MRI Consortium: Development of Environmental Control for Resonant X-ray Scattering on Organic Samples

有机材料中的纳米尺度相互作用和结构对于我们理解它们的宏观性质和功能是至关重要的。这些有机材料的范围从工程材料(如芳纶、聚合物电池)到生物材料(如细胞蛋白)，但它们的共同之处在于，最终的固体特性是在液体加工过程中播种的，或者它们的许多特性和功能仅在特定的操作环境中才会发生。共振软X射线散射(RSoXS)是唯一能够利用分子内的固有化学键探测这些材料的纳米结构的方法，但目前RSoXS只能对悬浮在真空中的样品进行。在这个项目中，RSoXS将与环境控制相结合，以创造这些有机系统运行的条件。开发的仪器将是此类仪器中的第一台，提供了控制有机质在形成和操作过程中形成和运行的分子相互作用和结构的精细视图，从而使对用于技术、能源和生命的材料的理解和控制实现了飞跃。这种设备的使用将使美国在未来许多年继续处于国际X射线科学的前沿。共振软X射线散射(RSoXS)利用了吸收的固有化学敏感性，从核心电子轨道的分子跃迁精细结构。因此，这项技术对有机材料中没有或低结晶度和/或密度对比的分子键及其取向是唯一敏感的，而且不需要费力和潜在的破坏性标记。因此，它在研究驱动材料性能和生物功能的小分子、聚合物和蛋白质的相互作用和结构方面特别有用。然而，目前样品的研究是在真空中进行的，限制了对这些材料的研究。该项目为伯克利国家实验室高级光源(ALS)光束线11.0.1.2处的RSoXS样品环境控制的开发、建造和安装提供资金。这样的仪器将能够在完全环境控制(气体、液体、温度、电场和电荷)的情况下测量纳米到介观尺度的结构和有机分子的相互作用。该项目将结合RSoXS对有机分子及其取向的卓越敏感性和选择性，以及在其原位或在操作区环境中测量其结构和相互作用的能力。这种探测自然环境中有机物质的能力对于获得与有机物质形成、存在和运行的应用相关的信息至关重要。

Nanoscale interactions and structures within organic materials are of critical importance for our understanding of their macroscopic properties and functions. These organic materials range from engineered (e.g. Kevlar, polymer batteries) to biological (e.g. cellular proteins), but what is common among them is that final solid properties are seeded during liquid processing or that many of their properties and functions only occur in specific operational environments. Resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) is uniquely capable of probing the nanostructure of these materials using intrinsic chemical bonds within the molecules, but currently RSoXS can only be performed on samples suspended in a vacuum. In this project, RSoXS will be combined with environmental control suitable to create the conditions in which these organic systems operate. The developed instrument will be first of its kind and provide an exquisite view into the molecular interactions and structures that govern formation and operation of organic matter during such formation and operation, and therefore, enable leaps in understanding and control of materials for technology, energy, and life. The availability of such facility will continue to place the USA at the international forefront of X-ray science for many years to come.Resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) utilizes intrinsic chemical sensitivity of absorption fine structure of molecular transitions from core electronic orbitals. The technique, therefore, is uniquely sensitive to molecular bonds and their orientation in organic materials where no or low crystallinity and/or density contrast exists and, furthermore, does not require laborious and potentially disruptive labeling. Thus it is particularly useful in investigating interactions and structures of small molecules, polymers and proteins that drive materials properties and biological functions. Currently, however, samples are investigated in vacuum, limiting the study of these materials. This project funds the development, construction and installation of sample environmental control for RSoXS at beamline 11.0.1.2 of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Berkeley National Laboratory. Such an instrument will enable measurements of nano-to-mesoscale structure and interaction of organic molecules under full environmental control (gasses, liquids, temperatures, electric fields, and charges). The project will combine the superior sensitivity and selectivity of RSoXS to organic molecules and their orientations with the ability to measure their structure and interactions in their in-situ or in-operando environments. Such an ability to probe organic matter in their native environment is critical to obtaining information that is relevant to the very applications in which they form, exist and function.