MRI: Acquisition of a Single Crystal X-ray Diffractometer for Research, Education, and Regional Use

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition of a single-crystal x-ray diffractometer for research, educational, and regional use. The instrument serves the needs of interdisciplinary researchers in the Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Earth and Environmental Science, Biology, and Chemical and Biological Engineering departments at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), as well as research and undergraduate programs throughout the region including Union College, Skidmore College, and Fairfield University.

Acquisition of this instrument plays a significant role in the research, education, and training of approximately 10-15 postdocs, 80 graduate students, and 65 undergraduate students, comprised of women, underprivileged and underrepresented minorities in STEM, over the next two years. It allows for the development of new courses at RPI and enhancement of existing courses in the areas of nanoscale x-ray scattering and imaging, protein structure determination, and experimental inorganic chemistry through hands-on training in single-crystal characterization methods.

Outside RPI and across the Capital Region of Upstate New York, the x-ray diffractometer enables crystallographic services to be offered to local and regional small liberal arts colleges and universities lacking x-ray instrumentation of their own.

This single-crystal x-ray diffractometer provides unparalleled capabilities for analyzing crystal structures, phases, and defects in advanced interface and multi-domain materials. This award also allows for transformative research and characterization studies on (a) structurally engineered crystals featuring negative thermal expansion using Prussian blue analogs, (b) non-traditional photovoltaic and chiral bulk crystalline materials, (c) bio-inspired organometallic homogeneous catalysts for water splitting and carbon dioxide/nitrogen fixation, (d) ultra-thin crystalline-flake metallic transition metal dichalcogenides, (e) biological macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, and viruses), (f) drug discovery and (g) anisotropic crystal orientations in semi-crystalline block copolymer-based ion exchange membranes for energy applications.

New knowledge and basic understandings gained in these subjects enabled by the use of the single crystal x-ray diffractometer will help advance the design and development of novel or improved solutions for logic computing/memory, healthcare, energy conversion, and harvesting.

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.