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

This proposal seeks funding for a Raman spectrometer which will be utilized to develop environmental and biomedical sensors, optical and ferroelectric materials, gas-storage polymers and oxidation catalyst compounds. Vapochromic and luminescent coordination polymers (Leznoff) and conjugated polymer thin-films (Leach) can sense volatile organic compounds and gases by colour/IR or conductivity changes respectively. Modified, Leznoff's polymers can act as hydrogen-storage materials or as highly optically birefringent materials for optical telecommunications devices. The Storr group is targeting bimetallic systems capable of mild and selective oxidative catalysis, a critical reaction in many organic syntheses. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of microarray biosensors (Yu) should greatly increase their sensitivity to key biological molecules (e.g. DNA). Relaxor ferroelectrics (Ye) are integral to high energy-density capacitors, high-resolution ultrasonic medical imaging and new types of memory devices. For all new materials, basic structural and composition information are a critical first step prior to studying any potential applications. For many of our target materials, standard characterization analyses are uninformative. Raman spectroscopy, based on Raman light scattering, detects molecular vibrations and is complementary to the widely utilized infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR). Since the spectral acquisition rules are different, Raman spectra often show characteristic vibrational bands that are absent in IR. Thus, Raman spectroscopy can be invaluable for materials characterization, especially since samples can be spatially resolved; for many of our materials, Raman should provide the fastest, most distinctive spectroscopic characterization information. However, there is no infrastructure in the Chemistry Dept. at SFU to measure Raman spectra. As our research urgently requires the ability to conduct this analysis, this grant requests a Raman spectrometer/microscope, an invaluable resource for materials chemistry researchers at SFU. This instrument will permit key fundamental questions and applications that are currently out of reach regarding many new materials to be addressed.