Spatially Resolved Analytical Chemistry - Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Materials

新的工具性的“看”方法总是导致对自然的认识和理解的增加。在16世纪，伽利略的光学望远镜给天文学带来了革命性的变化，这是真的。在二十一世纪，这仍然是正确的。上世纪80年代初发明的扫描隧道显微镜彻底改变了我们对表面的认识和理解。X射线照相术和电子显微镜的发展导致了许多新的临床和工业分析。2014年诺贝尔化学奖因高分辨率荧光显微镜而获奖。当获得新的知识时，新的过程和产品很快就会出现。磁共振成像(MRI)可能是临床医学中最灵活和最强大的诊断成像技术。它在20世纪70年代初的发明创造了一个每年数十亿美元的产业，并允许对各种人类疾病进行无与伦比的详细诊断。然而，传统的临床MRI技术无法可视化大量的材料，如多孔和微孔固体、聚合物、薄膜和气体。这些系统都具有重要的技术和科学意义。临床MRI方法通常强调图像采集的速度和图像对比度，以区分组织。临床MRI方法通常不是定量的，但如果我们希望MRI成为一种分析方法，对浓度和其他简单物理参数的定量测量是至关重要的。*磁共振成像是理解的最强大的科学范式之一。我们常说‘一幅画胜过千言万语’。我们甚至把视觉化等同于理解‘我明白你的意思’。UNB核磁共振中心开发了核磁共振方法，既可以“看到”材料，也可以定量测量材料，因为有时“一个数字抵得上一千张漂亮的图片”。*UNB核磁共振中心已经发明了核磁共振方法，并将继续发明，这些方法解决了材料科学核磁共振中的许多突出技术问题。UNB正在开发的成像技术可以对非常大范围的物理化学系统进行可视化和量化。这项NSERC发现基金特别支持对可变场磁共振成像、非平衡样品磁化成像和新的频率编码磁共振成像方法的研究。这些新的成像方法将被应用于合作者提出的具有挑战性但实用的材料科学和材料处理问题。

New instrumental methods of 'seeing' have always led to an increased knowledge and understanding of nature. It was true in the sixteenth century when Galileo's optical telescope revolutionized astronomy. It is still true in the twenty-first century. The Scanning Tunneling Microscope, invented in the early 1980s, has completely changed our knowledge and understanding of surfaces. The development of X-ray Radiography and the Electron Microscope led to a host of new clinical and industrial analyses. The 2014 Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded for high resolution fluorescence microscopy. New processes and products soon follow when new knowledge is acquired.  ***   Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is probably the most flexible and powerful diagnostic imaging technique available to clinical medicine. Its invention in the early 1970s has generated a multi-billion dollar/year industry and permitted unparalleled and detailed diagnosis of a variety of human ailments. Nevertheless, traditional clinical MRI techniques are unable to visualize a large variety of  materials such as porous and microporous solids, polymers, thin films, and gases. These systems are all of technological and scientific importance.  Clinical MRI methods usually emphasize speed of image acquisition and image contrast to differentiate tissues.  Clinical MRI methods are not usually quantitative, yet quantitative measurements of concentration and other simple physical parameters are paramount if we wish MRI to be an analytical methodology.***   Imaging is one of the most powerful scientific paradigms for understanding. We frequently state 'a single picture is worth a thousand words'. We even equate visualization with understanding 'I see what you mean'. The UNB MRI Centre develops MRI methods to both 'see' and to quantitatively measure materials, since sometimes 'a single number is worth a thousand pretty pictures'.***  The UNB MRI Centre has invented, and continues to invent, MRI methods which solve many of the outstanding technical problems in materials science MRI. The imaging techniques under development at UNB permit visualization and quantification of a very large range of physico-chemical systems. This NSERC Discovery grant specifically supports research into variable field MRI, imaging with non-equilibrium sample magnetization, and new frequency encode MRI methods. These new imaging methodologies will be applied to challenging, yet practical, materials science and materials processing questions posed by collaborators. **