This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program Professor Sarah L. Stoll and colleagues from the Department of Chemistry at Georgetown University will acquire a powder X-ray diffractometer for the characterization of materials and nanostructured materials. The instrument will be used to support research activities such as: 1) study of lanthanide chalcogenides for use in magnetic conductors; 2) analysis of clay minerals in soil samples; 3) coordination polymers and framework materials; 4) template directed crystal growth; 5) shape and size controlled Pt based bimetallic nanoparticles for fuel cell applications; 6) charge transfer nanocrystals; and 7) self assembled fibrillar networks.
An X-ray diffractometer allows accurate and precise measurements of the full three dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles, and provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of a molecule relative to neighboring molecules. A powder diffractometer allows diffraction studies in powdered crystalline materials. The data provide information on particle sizes, phase identification and purity analysis. The studies described here will impact a number of areas, including chemistry and materials chemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research.
The MRI-R2 was awarded to Georgetown University for an X-ray Powder Diffractometer, and instrument used to study crystalline powders, liquid crystals and organic materials. The instrument had several attachments including a hot stage for heating samples to 1200°C. This attachment enable the research of the Stoll lab to understand examples of crystal-to-crystal transormations of nanowire materials. These experiments were critical to understanding the factors that control these types of phase changes. The instrument also had a low temperature phase that has been used by the Weiss group to study gelators, and liquid crystals as well as energetic crystals studied in the Swift lab. The Tong lab has identified new nanocrystalline catalysts and studied their structures using X-ray powder diffraction. The Holman group uncovered new non-porous metal-organic framework materials that absorb noble gases. The resolution of the new instrument was critical for identifying these phases. The instrument is used by students at all levels, graduate students (16), undergraduates (5), and one ACS SEED high school student as well as post-doctoral fellows (2). Mentored research is considered to be an important educational outcome at Georgetown. We were also awarded an REU grant to bring in undergraduates who lack research opportunities at their undergraduate institution come to Georgetown for mentored research during the summer.
