MRI: Acquisition of STEM Imaging and Microanalysis for the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

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Technical AbstractThe University of Wisconsin will acquire a scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging and microanalysis system for a new field emission TEM. This system will add capabilities for atomic resolution Z-contrast imaging and spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy, x-ray dispersive spectroscopy, and nanodiffraction. These capabilities will have far-reaching impact on many diverse research efforts in materials science, geology, and biology, including: new insight into nanometer-scale structural order in glasses; development of superconducting magnets and thin film heterostructures based on MgB2; development of new catalysts for room temperature production of hydrogen from biomass; development of new low-cost, nature-inspired nanomaterials for environmental remediation; and development of a submolecular resolution, multiple target biological labeling system based on chemical imaging of nanoparticles. The STEM system will be remote operable via the Internet from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (UPRM). It will be the first STEM or TEM at UPRM, so it represents a major improvement in infrastructure for Hispanic scientists and engineers. We will build on existing UW-UPRM connections, including a NSF Partnership in Research and Education in Materials and a successful two-week summer school on TEM, to train UPRM graduate students in state-of-the-art TEM and STEM and to enhance UPRM research programs including synthesis and applications of magnetic nanoparticles, metal-insulator transitions in vanadium oxides, functionalized and metal-filled carbon nanotubes, and metal-matrix composites.Lay AbstractThe ability to see the arrangement and composition of atoms inside matter is crucial to developing new materials and nanotechnology, and a state-of-the-art scanning transmission electron microscope is one of the best tools for this task. Researchers will use these capabilities of the new scanning microscope at the University of Wisconsin to significantly advance existing research programs in developing and understanding advanced metal alloys, new superconductors with applications in magnets and MRI, and in developing nanotechnology for catalytic creation of hydrogen from biomass, environmental cleanup, and for understanding the building blocks of life inside of cells. Researchers from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez will be able to operate the new microscope remotely over the Internet. We will build on existing UW / UPRM research collaborations on magnetic nanoparticles, superconductors, and metal composites, and educational connections including a TEM summer school, to ensure that the new microscope greatly enhances the infrastructure for Hispanic scientists and engineers at UPRM.