Probing the Structure of Solids and Materials with Powder X-ray Diffraction

无机固体、纳米材料和杂化材料是具有重大环境、经济和社会影响的技术应用的有吸引力的候选者。其中包括热电材料，它可以将汽车尾气中的废热转化为有用的电能；硅纳米颗粒，它可以在平板显示器上发出更明亮的光；以及生物灵感材料，它可以在自然现有材料的基础上改进，以制造更坚固的复合材料，如牙科材料或玻璃陶瓷。设计这些材料并加速它们的发现，需要详细了解原子在微观水平上是如何排列的，以及这种结构信息是如何与物理性质相关的。探测物质结构的最重要的技术之一是通过X射线衍射，这是任何进行材料科学研究的实验室的基本工具。它补充了其他技术，如固体核磁共振光谱学，提供了表征固体和材料所需的远程结构信息。所要求的设备是一台最先进的桌面粉末X射线衍射仪，迫切需要它来取代现有仪器，该仪器已超过其使用寿命周期，并且具有无法修复的有缺陷的探测器。它是故障仪器的经济替代品，配备了高精度的检测器，可以更快地收集数据，并升级了在可变温度下测量数据的能力，使我们能够更好地了解反应机理。该设备将由一大批在材料合成和表征方面具有长期经验的研究人员使用，也将吸引环境和分析科学领域的新研究人员。研究生和本科生都将接受使用该仪器和分析数据的培训。X射线衍射的技能对各行各业都非常有价值，包括非传统的职业，比如研究文化文物的保护科学家。

Inorganic solids, nanomaterials, and hybrid materials are attractive candidates for technological applications with significant environmental, economic, and social impacts. They include thermoelectrics, which could convert waste heat from the exhaust of cars into useful electricity; silicon nanoparticles, which can emit much more vibrant bright light in flat-screen displays; and bioinspired materials, which improve on nature's existing materials to build much stronger composites such as dental materials or glass ceramics. Designing these materials and accelerating their discovery requires a detailed picture of how atoms are arranged on a microscopic level and how this structural information is related to the physical properties. One of the most important techniques to probe the structure of matter is through X-ray diffraction, which is an essential tool in any laboratory carrying out research in materials science. It complements other techniques, such as solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, in providing long-range structural information needed to characterize solids and materials. The equipment requested is a state-of-the-art tabletop powder X-ray diffractometer, which is urgently needed to replace an existing instrument that has exceeded its end-of-life cycle and has a defective detector that is irreparable. It is an economical replacement for the failing instrument, supplied with a highly accurate detector that will enable faster data collection, and upgraded with the ability to measure data at variable temperatures which allows us to better understand reaction mechanisms. The equipment will be used by a large group of researchers with longstanding experience in materials synthesis and characterization, and will also be attractive to new researchers in environmental and analytical science. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be trained to use the instrument and to analyze the data. Skills in X-ray diffraction are highly valuable for an incredibly diverse range of careers, including nontraditional ones such as conservation scientists who examine cultural artifacts.