Acquisition of X-ray Powder Diffraction Equipment for 21st Century Materials Research and Education

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Advances in the development of materials having desired properties provide the basis of future technologies. Many advances are dependent on synthesis and careful characterization. This grant provides support for an X-ray powder diffractometer for use in research at UCLA on the development of new materials that address several areas of need including chemical control of nanostructured inorganic materials; nitrides; antiferroelectric liquid crystals; and mesostructured thin films. This new instrument will provide rapid data collection capabilities important for dynamic studies of sample reactions as a function of temperature. This new instrument provides for low angle measurements, important for structure measurements, and simultaneous collection of low and high angle X-ray scattering data. The research topics include the synthesis of Zintl phases, the control of high temperature phase stability of tetragonal zirconia, development of metathesis routes to nitrides by control of pressure and/or temperature, the design of antiferromagnetic liquid crystals and the design of mesostructured thin films. The new instrument will be used primarily by the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry crystallography laboratory. This work has potential benefits in the near and long term: potential to impact fundamental technology related to the synthesis, assembly and characterization of materials with future practical applications and, more immediately, through the training of graduate and undergraduate students. The UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry will place this instrument in a shared facility, accessible to all graduate students in the department. This department has eleven tenure track women faculty; also, UCLA is able to attract underrepresented students from across the nation. In keeping with the educational mission of the University, trained student technicians and faculty operate the instruments in the X-ray laboratory.