Elemental Analysis Instrument for Characterizing Advanced Polymeric Materials, Nanostructures, and Composites

准确测量新材料的化学成分对于开发基于这些材料的新技术是绝对必要的。然而，对于薄膜、水凝胶、纳米材料或纤维材料等材料，由于材料缺乏溶解度（使核磁共振具有挑战性或不可能）、需要探测体积而不仅仅是表面成分（使x射线光电子能谱不合适）、高分子量（使高分辨率质谱不可行），最常见的表征技术是不合适的。和/或需要以高精度检测轻元素（使得基于电感耦合等离子体的技术不适用）。基于燃烧的元素分析（EA）是唯一一种获得此类材料体化学定量信息的方法，被广泛认为是材料科学与工程实验室的核心分析仪器。然而，由于一台使用了12年的仪器在2015年退役，麦克马斯特甚至汉密尔顿都没有可用的EA仪器。这就要求共同申请者转而使用合同实验室，这些实验室提供的服务成本非常高，速度很慢，有时甚至无法获得，这使得在大多数情况下应该是常规分析的工作变得不可行的。此外，HQP没有动手学习如何在不同领域使用标准分析仪器的机会，包括散装化学品，制药，催化，环境分析，塑料和生物材料，这是我们HQP培训中的一个关键空白，并且出版物和毕业都推迟了，等待EA数据的到来。因此，本提案要求为购买一台新的CHNS/O元素分析仪器提供资金，以满足这些繁重的研究和培训需求。对EA分析能力的广泛需求体现在共同申请者所代表的研究挑战的多样性上，包括表征：(1)组织工程支架中交联和/或生物活性移植物的密度；(2)纳米给药载体中自组装结构的组成及药物负载；(3)生物膜的化学性质和抑制生物膜生长的防污表面；(4)杂原子掺杂碳基材料的能量和催化水平；（五）旨在提高农业产量的纸浆纤维和水凝胶的组成；(6)用于环境修复的改性膜和单体的官能团含量；(7)可持续和可回收硅橡胶的有机含量，以及共同申请者团队内外正在进行的合作研究活动中出现的其他应用。缺乏及时和负担得起的EA将大大推迟这些技术的研究进展，这些技术解决了加拿大当前和新兴的经济机会。

Accurate measurement of the chemical composition of new materials is absolutely essential for developing new technologies based on those materials. However, for materials like membranes, hydrogels, nanomaterials, or fibrous materials intensively studied by the co-applicants' groups, the most common characterization techniques are unsuitable due to the lack of material solubility (making nuclear magnetic resonance challenging or impossible), the need to probe bulk and not just surface compositions (making x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy unsuitable), the high molecular weights (making high resolution mass spectrometry infeasible), and/or the need to detect light elements with high precision (making inductively coupled plasma-based techniques inapplicable). Combustion-based elemental analysis (EA) is the only method available to gain quantitative information on the bulk chemistry of such materials and is widely acknowledged to be a core analytical instrument within a materials science and engineering laboratory. However, since a failing 12-year old instrument was decommissioned in 2015, there is no available EA instrument at McMaster or even in Hamilton. This has required the co-applicants to instead use contract labs that have provided very high-cost, slow, and at times inaccessible service, making what should be a routine analysis in most cases infeasible. Furthermore, HQP have no hands-on opportunity to learn how to use a standard analytical instrument within diverse areas including bulk chemicals, pharmaceuticals, catalysis, environmental analysis, plastics, and biomaterials, a key gap in our HQP training, and have had both publications and graduations delayed waiting for EA data to arrive. As such, this proposal requests funding for the purchase of a new CHNS/O elemental analysis instrument that will meet these heavy research and training demands. The broad need for EA analysis capacity is illustrated by the diversity of research challenges represented among the co-applicants, including the characterization of: (1) the density of crosslinking and/or bioactive grafts in tissue engineering scaffolds; (2) the composition of self-assembled structures and drug loadings in nanoscale drug delivery vehicles; (3) the chemistry of biofilms and anti-fouling surfaces suppressing biofilm growth; (4) the heteroatom doping levels of carbon-based materials for energy and catalysis; (5) the composition of pulp fibres and hydrogels designed to increase agricultural yields; (6) the functional group content of modified membranes and monoliths for environmental remediation and (7) the organic content of sustainable and recyclable silicone rubbers, among other applications emerging from ongoing collaborative research activities both within and beyond the co-applicant team. The lack of timely and affordable access to EA will substantially delay research progress on these technologies that address current and emerging economic opportunities in Canada.