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

MRI：获取用于原位多尺度研究的自动 X 射线散射仪器

• 批准号: 2117523
• 负责人: Rebecca Taylor
• 金额: $ 99.22万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117523&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Automated; Ray; Scattering

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.

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的开发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技术的进步（用于环境监测、疾病诊断和先进制造等用途），用于增强能源可持续性的能量存储和机器人技术（应用范围从为截肢者和中风患者提供支持到灾难应对）。 具有从埃到数百纳米尺寸的纳米结构特征的材料的行为必须在实际条件下测量，以表征其在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）收购小到广角X射线散射（SAXS/WAXS）系统，以满足这些需求，从而实现各种长度尺度和各种刺激条件下的高通量研究。通过定制该系统以实现高通量和机器人控制实验，该仪器将有助于扩大科学和工程用户对X射线散射研究的参与。通过“全自动高通量SAXS/WAXS计划”和Western PA SAXS/WAXS兴趣小组的年度会议，该项目将为新的合作提供种子，从而实现下一代机器人应用并开发基于机器学习的发现方法。短期课程和现有课程中的个案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代表性不足的群体。易于使用、自动化和远程操作的能力将有助于在国家一级的利用，这一仪器所促成的研究试图将材料功能与结构从原子到微米尺度联系起来。 SAXS/WAXS系统将使研究人员能够在这些尺度上进行现场和操作研究，以解决各种重要的基础知识差距。具体目标包括利用该工具在以下领域作出研究贡献：（1）响应性核酸纳米系统的溶液依赖性构象和动力学，（2）理解和减轻锂离子电池电极中最终导致损坏和灾难性电池故障的结构演变，（3）将新型抗菌肽的结构与功能联系起来，（4）阐明离子簇和聚合物基质的分子堆积/形态在控制离子传输膜中的有效传输中的相互作用，和（5）新型共聚物基结构的发展，其中锁和钥匙的相互作用促进了自该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得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的支持。