Early Career: Upgrade of an X-ray Diffractometer with Capillary & Humidity-Temperature Stages for Suspension & Hydrated Powder Measurements, and Outreach for Geochemistry R

粘土矿物在土壤中的生物、化学和物理过程中起着重要作用，并影响污染物、大分子和有机质的物理和生物有效性。该奖项资助的设备将使研究人员能够检查有机分子与某些粘土矿物的相互作用。这一设备促成的研究对多孔土壤团聚体的形成、水在土壤中流动的动力学、土壤有机物的固存和生物地球化学循环以及污染物在土壤中的归宿和迁移具有重要意义。因此，预计研究结果将引起各学科科学家的兴趣。首席研究员还正在开发新的课程，让本科生在水地球化学研究中使用纳米技术，并积极招募代表性不足的群体的本科生作为她的研究团队的积极参与者。该奖项将为更多的本科研究人员提供资金，以获得所购买仪器提供的最先进技术的实践经验。具体而言，该奖项将资助购买两个附件，以升级X射线衍射系统，使其能够进行液态悬浮和温度和湿度相关的X射线衍射测量。将为外联活动提供额外的支持，以吸引代表性不足的本科生参与这项研究。粘土矿物内的结构动力学与有机客体分子的相互作用的响应，可以通过监测粘土结构的变化，通过X射线衍射技术来探测。传统的粉末X-射线衍射测量不能提供有关悬浮液中有机-粘土矿物相互作用或作为含水量和温度的函数的信息。购买的附属阶段将使研究人员能够进行此类实验以获取此类信息。使用计算技术和这些实验X射线衍射和其他光谱技术的组合，研究人员将研究负责结合相互作用的结构动力学和在不同温度下水合蒙脱石型粘土颗粒内螯合有机污染物和天然有机分子的机制。这些结构的见解将有助于阐明粘土矿物对土壤中有机碳的储存和稳定性的影响，这对理解全球碳循环如何应对预计的气候变化具有重要意义。

Clay minerals play an important role in biological, chemical and physical processes in soils and influence the physical and biological availability of contaminants, macromolecules, and organic matter. This award funds equipment that will enable the researchers to examine the interactions of organic molecules with certain clay minerals. The research enabled by this equipment has important relevance to the formation of porous soil aggregates, the dynamics of water movement through soils, sequestration and biogeochemical cycling of soil organic matter, and the fate and transport of contaminants in soils. Thus, it is expected that the research findings will be of interest to scientists across various disciplines. The principal investigator is also developing new curricula to engage undergraduates in using nanoscale techniques in aqueous geochemistry research and is active in recruiting undergraduates from underrepresented groups as active participants in her research team. This award will provide funding for additional undergraduate researchers to gain hands-on experience in state-of-the-art techniques provided by the instrumentation to be purchased.Specifically, this award funds the purchase of two accessories to upgrade an X-ray diffraction system with the capabilities to conduct liquid-state suspension and temperature- and humidity-dependentX-ray diffraction measurements. Additional support will be provided for outreach activities to engage underrepresented undergraduates in this research. The response of the structural dynamics within clay minerals to interactions with organic guest molecules can be probed by monitoring changes in the clay structures via X-ray diffraction techniques. Traditional powder X-ray diffraction measurements provide no information about the organic-clay mineral interaction in suspension or as a function of moisture content and temperature. The accessory stages to be purchased will enable the researchers to conduct such experiments to obtain such information. Using a combination of computational techniques and these experimental X-ray diffraction and other spectroscopic techniques, the researchers will investigate the structural dynamics responsible for the binding interactions and mechanisms of sequestration of organic contaminants and natural organic molecules within hydrated smectite-type clay particles at different temperatures. These structural insights will contribute to elucidating the influence of clay minerals on the storage and stability of organic carbon in soils, which have important implications for understanding how the global carbon cycle will respond to projected climate change.