Biological, chemical, and physical processes in industries such as healthcare, electronics, and energy production require controlled environments, sometimes with extreme conditions. For example, organ transplants need to be stored at ultralow temperatures. Fuel cells used for power generation often operate at very high temperatures, with specialized gases. The design of advanced materials and systems across many industries requires a better understanding of the biological and chemical processes involved. This demands testing environments that closely mimic real process conditions, which is an enormous challenge. The acquisition of a confocal Raman microscope with sophisticated environmental control will enable in vivo chemical mapping under a wide temperature range and different gas/liquid environments. This instrument will facilitate cutting-edge research and education projects across four research areas-nanomaterials, bioengineering, thermal and chemical engineering, and collaboration among three institutions-Villanova University, Bryn Mawr College, and Cabrini University. Moreover, the instrument will support a range of integrated research and education projects and provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds. This facility will also be integrated into three K-12 outreach activities with an expected enrollment of over 500 under-represented students.
With a temperature range of -196 to about 1000°C and controlled gas/liquid environments, the confocal Raman microscope can provide high resolution and real-time structural and chemical fingerprints of materials and chemicals. Raman spectroscopy has a unique compatibility with aqueous or high temperature, particularly suited for biological and high temperature characterizations. Seven projects will be enabled at three institutions. They include investigations on solid oxide fuel cells to provide important insight into fuel reaction mechanisms, two dimensional materials to promote new synthetic methods and understanding of their structure-property relations under extreme conditions, energy storage materials for high-performance energy storage systems, spin-phonon coupling in multiferroic oxides to provide unprecedented evidence for the mechanism of multiferroicity, molecular mechanisms of cryo-injury for developing cell preservation technologies, molecular properties of intact drosophila hearts to provide insights on physiological aging. By addressing all these needs, the proposed instrument will greatly advance knowledge and promote interdisciplinary research in nanomaterials, thermal and chemical engineering, and bioengineering/biology.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
