Acquisition of X-ray Powder Diffraction Equipment for 21st Century Materials Research and Education

具有所需性能的材料的发展进步为未来技术提供了基础。许多进展依赖于合成和仔细的表征。这笔赠款为用于加州大学洛杉矶分校新材料开发研究的X射线粉末衍射仪提供支持，这些新材料涉及若干需求领域，包括纳米结构无机材料、氮化物、反铁电液晶和介观结构薄膜的化学控制。这一新仪器将提供快速数据收集能力，这对于样品反应随温度变化的动态研究非常重要。这一新仪器提供了低角度测量，这对结构测量很重要，并同时收集低角度和高角度X射线散射数据。研究内容包括：Zint1相的合成、四方氧化锆高温相稳定性的控制、通过控制压力和/或温度来开发氮化物的歧化途径、反铁磁液晶的设计和介观结构薄膜的设计。新仪器将主要用于加州大学洛杉矶分校的化学和生物化学结晶学实验室。这项工作在短期和长期都有潜在的好处：有可能影响与材料的合成、组装和表征相关的基础技术，并具有未来的实际应用，更直接的是，通过对研究生和本科生的培训。加州大学洛杉矶分校化学和生物化学系将把这台仪器放在一个共享的设施中，该系的所有研究生都可以使用。这个系有11名终身教职的女教员；此外，加州大学洛杉矶分校能够吸引来自全国各地的代表不足的学生。为了与大学的教育使命保持一致，训练有素的学生技术员和教员在X射线实验室操作仪器。

Advances in the development of materials having desired properties provide the basis of future technologies. Many advances are dependent on synthesis and careful characterization. This grant provides support for an X-ray powder diffractometer for use in research at UCLA on the development of new materials that address several areas of need including chemical control of nanostructured inorganic materials; nitrides; antiferroelectric liquid crystals; and mesostructured thin films. This new instrument will provide rapid data collection capabilities important for dynamic studies of sample reactions as a function of temperature. This new instrument provides for low angle measurements, important for structure measurements, and simultaneous collection of low and high angle X-ray scattering data. The research topics include the synthesis of Zintl phases, the control of high temperature phase stability of tetragonal zirconia, development of metathesis routes to nitrides by control of pressure and/or temperature, the design of antiferromagnetic liquid crystals and the design of mesostructured thin films. The new instrument will be used primarily by the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry crystallography laboratory.This work has potential benefits in the near and long term: potential to impact fundamental technology related to the synthesis, assembly and characterization of materials with future practical applications and, more immediately, through the training of graduate and undergraduate students. The UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry will place this instrument in a shared facility, accessible to all graduate students in the department. This department has eleven tenure track women faculty; also, UCLA is able to attract underrepresented students from across the nation. In keeping with the educational mission of the University, trained student technicians and faculty operate the instruments in the X-ray laboratory.