Non-technical: Manipulating and measuring the morphology of materials on multiple length scales has emerged as a key strategy for addressing the prominent technological problems confronting mankind today including grand challenges of affordable solar power, clean water, better designed medicines, and carbon sequestration. Access to equipment capable of investigating engineered materials systems on length scales from nanometers to micrometers is crucial, not only for scientific progress, but also for education and training. Such instruments of scientific discovery are necessary for both basic and applied research. These tools engender new skills in students, equipping the next generation with the skills necessary for rational materials design.
The complex problem of relating synthesis protocols and process variables to morphology and final properties is fundamental to materials research. It is most appropriately resolved by scattering techniques, which capture three-dimensional structural information (including bulk and buried structures) in reciprocal space. The goal of this project is to acquire an ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering (USAXS) instrument to investigate materials relevant to a range of multidisciplinary applications, including organic solar cells, passivating metallic films, nanostructured membranes, carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles and catalysts. The common theme in these research activities is the need to accurately explore hierarchical structure from the nano- to the meso-scale, since correlations between multiple length-scales give rise to unique functionalities that determine performance. The USAXS project meets this need by quantitatively probing critical length-scale domains, and complements existing resources such as wide-angle scattering, pinhole small-angle scattering, light scattering and x-ray reflectivity. The project thus transforms materials-related research at the University of Cincinnati and various other users in the south-west Ohio region (Miami University, Procter & Gamble, Environmental Protection Agency, Clopay Plastics) by providing scientists with quantitative structural data covering length scales from 5 nm to 1 micrometer.
