Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) is a fundamental technique for examining the properties of materials in the solid state. This technique is often used to characterise metal alloys and oxides and related materials which are fundamental components of many everyday technological devices but can also be applied to characterise a much wider range of chemicals, including liquid crystals and pharmaceutical products. In the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor we have a Bruker D8 Discover powder diffractometer to service the needs of 6 highly active research groups working in chemistry and materials sciences, totalling over 60 active personnel. These groups have active collaborations with other scientists at regional, national and international levels. As a consequence the PXRD instrumentation is in very heavy demand from researchers at Windsor at all levels including many final year undergraduate research students, in addition graduate researchers, post-doctoral fellows, technicians and faculty members. The range of configurations available to this instrument coupled with a variable temperature controller make it a unique facility in the region and an important instrument in the training of HQP. With such a large user base, demand is very high and the D8 Discover has continued to be a Departmental workhorse since its installation. However the current instrument is now 9 years old and the existing detector technology has been superceded, potentially leading to a catastrophic effect on the research output of all these research groups in the event of parts failure. The new detector, controller and software package which are requested in this application, will provide substantial improvements in terms of both resolution and dynamic range of our diffractometer. Moreover recent developments in detector technology mean that it no longer needs regular servicing (normally 2-3 months downtime), whilst the state-of-the-art detector technology (introduced in 2010) will ensure continued service support into the foreseeable future and will be crucial to the future success of the research programs of many faculty members at Windsor.