Atomic Force Microscopy and Nanomechanical Mapping Platform for Soft Materials

原子力显微镜(AFM)是聚合物和材料化学以及材料科学和工程中用来表征材料在固体状态下的纳米级形貌和性质的一种重要和必要的表征工具。从超溶解聚合物到硬质涂层的各种材料都可以通过AFM进行分析。现代原子力显微镜不仅提供了有关材料固态形态的重要信息，而且还能够深入评估材料的性质，如刚性、杨氏模数、电导率和相分离。如果没有这些基本信息，在聚合物/材料化学中开发用于新兴应用的新材料和新的结构-性能关系几乎是不可能的。这一应用要求支持对我们目前过时的AFM进行关键和紧急的升级，以便该仪器能够再次成为支持和推进我们研究计划的主力，这些研究计划涵盖可穿戴电子、共轭聚合物、软有机电子、液晶材料、印刷电子、功能纳米颗粒等领域的尖端研究。 这一关键设备将由来自11个研究小组的多学科研究人员团队使用，他们的专业知识涵盖材料化学、材料和机械工程、实验生物化学和电气工程。新升级的AFM和纳米机械软材料平台将设在温莎大学埃塞克斯研究中心(CORE)，这是一个协作的共享研究空间，使HQP能够获得关于这一先进表征工具的实践经验。所要求的文书将进一步支持申请者和经常使用者资助的当前和未来的工业合作项目，这些申请者和经常使用者在各自领域都有公认的卓越记录。这一新的最先进的仪器将为团队的研究计划提供新的跨学科合作和扩展，最终导致培训下一代加拿大材料化学家和工程师。

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a crucial and essential characterization tool used in polymer and materials chemistry, and materials science and engineering to characterize the nanoscale morphology and properties of materials in the solid-state. Materials ranging from ultrasolft polymers to hard coatings can be analyzed through AFM. Modern AFM not only provide important information on materials solid-state morphology, but also enable an in-depth evaluation of properties such as stiffness, Young's moduli, conductivity and phase separation. Without this essential information, the development of new materials for emerging applications and new structure-property relationships in polymer/materials chemistry is almost impossible. This application request support for a critical and urgent upgrade of our current outdated AFM, so that this instrument can become again a workhorse to support and move forward our research programs, which cover cutting-edge research in wearable electronics, conjugated polymers, soft organic electronics, liquid crystalline materials, printed electronics, functional nanoparticles, and more. This critical piece of equipment will be used by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from 11 research groups with expertise ranging across materials chemistry, materials and mechanical engineering, experimental biochemistry, and electrical engineering. The new upgraded AFM and nanomechanical platform for soft materials will be housed in the University of Windsor's Essex Centre of Research (CORe), a collaborative shared research space, allowing for HQP to receive a hands-on experience on this advanced characterization tool. The requested instrument will further support current and future industrial collaboration funded-projects by the applicants and frequent users, who all have a recognized track-record of excellence in their respective field. This new state-of-the-art instrument will provide for new interdisciplinary collaborations and expansions of the team's research programs, ultimately resulting in the training of next-generation Canadian materials chemists and engineers.