Equipment: MRI Track 1: Acquisition of X-Ray Diffraction Instrument to Enhance Multidisciplinary Research and Education

About This Grant

This project will acquire a new X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) to support research programs throughout Wesleyan University. This instrument will enable the study of materials formed in or subject to a wide range of conditions. This includes minerals in ancient sediments that record past environmental conditions on Earth, the identification of minerals collected and returned to Earth from the asteroid Ryugu, minerals that have been experimentally exposed to Venus surface conditions, nanomaterials that can remove toxins from water, organic materials that can improve electronics, organic and inorganic materials that can improve solar cell efficiency, and metals that can be 3-D printed into custom parts for manufacturing. This fundamental instrument will contribute to the work of one-third to one-half of the undergraduate science majors who undertake independent research projects in Wesleyan’s science laboratories. The XRD will be used to train students on applied uses of scientific instrumentation in undergraduate courses at all levels across the science curriculum, for majors and non-majors. The broad use of this versatile instrument will contribute to building a strong STEM workforce. The XRD will support leading-edge investigations of topics such as planetary analog materials, organic-inorganic hybrid halide perovskite solar cells, multifunctional nanomaterials for environmental applications, phosphate minerals of asteroid Ryugu, donor-acceptor films, additively manufactured metals, authigenic mineral formation in sedimentary systems, and paleoceanography of past warm intervals. The benchtop system enables a unique capability to automate the analysis of multiple samples, provide grazing incidence diffraction in addition to quantitative phase analysis, the ability to remove fluorescent signals from background materials, as well as measurement under desired temperature and gas environments; several of these techniques can only be accomplished onsite. The project team has the expertise, funding, laboratory space, and research students required to carry out the proposed research, including more than 30 years of experience in operating and maintaining XRD systems and in training and providing resources to users. Wesleyan University emphasizes hands-on research training of undergraduate students and therefore faculty research groups actively include undergraduates, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, all of whom will have direct access to the instrument. An in-house XRD will integrate into at least nine courses in three different departments. The instrument will also be made available for use by faculty from surrounding institutions in New England and collaborators from Hope College. 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.