Nanoscale characterization facilities linking the solution and solid state

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New materials and state-of-the-art methods for materials processing are at the heart of virtually all technological advances, from telecommunications to renewable energy generation, electronic displays to medical devices. The University of St Andrews has world-leading expertise in this area, spanning researchers in the Schools of both Chemistry and Physics and Astronomy. The University has committed to securing its leading position in this area through strategic recruitment of early career researchers who will become the next generation of leaders. Furthermore, the University is supporting this critical mass of current and future research leaders through investments in equipment, buildings and facilities. Many of the next great advances in materials research will be made as a result of precisely controlling and understanding matter on the nanoscale. This requires modern equipment for the analysis of materials that consist of components with different chemical make-ups, in various physical states (e.g. solids or solutions), prepared and arranged on several size-scales - from molecules less than a nanometer in size to bulk devices that can be seen and held, and everything in between. Only by combining information from a range of analytical methods can researchers hope to fully understand these new complicated materials, and therefore be able to logically design and optimize them to possess the properties required for future technological advances. We have identified two specific items of equipment that address this characterization challenge in different, but very complementary, ways, and which are needed by many (more than 10) of our early career researchers. This equipment will complement our already excellent range of facilities for fabrication and characterization of advanced materials. It will allow the rapid, on-site characterization of key parameters of very thin film solids, and of the building blocks used to prepare these solids from solutions. With these new capabilities, our researchers will be able to accurately understand how features of the building blocks relate to the characteristics of the materials produced, and therefore efficiently optimize their materials and procedures. This equipment has been specifically chosen to have a significant benefit for the widest possible range of early career researchers, working in as diverse areas as optical materials for tiny flexible displays, new components of light emitting diodes; materials for next-generation solar cells, or delivery devices for gaseous drugs. As a result of this award, each of these young research groups will be able to perform experiments that they would otherwise just not be able to do; they will generate new, deeper scientific understanding about the systems and materials they work with; and they will be able to produce higher quality research more efficiently. This will have hugely significant benefits for the careers of these emerging research leaders, and for a huge breadth of science that can be performed at St Andrews. This proposal will play a crucial role in allowing these early stage researchers to realize their full potential and develop into the next generation of internationally renowned research leaders.