Advanced Surface Characterization Equipment for Porous Materials: An Immediate Need

这项建议的目的是购买一种独特的、全自动化的三工位先进表面表征设备，能够以卓越的精度和分辨率进行高性能的物理吸附和化学吸附分析。该设备将安装在INRS-EMT，用于量化各种纳米材料的比表面积、微孔/介孔尺寸分布、孔体积静态化学吸附、动态化学吸附、吸附热和蒸汽吸附。*由于以下五个原因，迫切需要这种所需的表面表征设备。(I)对PI和共同PI的研究是至关重要的。这将极大地有利于他们的各种NSERC研究项目，并提高他们建立和加强与学术界和产业界合作的能力。(Ii)INRS-EMT超过60%的教职员工(共39名)(8名共同申请者+16名用户)一直在从事与用于能源、环境和传感应用的多孔材料有关的研究项目。尽管如此，EMT还没有能够分析多孔结构的设备，以满足每个人的需求。随着最近招聘了几名在多孔材料领域有研发兴趣的新教员，这种情况变得更加严重。(3)EMT的所有表面和多孔表征都是在外部进行的，这既耗时又耗费成本。此外，我们在发送/接收样本方面遇到困难，特别是那些具有特定特征(例如，易碎性、对空气/湿度敏感)的样本。所请求的设备具有以下优点：解决了传统BET技术带来的挑战(例如，每次1个样品，仅物理吸附分析，有限分析气体等)，因为它是高效的(同时分析3个样品)，能够同时进行化学吸附和物理吸附分析，并且能够在两种模式之间快速切换(在少于3分钟内)，并且能够扩展孔径分析(小于0.7 nm)，并且能够处理各种分析气体(H2、CO、He、N2、Ar、Kr、CO2、CH4等)。(Iv)在对加拿大具有高度社会经济重要性的领域，能源转换和储存(燃料电池、锂电池、金属-空气电池和太阳能电池)、废水处理、传感器、材料科学等领域的各种研究项目都需要该设备。(V)除了对绩效指标和合作绩效指标的具体研究方案产生重要影响外，购置该设备还将为总部质量保证计划的培训增加一个重要组成部分。根据要支持的项目，我们估计每年至少有32名HQP，对他们来说，使用所需的设备对于推进其硕士/博士/PDF项目至关重要。**

The aim of this proposal is to purchase a unique, fully automated, and three-station advanced surface characterization equipment capable of high-performance physisorption and chemisorption analyses with superior accuracy and resolution. This equipment, which will be installed at the INRS-EMT, will be used for the quantification of the surface area, micro-/meso-pore size distributions, pore volume static chemisorption, dynamic chemisorption, heat of adsorption, and vapor adsorption of various nanomaterials. ******This requested surface characterization equipment is needed urgently, for the following five reasons. (i) It is CRITICAL to the research of the PI and the co-PIs. It will greatly benefit their various NSERC research programs and raise their ability to build and strengthen the collaborations with academia and industry. (ii) Over 60% (8 co-applicants + 16 users) of the faculty members (total 39) at INRS-EMT have been working on research programs related to porous materials for energy, environment and sensing applications. Despite this, there is no equipment at EMT that is capable of analyzing the porous structures, to meet everyone's needs. This situation becomes more acute with the recent hiring of several new faculty members with R&D interests in the field of porous materials. (iii) All the surface and porous characterizations at EMT are being conducted externally, which is time and cost consuming. Moreover, we experience difficulty in sending/receiving samples, especially those with specific characteristics (e.g., fragility, air/humidity sensitive). The requested equipment has the advantages of addressing the challenges presented by the conventional BET technique (e.g., 1 sample per time, physisorption analysis only, limited analysis gas, etc.), as it is highly efficient (analyzes 3 samples simultaneously), capable of both chemisorption and physisorption analyses and a fast switch between the two modes (in less than 3 minutes), and able to extend pore size analysis (less than 0.7 nm), and can handle various analysis gases (H2, CO, He, N2, Ar, Kr, CO2, CH4, etc.). (iv) This equipment is required for various research programs in the areas of high socio-economic importance to Canada, e.g., energy conversion and storage (fuel cells, lithium batteries, metal-air batteries, and solar cells), wastewater treatment, sensors, materials science. (v) Beyond its important impact on the specific research programs of the PI and co-PIs, acquisition of this equipment will add an important component to the training of the HQP. Based on the projects to be supported, we estimate a minimum of 32 HQP/year for whom the use of the requested equipment is essential for the advancement of their MSc/PhD/ PDF projects.**