Elemental Analysis Instrument for Characterizing Advanced Polymeric Materials, Nanostructures, and Composites

用于表征先进聚合物材料、纳米结构和复合材料的元素分析仪器

• 批准号: RTI-2019-00732
• 负责人: Hoare, Todd
• 金额: $ 6.23万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=653663
• 关键词: Elemental; Analysis; Instrument; Characterizing; Advanced

Accurate measurement of the chemical composition of new materials is absolutely essential for developing new technologies based on those materials. However, for materials like membranes, hydrogels, nanomaterials, or fibrous materials intensively studied by the co-applicants' groups, the most common characterization techniques are unsuitable due to the lack of material solubility (making nuclear magnetic resonance challenging or impossible), the need to probe bulk and not just surface compositions (making x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy unsuitable), the high molecular weights (making high resolution mass spectrometry infeasible), and/or the need to detect light elements with high precision (making inductively coupled plasma-based techniques inapplicable). Combustion-based elemental analysis (EA) is the only method available to gain quantitative information on the bulk chemistry of such materials and is widely acknowledged to be a core analytical instrument within a materials science and engineering laboratory. However, since a failing 12-year old instrument was decommissioned in 2015, there is no available EA instrument at McMaster or even in Hamilton. This has required the co-applicants to instead use contract labs that have provided very high-cost, slow, and at times inaccessible service, making what should be a routine analysis in most cases infeasible. Furthermore, HQP have no hands-on opportunity to learn how to use a standard analytical instrument within diverse areas including bulk chemicals, pharmaceuticals, catalysis, environmental analysis, plastics, and biomaterials, a key gap in our HQP training, and have had both publications and graduations delayed waiting for EA data to arrive. As such, this proposal requests funding for the purchase of a new CHNS/O elemental analysis instrument that will meet these heavy research and training demands. The broad need for EA analysis capacity is illustrated by the diversity of research challenges represented among the co-applicants, including the characterization of: (1) the density of crosslinking and/or bioactive grafts in tissue engineering scaffolds; (2) the composition of self-assembled structures and drug loadings in nanoscale drug delivery vehicles; (3) the chemistry of biofilms and anti-fouling surfaces suppressing biofilm growth; (4) the heteroatom doping levels of carbon-based materials for energy and catalysis; (5) the composition of pulp fibres and hydrogels designed to increase agricultural yields; (6) the functional group content of modified membranes and monoliths for environmental remediation and (7) the organic content of sustainable and recyclable silicone rubbers, among other applications emerging from ongoing collaborative research activities both within and beyond the co-applicant team. The lack of timely and affordable access to EA will substantially delay research progress on these technologies that address current and emerging economic opportunities in Canada.

准确测量新材料的化学成分对于开发基于这些材料的新技术是绝对必要的。然而，对于共同申请者小组深入研究的材料，如膜、水凝胶、纳米材料或纤维材料，最常见的表征技术不适合，原因是缺乏材料的溶解性(使核磁共振具有挑战性或不可能)，需要探测体相而不仅仅是表面成分(使x射线光电子能谱不适用)，高分子量(使高分辨率质谱学不可行)，和/或需要高精度检测轻元素(使电感耦合等离子体技术不适用)。基于燃烧的元素分析(EA)是获得此类材料块体化学定量信息的唯一方法，被广泛认为是材料科学和工程实验室中的核心分析仪器。然而，由于一台有12年历史的濒临倒闭的仪器于2015年退役，麦克马斯特甚至汉密尔顿都没有可用的EA仪器。这要求联合申请者转而使用合同实验室，这些实验室提供的服务成本非常高、速度很慢，有时还无法获得服务，这使得在大多数情况下本应是常规分析的工作变得不可行。此外，HQP没有实践机会学习如何在包括散装化学品、药品、催化、环境分析、塑料和生物材料在内的不同领域使用标准分析仪器，这是我们HQP培训中的一个关键空白，而且出版物和毕业典礼都被推迟，等待EA数据的到来。因此，本提案要求为购买新的CHNS/O元素分析仪器提供资金，以满足这些繁重的研究和培训需求。EA分析能力的广泛需求体现在共同申请者所面临的各种研究挑战中，包括：(1)组织工程支架中的交联和/或生物活性接枝的密度；(2)纳米药物输送载体中自组装结构和药物载量的组成；(3)抑制生物膜生长的生物膜和防污染表面的化学；(4)用于能源和催化的碳基材料的杂原子掺杂水平；(5)为提高农业产量而设计的纸浆纤维和水凝胶的组成；(6)用于环境修复的改性膜和整体的官能团含量，以及(7)可持续和可回收硅橡胶的有机含量，以及共同申请者团队内外正在进行的合作研究活动产生的其他应用。缺乏及时和负担得起的EA将大大推迟这些技术的研究进展，这些技术可以应对加拿大当前和正在出现的经济机会。