Addressing Interdisciplinary challenges through Raman Microscopy - a new facility for UEA

该提案旨在为东英吉利大学理学院购买共焦拉曼显微镜提供资金。这将被一大批科学家使用，包括对材料的化学和性质感兴趣的早期职业研究人员和研究生，以支持他们的各种研究工作。它将有力地补充过去几年在其他材料表征仪器方面的重大投资，包括用于成像和计量的高精度共焦显微镜，（UKRI，2020年，156 K英镑），（共聚焦）荧光显微镜（UKRI，2019/20，775 K英镑），扫描电子显微镜（UKRI，2019年，620 K英镑），X射线晶体学（EPSRC，2019，£ 616 K）和粉末衍射（UKRI，2019，£ 140 K），荧光光谱（EPSRC，2019年，61 K英镑）和NMR光谱（溶液和固态，过去8年内部资源约750 K英镑）。拉曼光谱测量分子和材料中的特定振动。不同的材料以不同的方式振动，这提供了有关其分子组成和结构组织的细节。它是化学、工程、生物、制药和环境科学领域各种项目的宝贵表征工具，可应用于许多不同类型的样品。在某些情况下，拉曼光谱可以像“化学指纹”一样，允许识别未知样品，例如水样中的微塑料颗粒。在其他情况下，光谱细节的非常细微的变化可以提供有关已经发生的化学反应的信息，或者样品物理状态的变化，例如结晶。拉曼光谱可以被认为是红外光谱的补充，但它也有许多重要和独特的属性，开辟了全新的测量机会。例如，它提供了在水或其他溶剂中、在透明容器（例如电化学电池、流动电池、爆炸性或湿敏材料的密封安瓿）内以及在许多其他不易于采用其他技术的配置中进行测量的能力，以及特定的材料类型，例如碳材料;石墨烯、氧化石墨烯、纳米管，这些材料无法通过其他技术容易地表征。在拉曼显微镜中，激光束可以非常紧密地聚焦，为使用共聚焦显微镜技术在亚微米长度尺度上实现2D和3D成像提供了令人难以置信的机会。这远远超出了标准的测量方案，能够同时实现亚微米空间分辨率的详细光谱表征，从而打开了微米和纳米材料、复合材料、微相分离现象和多孔固体的分析世界。作为UEA研究愿景的一部分，其以材料为中心的研究组合在数量和重要性方面稳步增长，特别是随着新工程学院（ENG）的出现，该学院将于2021年独立。它将通过启用（2021年1月）700万英镑的Productivity East（https：//beta.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-centres/productivity-east）先进的原型设计和制造设施来推动。这一发展旨在加速UEA工程教育和研究的发展，材料科学已经是一个重要的研究领域。材料的表征是利用制造能力投资的重要补充工具。除了支持来自不同研究学校的大批科学家的研究工作外，拉曼显微镜还将立即为生产力东部基础设施做出贡献，这是从大学进行的研究中产生地方和区域影响的关键。

This proposal seeks funding to purchase a Confocal Raman Microscope for the Science Faculty at UEA. This will be used by a large cohort of scientists, including early-career researchers and post-graduate students interested in the chemistry and properties of materials, to support their varied research work. It will strongly complement significant investments in other materials characterisation instrumentation over the last few years, including high precision confocal microscopy for imaging and metrology, (UKRI, 2020, £156K), (confocal) fluorescence microscopy (UKRI, 2019/20, £775K), scanning electron microscopy (UKRI, 2019, £620K), X-ray crystallography (EPSRC, 2019, £616K) and powder diffraction (UKRI, 2019, £140K), fluorescence spectroscopy (EPSRC, 2019, £61K) and NMR spectroscopy (solution and solid state, about £750K from internal resources over last 8 years).Raman spectroscopy measures the specific vibrations in molecules and materials. Different materials vibrate in different ways, which provides details about their molecular makeup and structural organisation. It is a valuable characterisation tool for a wide variety of projects in chemistry, engineering, biology, pharmacy and environmental science and can be applied to many different types of samples. In some cases, the Raman spectrum can act like a "chemical fingerprint" to allow an unknown sample to be identified, such as a microplastic particle in a water sample. In other cases, very subtle changes to the details of the spectrum can provide information about chemical reactions that have taken place, or changes to the physical state of a sample such as crystallisation. Raman spectroscopy can be considered complementary to infrared spectroscopy, but it also has many important and unique attributes that open up completely new measurement opportunities. For example, it offers the ability to measure in water or other solvents, inside transparent containers (e.g. electrochemical cells, flow cells, sealed ampoules of explosive or moisture-sensitive materials) and in many other configurations not easily amenable to other techniques, as well as specific material types, such as carbon materials; graphene, graphene oxide, nanotubes, that cannot be easily characterised by other techniques. In Raman microscopes, laser beams can be focused very tightly, providing incredible opportunities to achieve 2D and 3D imaging at sub-micron length scales using confocal microscopy techniques. Far beyond standard measurement scenarios, this enables detailed spectral characterisation with simultaneous sub-micron spatial resolution and thus opens up the world of micro- and nano-materials, composites, microphase separation phenomena and porous solids to analysis. As part of UEA's research vision, its portfolio of materials-centred research has steadily grown in volume and importance, particularly with the emergence of the new School of Engineering (ENG), which will become independent in 2021. It will be boosted by the opening (January 2021) of the £7M Productivity East (https://beta.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-centres/productivity-east) advanced prototyping and manufacturing facility. This development is aimed at accelerating the growth of engineering education and research at UEA, for which Materials Science is already a significant research area. The characterisation of materials is an essential, complementary tool for exploiting the investment in manufacturing capability. As well as supporting a large cohort of scientists from diverse schools of study in their research endeavours, the Raman microscope will also contribute immediately to the Productivity East infrastructure, which is key to delivering local and regional impact from the research undertaken at the University.