High-­Resolution Atomic Force Microscope for Materials and Surfaces Characterization

这笔赠款将用于购买原子力显微镜仪器，为拉瓦尔大学科学与工程学院3个不同系的10名研究人员提供更高的纳米级分析能力。事实上，高分辨率原子力显微镜对于研究纳米颗粒、聚合物薄膜形貌、生物膜、碳纳米材料和界面等都有很大的帮助。这个有用的工具将支持和简化来自10个研究小组的80多名科学家的创新研究计划，这些研究小组涉及不同应用的材料科学，包括开发用于晶体管和太阳能电池的新半导体，光纤的玻璃质材料，传感器的量子点，聚合物纳米复合材料，荧光纳米颗粒和分子识别的定制肽。所要求的AFM适用于所有使用不同类型分子的共同申请人，因为所选择的模型是市场上最通用的样品分析模型之一。此外，高分辨率将是非常有用的那些研究分子系统。一个新的功能，导电原子力显微镜，将是非常有用的研究材料的电子性质在纳米级，从而提供了一个明确的边缘，研究人员参与该领域的有机电子。购买该设备将有助于表征所研究的新材料的物理特性，这比其他表征技术更具成本效益和时间效益。由于科学及工程学院缺乏这类仪器，申请者不得不将样品寄往外地，大大阻碍了许多项目的进展，导致不必要的开支，而这些开支本可以更有效地使用。科学及工程学院目前没有其他类似的仪器可供研究人员使用。

This grant will be use to purchase an AFM instrument to provide 10 researchers of 3 different departments of the Faculty of science and Engineering at Universite Laval with an increased analytical capability at the nanoscale. In fact, the high-resolution AFM is very helpful for studying nanoparticles, polymer films morphology, biofilms, carbon nanomaterials and interfaces. This useful tool will support and ease the innovative research programs of more than 80 scientists from 10 research groups involved in materials science for different applications including development of new semiconductors for transistors and solar cells, vitreous materials for optic fibers, quantum dots for sensors, polymer nanocomposites, fluorescent nanoparticles and customized peptides for molecular recognition. The AFM requested is appropriate for all co-applicants working with very different types of molecules since the model selected is one of the most versatile on the market regarding the sample to analyze. Moreover, the high-resolution will be highly useful for those studying molecular systems. A new feature, the conducting AFM, will be highly useful for studying the electronic properties of materials at the nanoscale, thus providing a clear edge to the researchers involved in the area of organic electronics. Purchasing this equipment will aid in characterizing the physical properties of the studied new materials, which can be more cost- and time-effective than other characterization techniques. The absence of such instrument in the Faculty of Sciences and Engineering (FSG) forces the group of applicants to send their samples externally, impeding tremendously the progression of many projects and resulting in unnecessary spendings that could be used more fruitfully.There are no other similar instruments currently available to the researchers in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.