Acquisition of a Combined Mechani-Electro-Chemical Characterization Equipment for Advanced Nanocomposites Research and Education.

摘要

The acquisition of the custom-designed Nanonics Multiview 400 Combined microRaraan, Scanning Probe Microscope (SPM), and Nanoindenter system equipment will allow us to bridge the divide between the fundamentals of materials science, chemistry, physics, biology, nanomanufacturing, and engineering, and it serves as a unique training platform for students from science and engineering. Such combined system integration permits correlation of SPM topography of a sample surface with microRaraan spectra, and it enables the characterization of local mechanical, chemical and electrical properties in-situ and simultaneously in active polymers and nanocoraposites. Due to the custom-built nature of the equipment and the fact that receipt of the DURIP funds were delayed, the equipment was finally delivered on January 2009. Installation took place within a month, and was completed by end of February 2 009. Two researchers in PI Ounaies' group were trained on most of the functions. So far, the focus has been on getting familiar with the SPM, nanoinde.ntation and Raman spectroscopy functions. In the next few months, the focus will shift to the unique features such as the combined Raman and nanoindentation and the SPM/Raman combination.