Technical Summary: The proposed instrumentation will establish an in-situ laboratory for the evolution and characterization of nanoscale chemistry in a broad range of materials systems. This will be achieved by equipping state-of-the-art Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) systems with a set of sample holders and specimen modification environments. These capabilities will enable in-situ studies of the evolution of nanoscale surface chemistry during deposition, etching, and surface modification in a wide range of materials systems of relevance to nanotechnology, renewable energy, the maintenance of national infrastructure, and future generations of electronics technologies. Specifically the instrumentation will enable sample heating, cooling, sputtering, oxidation, reaction and deposition in environments that are coupled to the exquisite chemical sensitivity and resolution afforded by new generation AES and XPS methods. Specific research projects include enhancing the understanding of the evolution of nanoscale surface chemistry in semiconductor nanostructure systems of relevance to future nanoelectronic architectures, the reactions that govern storage and release of hydrogen in novel nanostructured ?nano-blade? materials, the engineering of hybrid organic ? metal thin film systems, the fundamental nanoscale mechanisms of corrosion, and the development of new methods for the measurement of three dimensional nanoscale structures and chemistry. Together these research projects span about ten faculty and senior researchers, a dozen graduate students, and several undergraduate and postdoctoral researchers across multiple departments at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This represents a major intellectual critical mass for the field of in-situ experimentation. The instrumentation will also enable major opportunities in the integration of research and education. It will be integrated into a broad set of education and training activities at RPI including high school materials camps, undergraduate research programs, and undergraduate and graduate courses. These activities engage large numbers of under-represented groups in science and engineering.
Layman Summary: Many of the frontiers of science and engineering require understanding and control of the behavior of atoms at the surfaces and interfaces of materials. Such frontiers include the development of improved catalysts for more energy efficient and environmentally benign chemical processing, the development of new materials and structures for advancing electronic device designs, understanding the atomic-scale mechanisms of corrosion processes that degrade and endanger much of our national infrastructure, and the development of new materials for controlled storage and release of hydrogen that may contribute to the new ?hydrogen economy?. These challenges will be addressed by acquiring and developing a set of new capabilities for controlling the environment of samples of materials, and monitoring how the atomic scale chemistry of those samples varies as the environment (e.g. temperature, pressure of surrounding oxygen, growth of new atomic layers on the surface) changes. In this way, it can be better understood how the material changes at the atomic scale in response to its environment, and therefore materials can be better designed to adapt to and optimize those changes. This project will be performed by an interdisciplinary team of faculty, students and researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It will provide state-of-the-art experimental training for both undergraduate and graduate students. It will also provide exciting and visual material that will provide compelling demonstrations of fundamental atomic processes in material systems that will be integrated into the classroom and into outreach activities such as materials camps for middle and high school students.
