MRI: Acquisition of a Powder/Thin Film X-ray Diffractometer for Alternative Energy Research and Education

该奖项授予南达科他州州立大学（SDSU），用于收购X射线衍射仪（XRD）系统，以推进替代能源研究和教育。 该系统将实现薄膜、可变温度/大气、反射率、散射和粉末细化测量。 它将成为SDSU校园的核心研究设施，以支持多个NSF，NASA，DOE资助的项目，包括用于高效太阳能转换的混合纳米材料，超薄吸收太阳能电池，CdSe纳米棒的生长，用于光伏应用的结晶低带隙共轭聚合物，以及用于生物质转化的新型催化剂。 该仪器将被安置在SDSU的高级光电子学中心，并在新落成的大楼中分配空间，以保证仪器在安装后完全运行并保持满负荷运行。收购最先进的单晶X射线衍射仪将大大提高SDSU的研究能力，竞争力和生产力，并有望吸引更多的研究人员到这个人口稀少的州。 该工具将被集成到SDSU的高级光化学中心，这是一个活跃的研究集群，吸引了研究生和本科生，博士后研究人员和材料研究的高级研究人员。 通过这一工具进行的研究预计将产生大量关于开发材料的信息，推进成本效益高的太阳能电池和替代能源的技术，以满足我国的需求。 该工具将使多个学术部门通过向本科生和研究生提供研究经验来改善教育。 该项目还将通过将该仪器纳入已建立的推广计划（如成功学院和南达科他州科学与工程博览会）来扩大科学和工程研究的参与，以鼓励高中，初中和美洲原住民学生追求科学技术工程和数学的职业生涯。

This award to South Dakota State University (SDSU) is for the acquisition of an X-ray diffractometer (XRD) system to advance alternative energy research and education. The system will enable thin film, variable temperature/atmosphere, reflectance, scattering, and powder refinement measurements. It will become a core research facility on the SDSU campus to support several NSF, NASA, DOE funded projects, including hybrid nanomaterials for efficient solar energy conversion, extremely thin absorber solar cells, growth of CdSe nanorods, crystalline low bandgap conjugated polymers for photovoltaic applications, and novel catalysts for biomass conversion. The instrument will be housed in the Center for Advanced Photovoltaics at SDSU with assigned space in a newly completed building, guaranteeing the instrument will be fully operational and remain at full capacity upon installation. The acquisition of a state-of-the-art single-crystal X-ray diffractometer will substantially improve the research capability, competitiveness, and productivity of SDSU, and is expected to attract more researchers to this sparsely populated state. This tool will be integrated into SDSU's Center for Advanced Photovoltaics, an active research cluster that engages graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and senior investigators in materials research. Research enabled by this instrument is expected to generate a tremendous amount of information on the developed materials, advancing technology in cost-effective solar cells and alternative energy to meet our Nation's needs. The instrument will enable multiple academic departments to improve education by providing research experiences to undergraduate and graduate students. This project will also broaden participation in science and engineering research by incorporating the instrument into established outreach programs, such as the Success Academy and the South Dakota Science and Engineering Fair, to encourage high school, middle school, and Native American students to pursue careers in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.