sample to detector distances provide structural information at both high and low spatial resolution across a wide range of length scales (0.09 to 600 nm). An assortment of sample environments enables materials to be manipulated in situ and operando to probe their structural evolution in response to temperature, tensile stress and electric/magnetic fields, even in humid and liquid environments. Thus, the instrument will advance research on the synthesis, fabrication, processing, and assembly of a wide range of materials systems, and will provide crucial insight about structure relevant to their chemical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, optical, thermal, and transport properties. The anticipated materials usage portfolio includes nanoporous metals for catalysis and energy storage; nanocrystals, nanorods, and nanocrystal superlattices for light harvesting; polymer nanocomposite films for thermal management, optical properties, and scratch resistance; acid- and ion-containing polymers displaying micro-phase separation for ion transport; dendrons, dendrimers, and their self-assembled structures; hierarchical polymer-based films for controlled wetting; chromonic liquid crystals with novel self-assembled structures and phase transitions; inorganic microlaminated thin films wherein fabrication methods control magnetic properties; thin film molecular glasses with controlled stability and toughness; hierarchical protein structures in squid lenses and other tissues; polycarbonates in ionic liquids to manipulate chemical reactivity; and oriented protein films for electromechanical coupling. The new instrumentation is critical for at least 17 research groups, including 12 from Penn spanning 7 academic departments, and 3 from local universities. Additionally, the instrument will advance proprietary/open-publication research of nearby industrial partners. The Xeuss 2.0 will play a vital role in the materials education and training of the many high school, undergraduate and graduate students, visiting scientists, post-doctoral associates and local high school teachers who participate in LRSM programs.