MRI: Development of an Electron-Beam based Instrument to Study Nanoscale Processes in Liquids

这项重大研究仪器(MRI)的开发工作旨在设计、建造和验证一种基于电子束的系统，该系统可以诱导和研究散装液体中的纳米级化学和物理过程。除了在液体中进行电子显微镜检查外，建议的仪器还将使用液体反应物进行基于电子束的制造，同时允许人们对相应的化学反应和制造的纳米结构进行光谱分析。此外，该系统将能够在操作环境中研究纳米级流体传输和纳米级功能材料，并增加使用电子束诱导过程改变这些环境的能力。纳米级的制造能力是基于一种新的技术，即聚焦电子束通过在液体中诱导局域化学反应来沉积或蚀刻材料。许多可行的研究工作之所以可能，只是因为这些新的液态过程的高分辨率和纯度。新仪器还将促进对纳米级光子学(等离子体和量子点)、电子学(石墨烯和半导体纳米结构)、磁学(基于自旋的设备和图案化磁结构)、流体学(原位电动力学)和能量存储(电池电极的原位研究)等广泛领域的理解。此外，它为辐射化学带来了新的视角和能力，为研究纳米尺度和固-液界面上的放射化学反应提供了一种手段。研究液体中纳米尺度过程的新方法和新仪器的开发将加速科学界和工程界利用纳米技术解决紧迫的社会问题的努力。该仪器支持的具体研究项目包括医疗诊断、环境监测、能源生产和储存以及用于信息技术的材料和设备。该仪器承诺提供用于这些领域的设备原型的新方法，同时使在电气、机械、化学、材料、制造工程、辐射化学和凝聚态物理等基础学科中的基础发现成为可能。该项目还与影响从高中到研究生院的学生的各种教育和外联工作相结合，并将有助于建立一支训练有素的劳动力队伍，为解决高度跨学科的问题做好准备。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) development effort seeks to design, construct, and validate an electron-beam based system that can both induce and study nanoscale chemical and physical processes in bulk liquids. In addition to performing electron-microscopy in liquids, the proposed instrument will enable electron-beam based fabrication using liquid reactants while allowing one to spectroscopically analyze the corresponding chemical reactions and fabricated nanostructures. Moreover, the system will enable the study of both nanoscale fluid transport and nanoscale functional materials in operational environments with the added capability to modify those environments using electron-beam induced processes. The nanoscale fabrication capabilities are based on a novel technique in which a focused electron beam deposits or etches materials by inducing localized chemical reactions in liquids. Many of the enabled research efforts are only possible because of the high resolution and purity of these new, liquid-phase processes. The new instrument will also advance understanding in the wide ranging fields of nanoscale photonics (plasmonics and quantum dots), electronics (graphene and semiconductor nanostructures), magnetics (spin-based devices and patterned magnetic structures), fluidics (in situ electrokinetics), and energy storage (in situ studies of battery electrodes). In addition, it brings a new perspective and capability to radiation chemistry by providing a means to studying radiochemical reactions in nanoscale volumes and at solid-liquid interfaces. The development of a new approach and a new instrument for studying nanoscale processes in liquids will accelerate the scientific and engineering community's efforts to bring nanotechnology to bear on pressing societal problems. Specific research projects enabled by this instrument target medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, energy production and storage, and materials and devices for information technology. The instrument promises new ways to prototype devices for use in these fields while enabling fundamental discoveries in the underlying disciplines of electrical, mechanical, chemical, materials, and manufacturing engineering, radiation chemistry, and condensed matter physics. The project also interfaces with a variety of educational and outreach efforts impacting students from high school through graduate school, and will contribute to a well trained workforce that is prepared to address highly interdisciplinary problems.