MRI: Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope for Materials Research

MRI：购买透射电子显微镜用于材料研究

• 批准号: 1827557
• 负责人: Matthew Libera
• 金额: $ 49.96万
• 依托单位: Stevens Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-10-01 至 2021-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1827557&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Transmission; Electron; Microscope

This project is upgrading the ability of researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology to study the structure of advanced materials by replacing a 25-year old transmission electron microscope with a new and modern microscope. The new microscope is able to take advantage of computer control and digital image acquisition that has transformed such instruments over the past decade. The new microscope is used by a broad and interdisciplinary group of professors and their students to study advanced materials being developed for applications in healthcare and in energy, including materials used in biomedical implants such as hip and knee replacements as well as materials used to make flexible solar cells. The new microscope is also used in lecture and laboratory courses as well as in one-on-one mentoring to train students about the microscopic structure of advanced materials and how this structure can be quantitatively studied with modern transmission electron microscopes. The microscope is essential to a broad array of graduate students pursuing their doctoral dissertation research.This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) project provides funds to purchase a JEOL 1400 transmission electron microscope. This instrument is a 120 keV thermionic (LaB6) microscope, and it is optimized for cryo-electron microscopy, tomography, and diffraction-contrast and mass-thickness-contrast imaging. It replaces a 25 year-old microscope purchased in 1992 partly with NSF funding. Six specific projects are being substantially advanced with this new microscope, including two projects led by women Faculty members. One research project is developing infection-resisting biomaterials. Another is developing advanced scaffolds for tissue engineering. A third is developing gold nanostructures for monitoring focal-adhesion formation. The other three projects fall within the energy space. One is developing a new materials platform for high-temperature label-free sensing. Another pursues novel cryo-microscopy experiments involving organic solvents in order to understand solvent-induced gel formation and create organic solar cells using scalable processing methods. The third uses tomography to characterize network formation involving magnetic nanoparticles. These core projects, as well as other research projects, all require the spatial and image resolution afforded by transmission electron microscopy in order for them to advance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目正在通过用新型现代显微镜取代已有 25 年历史的透射电子显微镜来提升史蒂文斯理工学院研究人员研究先进材料结构的能力。新型显微镜能够利用计算机控制和数字图像采集技术，这在过去十年中改变了此类仪器。广泛的跨学科教授及其学生小组使用这种新型显微镜来研究为医疗保健和能源应用而开发的先进材料，包括用于生物医学植入物（例如髋关节和膝关节置换术）的材料以及用于制造柔性太阳能电池的材料。新型显微镜还用于讲座和实验室课程以及一对一指导，以培训学生先进材料的微观结构以及如何使用现代透射电子显微镜定量研究这种结构。显微镜对于众多进行博士论文研究的研究生来说是必不可少的。该重大研究仪器 (MRI) 项目提供资金购买 JEOL 1400 透射电子显微镜。该仪器是 120 keV 热电子 (LaB6) 显微镜，针对冷冻电子显微镜、断层扫描以及衍射对比和质量厚度对比成像进行了优化。它取代了 1992 年部分由 NSF 资助购买的已有 25 年历史的显微镜。这种新显微镜正在大力推进六个具体项目，其中包括由女教员领导的两个项目。一项研究项目正在开发抗感染生物材料。另一个是开发用于组织工程的先进支架。第三个是开发用于监测焦点粘附形成的金纳米结构。其他三个项目属于能源领域。其中之一正在开发一种用于高温无标签传感的新材料平台。另一项研究则致力于涉及有机溶剂的新颖冷冻显微镜实验，以了解溶剂诱导的凝胶形成并使用可扩展的加工方法创建有机太阳能电池。第三种方法使用断层扫描来表征涉及磁性纳米颗粒的网络形成。这些核心项目以及其他研究项目都需要透射电子显微镜提供的空间和图像分辨率才能取得进展。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。