NSF's ChemMatCARS: A synchrotron X-ray national facility for chemistry and materials research at the Advanced Photon Source

化学司、材料研究司和数学和物理科学局的多学科活动办公室继续为国家科学基金会的化学物质研究系统提供支持。这是一个在阿贡国家实验室的高级光子源使用同步辐射X射线进行化学和材料科学前沿研究的国家用户设施。NSF的ChemMatCARS的各个站为广泛的国内和国际科学家社区服务，提供了一些在世界其他地方找不到的独特能力。研究活动涉及重要的社会问题，包括新能源的开发、生物过程激发的生物分子材料、有助于理解生命规律的相互作用研究、环境修复过程以及对广泛行业至关重要的新材料和催化剂。这座中等规模的设施是各级研究人员的培训基地，开展了许多开发和多样化未来STEM工作队伍的活动。这一用户设施为先进的小分子结晶学、液体表面和界面散射以及反常小角X射线散射的研究提供了独特的高亮度X射线资源。NSF的ChemMatCARS的先进仪器使原子、分子和介观长度尺度上的有序和无序固体、液体和界面的前沿研究能够在从纳秒到分钟的一系列时间尺度上进行。NSF的ChemMatCARS的用户利用其独特的能力来解决各种科学问题。结晶学研究课题的例子包括研究电子密度分布，热电材料中的无序，捕捉太阳光以产生和储存能量所必需的光响应材料，捕捉光合作用模型和催化剂中的活性中间体，以及研究高压下准晶中的相子应变(面形变)。其他说明包括提供有关缺陷、无序和晶格动力学的详细和定量信息的三维增量对分布函数(3D-Delta-PDF)的研究、在极端条件下对炸药的检查、用于气体吸附和分离的金属-有机骨架、用于催化、电子和磁性应用的无机材料以及铁电组件。同步加速器提供了液体/液体和液体/表面界面上分子和中尺度结构的最强大的探针，这对于理解大分子(例如蛋白质)和细胞膜之间的相互作用是必不可少的，细胞膜是许多生命过程的基础，并提供信息来确定生命规则。这一领域还提供了在液体界面上有组织地组装具有特定光学、催化、传感和电磁功能的纳米颗粒的信息。反常小角X射线散射(ASAXS)用于研究块状材料中聚电解质、胶体和纳米颗粒附近的金属离子分布。ASAXS是唯一一种可以测量无序材料散装环境中特定元素分布的技术。该奖项用于研究金属离子对核酸、RNA和DNA的影响，以及了解和改进对处理放射性废物有用的镧系元素和辐系元素的分离过程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Division of Chemistry, the Division of Materials Research and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences Office of Multidisciplinary Activities provide continuing support to NSF's ChemMatCARS. This is a national user facility for frontier research in chemistry and materials science employing synchrotron X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Various stations at NSF's ChemMatCARS serve a broad national and international community of scientists providing some unique capabilities not found anywhere else in the world. Research activities address vital societal issues, including the development of new energy sources, biomolecular materials inspired by biological processes, studies of interactions that help in understanding the rules of life, environmental remediation processes, and new materials and catalysts important for a wide range of industries. The midscale-funded facility serves as a training ground for researchers at all levels and carries out numerous activities to develop and diversify the future STEM workforce.This user facility provides a unique high brilliance X-ray resource for the study of advanced small-molecule crystallography, liquid surface and interface scattering, and anomalous small angle X-ray scattering. Advanced instrumentation at NSF's ChemMatCARS enables forefront research of ordered and disordered solids, liquids and interfaces on the atomic, molecular and mesoscopic length scales over a range of time scales from nanoseconds to minutes. Users of NSF's ChemMatCARS take advantage of its unique capabilities to address a wide variety of scientific problems. Examples of crystallographic research topics include studies of electron density distributions, disorder in thermoelectric materials, photo-responsive materials essential to capture solar light for energy production and storage, capturing reactive intermediates in photosynthesis models and catalysts, and studying phason strain (face distortion) in quasicrystals under high pressure. Additional illustrations are studies of three-dimensional delta-pair distribution function (3D-delta-PDF) that provides detailed and quantitative information on defects, disorder and lattice dynamics, examination of explosives under extreme conditions, metal-organic frameworks for gas adsorption and separation, inorganic materials for catalytic, electronic and magnetic applications, and ferroelectric assemblies. The synchrotron provides the most powerful probe of molecular and mesoscale structure at liquid/liquid and liquid/surface interfaces which are essential to the understanding interactions between macromolecules (e.g., proteins) and cell membranes that underlie many life processes and provide information to determine the rules of life. This area also provides information on organized assembly of nanoparticles at liquid interfaces with specific optical, catalytic, sensing, and electromagnetic functionalities. The anomalous small angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) for the study of metal ion distribution near polyelectrolytes, colloids, and nanoparticles from bulk materials. ASAXS is the only technique that can measure the distribution of specific elements within the bulk environment of disordered materials. This is used to study the effect of metal ions on nucleic acids RNA and DNA and to gain understanding and improve separations processes of lanthanides and actinides that is useful in processing radioactive waste.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.