Scanning Probe Microscopy of Polymer, Biopolymer and Semicrystalline Surface Nanostructures

本研究计划中描述的工作重点是减少生产力的障碍。对于科学家团队来说，这涉及积极改善努力，以减少心理健康问题造成的障碍，这些障碍由于社交距离的压力和不同性别研究人员缺乏社区而变得更糟。科学和技术发展本身也旨在减少障碍-这里我们指的是那些导致化学能源使用效率低下的障碍。该研究小组将使用该小组在过去的研究中发明的新分析工具和材料来研究几种方法。第一种方法将测试基于硼和氮原子薄片的新催化剂的想法。我们建议，机械能和应变在这些表的边缘创建状态的原子挫折，可以用来拉下的障碍，可以利用加拿大丰富的资源，重要的反应。一个例子是丙烷可以转化为丙烯，这是一种工业上更有价值的化学品。这种方法将有可能通过研究，将教化学家和化学工程师如何引导这种有用的应变使用红外线，光诱导机械能-没有太多的损失。第二种方法旨在找到减少能量随机化的方法，这是世纪来化学反应的标志。这涉及到使用新的想法来保持线性动量。我们将探索一个由“牛顿摆”所说明的原理，牛顿摆是一种由一排钢球通过绳子悬挂在一起制成的桌子新奇物。在一端举起和释放一个球可以“敲门”，并导致另一端的第二个球以类似于第一个球带来的动量跳走。这种效率从守恒的线性动量最近被证明为分子系统的行的铜原子在表面上，并将进行更深入的探索。第三种方法是使用最先进的成像工具来寻找效率低下的微小热点，从而找到减少光伏材料中化学能损失的方法。这将为制备更好的材料提供设计规则。最后一种方法是利用类似的光诱导热点作为生物诊断的信标。所有这些研究都将探索更明智地使用能源的新思路。

The work described in this research program is focused on reducing barriers to productivity. For the team of scientists, this involves actively improving efforts to reduce barriers caused by mental health issues, which are made worse by the stress of social distancing and a lack of community for researchers of diverse genders. The science and technology development itself also aims to reduce barriers - and here we mean ones that cause inefficient uses of chemical energy. The research team will home in on several approaches using new analytical tools and materials invented in past research by the team. The first approach will test ideas for new catalysts based on thin sheets of boron and nitrogen atoms. We propose that mechanical energy and strain at the edges of these sheets creates states of atomic frustration that can be used to pull down barriers to important reactions that could take advantage of resources in which Canada is rich. An example is propane that could be converted to propene, which is an industrially more valuable chemical. This approach will be made possible by studies that will teach chemists and chemical engineers how to guide such useful strain using infrared, light induced mechanical energy - without much loss. The second approach aims to find ways to reduce the randomization of energy which has been the hallmark of chemical reactions for over a century. This involves using new ideas for conserving linear momentum. We will explore a principle illustrated by "Newton's cradle," which is a desk novelty made of a row of steel balls suspended together by strings. Raising and releasing a ball at one end can "knock-on" and cause a second ball at the other end to jump away with momentum that is similar to what the first ball brought in. This efficiency from the conservation of linear momentum was recently demonstrated for molecular systems on rows of copper atoms at a surface, and will be explored more deeply. The third approach is to find ways to reduce the losses of chemical energy in photovoltaic materials using state of the art imaging tools that look for tiny hotspots of inefficiencies. This will provide design rules for the preparation of better materials. And the last approach involves is to exploit similar light induced hotspots as beacons for biodiagnostics. All of these studies will explore new ideas for using energy more wisely.