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.

该项目正在升级史蒂文斯技术学院的研究人员通过用新的现代显微镜代替25岁的传输电子显微镜来研究高级材料的结构。新的显微镜能够利用过去十年来改变此类仪器的计算机控制和数字图像采集。新的显微镜由广泛的跨学科教授及其学生组使用，以研究用于医疗保健和能源应用的高级材料，包括用于生物医学植入物（例如髋关节和膝关节替代）的材料，以及用于制造柔性太阳能电池的材料。新的显微镜还用于讲座和实验室课程以及一对一的指导中，以培训学生有关高级材料的显微镜结构，以及如何使用现代传输电子显微镜进行定量研究该结构。显微镜对于从事博士学位论文研究的众多研究生至关重要。本主要的研究仪器（MRI）项目提供了购买JEOL 1400传输电子显微镜的资金。该仪器是一种120 KEV热离子（LAB6）显微镜，它针对冷冻电子显微镜，断层扫描和衍射对比度和质量厚度对比度成像进行了优化。它取代了1992年购买的25年历史的显微镜，部分用NSF资金购买。这款新显微镜将大大推进六个特定的项目，其中包括由女教师领导的两个项目。一项研究项目正在开发抗感染的生物材料。另一个正在开发用于组织工程的高级支架。第三个是开发金纳米结构，以监测局灶性粘附形成。其他三个项目属于能源空间。一个人正在开发一个新的材料平台，用于无标签的无标签感应。另一个追求涉及有机溶剂的新型冷冻微观显微镜实验，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。第三次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传输电子显微镜提供的空间和图像解决方案，以便它们提高。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。