The Time Of flight Isotopic and elemental Concentration (TOPIC) Facility for nano- to micrometer scale analysis of Earth and anthropogenic materials

人为活动正在对地球气候、生态系统和人类产生巨大影响。虽然这些变化的总和在全球范围内表现出来，但导致人为环境变化的许多过程在微米和纳米尺度上发生作用（即比人类头发的宽度小10-1000倍）。这很重要，因为为了让环境科学家设计出解决这些环境问题的策略，我们首先需要充分了解它们，以及所有相关尺度上的所有过程。然而，从微米级到纳米级，目前是一个巨大的分析挑战，到目前为止，一直是非常庞大和昂贵的机器的保留，如同步加速器和纳米sims，这些机器的访问受限。它们还经常需要高度专业化的样品制备，这就禁止了对某些材料的分析，并且通常难以使用以获得充分的定量分析。另一方面，更灵活和/或更容易获得的技术，如激光烧蚀（LA）电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICPMS）或电子显微探针，要么没有空间分辨率或检测限，以提供所需的低于5微米尺度的低浓度元素的定量分析。此外，他们还努力量化单个微/纳米颗粒分析产生的瞬态信号（通常不到一秒）。因此，为地球上一些最紧迫的问题制定解决方案不仅仅需要更多的研究，还需要在研究工具的能力方面取得重大进展。在这里，我们要求资助一种新型质谱仪，这种质谱仪结合了传统ICPMS的样品导入（例如固体或液体）的灵活性和飞行时间质谱的时间分辨能力，其中同时测量样品中的所有元素。这允许一个关键的进步-瞬态离子信号的准确和精确的全元素测定，由此产生的潜力：(i)分析单个纳米颗粒引入到ICPMS源一次一个；（ii）通过同时对每个激光脉冲进行全面的元素分析，以低于5微米的分辨率生成2D表面的元素图（以及通过深度剖面绘制的3D表面）。这种分析工具的潜力是巨大的，位于南安普顿大学的TOPIC设施将支持一些资助的提案和现有的研究。它还将使英国环境科学界的新研究成为可能，这些研究涵盖了nerc的职责范围，从改善过去100年气候变化的重建，更好地确定空气污染的来源，到提高我们对矿物生长的理解，以锁定大气中的二氧化碳，并为支持绿色技术提供新资源。该设施不仅将丰富我们在海洋与地球科学学院和英国科学界的现有研究，而且我们还将利用这一独特的设施来利用包括工业界在内的新的研究资金。在我们现有的广泛合作网络和商业活动的基础上，将向来自学术界和工业界的研究人员提供访问和培训。通过将该设施置于现有的英国和世界领先的地球化学集团中，该集团在激光消融和质谱方面拥有丰富的专业知识，我们将确保代表英国科学和技术界的最大投资价值。

Anthropogenic activities are having a dramatic effect on Earth's climate, its ecosystems and humanity. Although the sum total of these changes manifests at a global scale, many of the processes involved in causing anthropogenic environmental change operate at the micron and nanometre-scale (i.e. 10-1000x smaller than the width of a human hair). This is important because in order for environmental scientists to design strategies to solve these environmental problems we need to first fully understand them, and all the processes involved, across all the relevant scales. Addressing the micron to nano-scale however currently represents a huge analytical challenge that has, up to now, been the preserve of very large and expensive machines such as synchrotrons and nanoSIMS that have limited access. They also frequently require highly specialised sample preparation that prohibits the analysis of some materials and are often challenging to use to obtain fully quantitative analyses. On the other hand, more flexible and/or more readily available techniques such as laser ablation (LA) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) or electron microprobe either don't have the spatial resolution or the detection limits to provide quantitative analysis of elements present at low concentrations on the sub-5 um scale required. In addition, they struggle to quantify the transient signals (frequently less than one second) that result from single micro-/nano-particle analysis. Consequently, developing solutions to some of the most pressing problems on the planet does not simply require more research - it requires a major advance in the capabilities of the tools of research.Here we request funding for a new type of mass spectrometer that combines the flexibility of sample introduction (e.g. solids or liquids) of a traditional ICPMS with the time-resolved capabilities of time of flight mass spectrometry where all elements in a sample are measured simultaneously. This allows for a crucial advance - the accurate and precise full elemental determination of transient ion signals, with resulting potential for: (i) the analysis of single nanoparticles introduced into the ICPMS source one at a time; (ii) the generation of elemental maps of 2D surfaces (and 3D through depth profiling) at a sub-5 um resolution through the simultaneous full elemental analysis of each laser pulse.The potential for such an analytical tool is enormous and the TOPIC facility housed at the University of Southampton will support a number of funded proposals and existing research. It will also enable new research by the UK environmental science community that ranges across NERCs remit from improving reconstructions of climate change over the last 100 years and better determining the sources of air pollution to improving our understanding of the growth of minerals to lock away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and providing new resources to support green technologies. The facility will not only enrich our existing research in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and the UK science community, but we will also use this unique facility to leverage new research funding including from industry. Access and training will be provided to researchers from across academia and industry, building on our existing extensive collaborative network and commercial activities. By housing the facility in an existing UK and world leading geochemistry group, that is well-supported with considerable expertise with laser ablation and mass spectrometry, we will ensure the maximum value for the investment on behalf of the UK science and technology community.