MRI: Acquisition of an Automated X-Ray Scattering Instrument for in situ Multiscale Studies

开发用于智能表面、电池和合成组织等应用的尖端纳米结构材料需要高度跨学科的团队以及能够跨尺度表征材料的工具。先进的功能材料有可能推动传感(用于环境监测、疾病诊断和先进制造)、能源储存以增强能源可持续性和机器人技术(应用范围从为截肢者和中风患者提供支持到灾害应对)方面的进步。具有从埃到数百纳米大小的纳米结构特征的材料的行为必须在现实条件下进行测量，以表征其使用过程中的结构特性。这项重大研究仪器(MRI)奖将支持卡内基梅隆大学(CMU)收购小角度到广角X射线散射(SAXS/WAXS)系统，以满足这些需求，使各种长度尺度和各种刺激条件下的高通量研究成为可能。通过定制该系统以实现对实验的高通量和机器人控制，该仪器将促进将X射线散射研究的参与扩大到科学和工程领域的用户。通过“全自动高通量SAXS/WAXS倡议”和西部PA SAXS/WAXS兴趣小组的年度会议，该项目将促成新的合作，支持下一代机器人应用和开发基于机器学习的发现方法。现有课程中的短期课程和案例研究将支持研究与教学的结合，关于SAXS/WAXS的外联活动将针对妇女和任职人数不足的群体。易用性、自动化和远程操作能力将促进国家一级的使用。该仪器实现的研究旨在将材料功能与从原子到微米尺度的结构联系起来。SAXS/WAXS系统将使研究人员能够在这些范围内进行现场和手术研究，以解决各种重要的基本知识差距。具体目标包括使用该仪器在以下领域发展研究贡献：(1)与溶液有关的响应性核酸纳米系统的构象和动力学，(2)了解和减缓最终导致损坏和灾难性电池故障的锂离子电池电极中的结构演变，(3)将结构与功能联系起来用于新型抗菌肽，(4)阐明离子聚集和聚合物基质的分子堆积/形态之间的相互作用，以调节离子传输膜中的有效传输，以及(5)开发基于新型共聚物的体系结构，其中锁和键的相互作用促进自我修复性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The development of cutting-edge nanostructured materials for applications like smart surfaces, batteries, and synthetic tissues requires highly interdisciplinary teams as well as tools that can characterize materials across scales. Advanced functional materials have the potential to drive advances in sensing (for uses such as environmental monitoring, disease diagnosis and advanced manufacturing), energy storage for enhanced energy sustainability and robotics (with applications ranging from providing support to amputees and stroke victims to disaster response). The behavior of materials that have nanostructural features from Angstroms to hundreds of nanometers in size must be measured under realistic conditions to characterize their structural properties during use. This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will support the acquisition of a Small to Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS) system at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to address these needs, enabling high-throughput studies at a variety of length scales and under a variety of stimulation conditions. By customizing the system to enable high-throughput and robotic control of experiments, this instrument will facilitate the broadening of participation in X-ray scattering research to users across science and engineering. Through an “Initiative for fully-automated high-throughput SAXS/WAXS” and annual meetings of the Western PA SAXS/WAXS Interest Group, this project will seed new collaborations that enable next-generation robotics applications and developing methodologies for machine learning-based discovery. Short courses and case studies in existing courses will support the integration of research and teaching, and outreach on SAXS/WAXS will target women and underrepresented groups. Ease of use, automation and remote operation capabilities will facilitate utilization at a national level.The research enabled by this instrumentation seeks to link material function to structure from the atomic to micron scales. The SAXS/WAXS system will enable researchers to conduct in situ and in operando studies across these scales to address a variety of important fundamental knowledge gaps. Specific goals include the use of the instrument to develop research contributions in the following areas: (1) solution-dependent conformation and dynamics of responsive nucleic acid nanosystems, (2) understanding and mitigating the structural evolutions in lithium ion battery electrodes that eventually lead to damage and catastrophic battery failure, (3) linking structure to function for novel antibacterial peptides, (4) elucidating the interplay between ion clustering and molecular packing/morphology of polymer matrix in governing the efficient transport in ion-transport membranes, and (5) the development of novel copolymer-based architectures in which lock-and-key interactions facilitate self-healing properties.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.