Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Thin films of materials at the surface of water play vital roles in a wide range of processes and applied technologies, ranging from lowering the work of breathing in mammalian lungs, to forming coatings for nanoscale drug delivery materials. X-ray scattering is a vital measurement for the characterization of these thin films, and both co-PIs in this application use these measurements to characterize novel new materials and films prepared in their research labs. These measurements require the use of high-intensity X-rays, which can only be generated at synchrotrons. At present their research groups need to travel to synchrotrons in the USA or even further afield to do their research. Currently there is extraordinarily little available time at these facilities, which causes major research delays and inefficiencies in the co-PIs' research programs. Further, their international students have encountered issues with obtaining international travel visas and facility access, leading to major inequities in research experiences for their international students who are typically visible-minorities. The goal of this proposal is to build X-ray scattering instrumentation at the Brockhouse Diffraction Sector of the Canadian Light Source, Canada's only synchrotron facility. The equipment purchased will be used to construct a multi-purpose X-ray scattering instrument capable of measuring structures of films used in the co-PIs research programs. This will lead to a vast improvement quantity and timeliness of measurements that the co-PIs can conduct, and it will broadly increase the capacity for liquid-based film measurements for all Canadian researchers, for which there is major demand. Further, it will alleviate the inequities that arise from the need for international travel by HQP.