NSF's ChemMatCARS: A synchrotron X-ray national facility for chemistry and materials research at the Advanced Photon Source

化学学部、材料研究部和数学与物理科学理事会多学科活动办公室为NSF的ChemMatCARS提供持续的支持。这是一个用于化学和材料科学前沿研究的国家用户设施，在阿贡国家实验室的先进光子源中使用同步加速器x射线。NSF ChemMatCARS的各个站点为广泛的国家和国际科学家社区提供服务，提供世界上其他任何地方都没有的独特功能。研究活动涉及重要的社会问题，包括新能源的开发，受生物过程启发的生物分子材料，有助于理解生命规则的相互作用研究，环境修复过程，以及对广泛行业重要的新材料和催化剂。这个中等规模的资助设施是各级研究人员的培训基地，并开展了许多活动，以发展和多样化未来的STEM劳动力。该用户设备为研究先进的小分子晶体学、液体表面和界面散射以及异常小角x射线散射提供了独特的高亮度x射线资源。美国国家科学基金会ChemMatCARS的先进仪器能够在从纳秒到分钟的时间尺度范围内，对原子、分子和介观长度尺度上的有序和无序固体、液体和界面进行前沿研究。NSF ChemMatCARS的用户利用其独特的能力来解决各种各样的科学问题。晶体学的研究课题包括研究电子密度分布、热电材料的无序性、捕获太阳能用于能源生产和储存所必需的光响应材料、捕获光合作用模型和催化剂中的反应性中间体，以及研究高压下准晶体的相位应变（面畸变）。额外的插图是三维三角对分布函数（3D-delta-PDF）的研究，它提供了关于缺陷、无序和晶格动力学的详细和定量信息，极端条件下爆炸物的检查，气体吸附和分离的金属有机框架，催化、电子和磁性应用的无机材料，以及铁电组件。同步加速器提供了最强大的液体/液体和液体/表面界面的分子和中尺度结构探针，这对于理解大分子（如蛋白质）和细胞膜之间的相互作用至关重要，这些相互作用是许多生命过程的基础，并提供确定生命规则的信息。该领域还提供了纳米颗粒在具有特定光学、催化、传感和电磁功能的液体界面上的有组织组装的信息。异常小角x射线散射（ASAXS）用于块状材料中聚电解质、胶体和纳米颗粒附近金属离子分布的研究。ASAXS是唯一的技术，可以测量特定元素的分布在无序材料的散装环境。这是用来研究金属离子对核酸RNA和DNA的影响，并了解和改进镧系元素和锕系元素的分离工艺，这在处理放射性废物中是有用的。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Division of Chemistry, the Division of Materials Research and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Office of Multidisciplinary Activities provide continuing support to NSF's ChemMatCARS. This is a national user facility for frontier research in chemistry and materials science employing synchrotron X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Various stations at NSF's ChemMatCARS serve a broad national and international community of scientists providing some unique capabilities not found anywhere else in the world. Research activities address vital societal issues, including the development of new energy sources, biomolecular materials inspired by biological processes, studies of interactions that help in understanding the rules of life, environmental remediation processes, and new materials and catalysts important for a wide range of industries. The midscale-funded facility serves as a training ground for researchers at all levels and carries out numerous activities to develop and diversify the future STEM workforce.This user facility provides a unique high brilliance X-ray resource for the study of advanced small-molecule crystallography, liquid surface and interface scattering, and anomalous small angle X-ray scattering. Advanced instrumentation at NSF's ChemMatCARS enables forefront research of ordered and disordered solids, liquids and interfaces on the atomic, molecular and mesoscopic length scales over a range of time scales from nanoseconds to minutes. Users of NSF's ChemMatCARS take advantage of its unique capabilities to address a wide variety of scientific problems. Examples of crystallographic research topics include studies of electron density distributions, disorder in thermoelectric materials, photo-responsive materials essential to capture solar light for energy production and storage, capturing reactive intermediates in photosynthesis models and catalysts, and studying phason strain (face distortion) in quasicrystals under high pressure. Additional illustrations are studies of three-dimensional delta-pair distribution function (3D-delta-PDF) that provides detailed and quantitative information on defects, disorder and lattice dynamics, examination of explosives under extreme conditions, metal-organic frameworks for gas adsorption and separation, inorganic materials for catalytic, electronic and magnetic applications, and ferroelectric assemblies. The synchrotron provides the most powerful probe of molecular and mesoscale structure at liquid/liquid and liquid/surface interfaces which are essential to the understanding interactions between macromolecules (e.g., proteins) and cell membranes that underlie many life processes and provide information to determine the rules of life. This area also provides information on organized assembly of nanoparticles at liquid interfaces with specific optical, catalytic, sensing, and electromagnetic functionalities. The anomalous small angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) for the study of metal ion distribution near polyelectrolytes, colloids, and nanoparticles from bulk materials. ASAXS is the only technique that can measure the distribution of specific elements within the bulk environment of disordered materials. This is used to study the effect of metal ions on nucleic acids RNA and DNA and to gain understanding and improve separations processes of lanthanides and actinides that is useful in processing radioactive waste.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.