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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/C51596X/1
Title: Nano-Analytical Transmission Electron Microscope
Principal Investigator: McComb, Professor DW
Other Investigators:
Jones, Professor TS Shollock, Professor B Parkin, Professor IP
McMillan, Professor PF Shaffer, Professor M Kilner, Professor JA
Pankhurst, Professor QA Horton, Professor M Aeppli, Professor G
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Materials
Organisation: Imperial College London
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 22 July 2005 Ends: 21 January 2010 Value (£): 2,398,436
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Development (Biosciences) Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Aerospace, Defence and Marine Communications
Electronics Healthcare
Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
In recent decades developments in the fields of materials science and nanotechnology have impacted almost every sector of the global economy. Detailed understanding of the complex inter-relationships between structure, properties and processing is essential to ensure that UK industry remains at the forefront in the development of such materials for technological applications. In order to attain improved properties, many of these materials are engineered to be inhomogeneous on an extremely fine scale. For this reason it is increasingly important to have as complete a description as possible of the influence of the chemistry, structure and bonding on a sub-nanometre level.The applicants seek funding for an ultra-high performance nano-analytical transmission electron microscope (nTEM). This state-of-the-art instrument will be designed and optimised to support and enhance the extensive world-class nanotechnology research programmes at the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN), an interdisciplinary research centre that combines nanotechnology expertise at both Imperial College London and University College London. The LCN research programmes cover the three thematic areas where we believe the UK must maintain a presence in order to remain globally competitive, namely information technology and communications, environmental science, and healthcare.The majority of these research programmes share a common need for as complete a description as possible, ideally on the atomic scale, of the structure of interfaces, boundaries and defects. Such information may relate to chemical, biological, structural, electronic or magnetic properties. Some examples include, the influence of the chemistry and the particle size on the optoelectronic properties of quantum dots, the effect of engineered compositional inhomogeneities on the ionic conductivity in fuel cells, the relationship between calcium transport across interfaces and biomineralisation in osteoporosis, and the structure of defects being proposed as active elements in new electronic and optical devices. It is certain that without such information the complexities and subtleties of the structure-property relationships in nanostructured and nanoengineered materials will remain poorly understood.
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Organisation Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk