Scanning Probe Microscopy of Polymer, Biopolymer and Semicrystalline Surface Nanostructures

聚合物、生物聚合物和半晶表面纳米结构的扫描探针显微镜

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04790
• 负责人: Walker, Gilbert
• 金额: $ 4.52万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=748372
• 关键词: Scanning; Probe; Microscopy; Polymer; Biopolymer

The work described in this research program is focused on reducing barriers to productivity. For the team of scientists, this involves actively improving efforts to reduce barriers caused by mental health issues, which are made worse by the stress of social distancing and a lack of community for researchers of diverse genders. The science and technology development itself also aims to reduce barriers - and here we mean ones that cause inefficient uses of chemical energy. The research team will home in on several approaches using new analytical tools and materials invented in past research by the team. The first approach will test ideas for new catalysts based on thin sheets of boron and nitrogen atoms. We propose that mechanical energy and strain at the edges of these sheets creates states of atomic frustration that can be used to pull down barriers to important reactions that could take advantage of resources in which Canada is rich. An example is propane that could be converted to propene, which is an industrially more valuable chemical. This approach will be made possible by studies that will teach chemists and chemical engineers how to guide such useful strain using infrared, light induced mechanical energy - without much loss. The second approach aims to find ways to reduce the randomization of energy which has been the hallmark of chemical reactions for over a century. This involves using new ideas for conserving linear momentum. We will explore a principle illustrated by "Newton's cradle," which is a desk novelty made of a row of steel balls suspended together by strings. Raising and releasing a ball at one end can "knock-on" and cause a second ball at the other end to jump away with momentum that is similar to what the first ball brought in. This efficiency from the conservation of linear momentum was recently demonstrated for molecular systems on rows of copper atoms at a surface, and will be explored more deeply. The third approach is to find ways to reduce the losses of chemical energy in photovoltaic materials using state of the art imaging tools that look for tiny hotspots of inefficiencies. This will provide design rules for the preparation of better materials. And the last approach involves is to exploit similar light induced hotspots as beacons for biodiagnostics. All of these studies will explore new ideas for using energy more wisely.

这项研究计划中描述的工作重点是减少生产率的障碍。对于科学家团队来说，这涉及到积极改进减少心理健康问题造成的障碍的努力，社会距离的压力和不同性别的研究人员缺乏社区使这种障碍变得更加严重。科学和技术发展本身也旨在减少壁垒--这里我们指的是导致化学能源利用效率低下的壁垒。研究团队将利用团队在过去研究中发明的新分析工具和材料，重点研究几种方法。第一种方法将测试基于薄层硼和氮原子的新型催化剂的想法。我们提出，这些薄片边缘的机械能和应变会造成原子受挫状态，可以用来拆除重要反应的障碍，从而利用加拿大丰富的资源。丙烷就是一个例子，它可以转化为丙烯，这是一种更有工业价值的化学品。这一方法将通过研究来实现，这些研究将教会化学家和化学工程师如何使用红外线、光诱导的机械能来引导这种有用的菌株--而不会造成太大损失。第二种方法旨在找到减少能源随机化的方法，能源随机化是一个多世纪以来化学反应的标志。这涉及到使用守恒线动量的新想法。我们将探索“牛顿摇篮”所阐述的原理，这是一种由一排钢球用绳子悬挂在一起的书桌新奇玩意儿。在一端举起并释放球可能会产生连锁反应，并导致另一端的第二个球以类似于第一个球带来的动量跳开。线动量守恒的这种效率最近在分子系统的表面铜原子上得到了证明，并将得到更深入的探索。第三种方法是使用最先进的成像工具，寻找寻找效率低下的微小热点的方法，以减少光伏材料中的化学能量损失。这将为制备更好的材料提供设计规则。而涉及的最后一种方法是利用类似的光诱导热点作为生物诊断的信标。所有这些研究都将探索更明智地使用能源的新想法。