Nanoscale characterization facilities linking the solution and solid state

新材料和最先进的材料加工方法几乎是所有技术进步的核心，从电信到可再生能源发电，从电子显示器到医疗设备。圣安德鲁斯大学在这一领域拥有世界领先的专业知识，拥有化学、物理和天文学学院的研究人员。该大学致力于通过战略招聘将成为下一代领导者的早期职业研究人员，确保其在这一领域的领先地位。此外，该大学正在通过对设备、建筑和设施的投资来支持这一关键的当前和未来的研究领先者。材料研究的许多下一个重大进展将是在纳米尺度上精确控制和理解物质的结果。这需要现代化的设备来分析由各种物理状态(如固体或溶液)的不同化学组成的成分组成的材料，这些材料在几个尺寸尺度上制备和排列--从小于一纳米的分子到可以看到和持有的大宗设备，以及介于两者之间的一切。只有将一系列分析方法的信息结合起来，研究人员才有希望充分了解这些新的复杂材料，从而能够合理地设计和优化它们，使其具有未来技术进步所需的性能。我们已经确定了两种特定的设备，它们以不同但非常互补的方式解决了这一表征挑战，我们的许多(10多名)早期职业研究人员都需要这两种设备。该设备将补充我们已有的一系列先进材料制造和表征设备。它将允许快速、现场表征非常薄的固体的关键参数，以及用于从溶液中制备这些固体的构建块。有了这些新功能，我们的研究人员将能够准确地了解构建块的特性如何与所生产材料的特性相关，从而高效地优化其材料和程序。这种设备被特别选择为尽可能广泛的早期职业研究人员带来显著好处，他们在各种领域工作，如微型柔性显示器的光学材料、发光二极管的新组件、下一代太阳能电池的材料或气体药物的输送设备。作为这个奖项的结果，这些年轻的研究小组中的每个人都将能够进行他们本来无法进行的实验；他们将对他们所使用的系统和材料产生新的、更深入的科学理解；他们将能够更有效地产生更高质量的研究。这将对这些新兴研究领导者的职业生涯以及可以在圣安德鲁斯开展的巨大科学领域产生巨大的好处。这项提议将在让这些早期研究人员充分发挥潜力并发展成为下一代国际知名研究领导者方面发挥关键作用。

New materials and state-of-the-art methods for materials processing are at the heart of virtually all technological advances, from telecommunications to renewable energy generation, electronic displays to medical devices. The University of St Andrews has world-leading expertise in this area, spanning researchers in the Schools of both Chemistry and Physics and Astronomy. The University has committed to securing its leading position in this area through strategic recruitment of early career researchers who will become the next generation of leaders. Furthermore, the University is supporting this critical mass of current and future research leaders through investments in equipment, buildings and facilities. Many of the next great advances in materials research will be made as a result of precisely controlling and understanding matter on the nanoscale. This requires modern equipment for the analysis of materials that consist of components with different chemical make-ups, in various physical states (e.g. solids or solutions), prepared and arranged on several size-scales - from molecules less than a nanometer in size to bulk devices that can be seen and held, and everything in between. Only by combining information from a range of analytical methods can researchers hope to fully understand these new complicated materials, and therefore be able to logically design and optimize them to possess the properties required for future technological advances. We have identified two specific items of equipment that address this characterization challenge in different, but very complementary, ways, and which are needed by many (more than 10) of our early career researchers. This equipment will complement our already excellent range of facilities for fabrication and characterization of advanced materials. It will allow the rapid, on-site characterization of key parameters of very thin film solids, and of the building blocks used to prepare these solids from solutions. With these new capabilities, our researchers will be able to accurately understand how features of the building blocks relate to the characteristics of the materials produced, and therefore efficiently optimize their materials and procedures. This equipment has been specifically chosen to have a significant benefit for the widest possible range of early career researchers, working in as diverse areas as optical materials for tiny flexible displays, new components of light emitting diodes; materials for next-generation solar cells, or delivery devices for gaseous drugs. As a result of this award, each of these young research groups will be able to perform experiments that they would otherwise just not be able to do; they will generate new, deeper scientific understanding about the systems and materials they work with; and they will be able to produce higher quality research more efficiently. This will have hugely significant benefits for the careers of these emerging research leaders, and for a huge breadth of science that can be performed at St Andrews. This proposal will play a crucial role in allowing these early stage researchers to realize their full potential and develop into the next generation of internationally renowned research leaders.