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

The development of new technologies depends critically on the ability to control materials properties in new and exciting ways. Modern trends towards miniaturization and efficiency, as well as emerging societal demands for clean energy generation and efficient energy storage, have revealed the need for new materials that can enable next-generation technologies with improved performance. Multiferroic materials (MFs) are among the leading contenders for applications across many of these areas. MFs are defined by the interrelationship between their electronic, magnetic and/or elastic properties. Our recent work has shown that MFs have unique properties with respect to light-to-electrical conversion (photoconversion, as required for solar electric generation) and that MFs decorated with noble metal nanoparticles have enhanced efficiencies for water splitting, a process that generates hydrogen gas from water. The motivation for this proposal is to acquire infrastructure to allow us to undertake a systematic investigation of the fundamental properties of MF nanostructured systems. To this end, we request two critical pieces of equipment: a cluster generation system, with which we can custom-synthesize MF nanoparticles with specific sizes between 1 and 20 nm, and an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) system, which can probe the chemical and electronic properties of the nanostructured MF materials. By integrating these instruments into our existing scanning probe/scanning electron microscopy facility, we will effectively create an all-in-one facility for fabricating novel MF materials and studying their fundamental functional properties. This capability will give us critical insight into the relationship between the structure and the functional properties of these materials, and will allow us to isolate the critical design parameters necessary to predictably synthesize custom MF materials to respond to specific technological needs.