Xeuss 3.0: NC State’s New X-ray Instrument
The Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories’ new X-ray instrument will help researchers at NC State and beyond improve products ranging from electronics to textiles.
In December 2023, the Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories (ORaCEL) received big news. The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program had awarded associated researchers a grant to purchase a $1 million instrument, Xeuss 3.0.
“It was an early holiday present for us,” said Subhrangsu Mukherjee, ORaCEL’s lab director.
ORaCEL inaugurated Xeuss 3.0 in October 2024 and is in the process of using the X-ray scattering instrument, which will help researchers analyze the relationship between a material’s structure and function.
Bouncing Beams
X-ray beams bounce off of a material’s particles or atoms and scatter in different directions with specific intensities. The scattered X-ray patterns reveal details about a material’s structure at a tiny scale.
Training Users
Subhrangsu Mukherjee, an X-ray scattering expert, is one of two NC State researchers trained to use Xeuss 3.0. He will be responsible for training other researchers.
Benefiting Researchers
PolyPV, a startup based in ORaCEL’s lab space that develops eco-friendly, cost-efficient solar cells, will benefit from Xeuss 3.0’s capabilities.
Measuring Structure-Function Relationships
Researchers can use Xeuss 3.0 to measure the microstructure of different materials, including electronic devices, textiles and even liquids. Researchers will be able to conduct fundamental studies — for instance, observing how polymers behave in solution versus film — and apply their findings to improve fundamental understanding as well as products and devices.
“There is a strong relationship between the structure of a device, such as the LED screen in a cell phone, and its efficiency,” Mukherjee said.
Xeuss 3.0, the third generation of the Xeuss instrument, comes with a high-intensity microfocus source. This allows researchers to measure more samples in less time.
Aiding Researchers in the Region
Xeuss 3.0 is one of the few instruments of its kind on the East Coast, and the only one with similar capabilities in the Research Triangle region.
“Previously, we had to travel across the country to Berkeley, California, twice a year to get these kinds of measurements. Now we can do much of our research at home at any time,” Mukherjee said.
Other institutions and industries in the region, and across the country, will also benefit from the instrument’s new home at NC State. The textiles, electronics and chip industries in particular may find Xeuss 3.0 useful in helping them improve their products and devices.
Internal units outside of the principal investigators’ colleges, like the College of Textiles and the Department of Nuclear Engineering are also excited about the possibilities that Xeuss 3.0 will bring. A collaborative team from NC State and the Georgia Institute of Technology will make extensive use of the instrument as part of a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future (DMREF) project. The grant will support the team in establishing a molecular interaction framework to design and predict modern polymer semiconductor assembly. The team consists of Natalie Stingelin and Seung Soon Jang from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Brendan O’Connor and Harald Ade from NC State.
Faculty from other institutions — including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, Wake Forest University, Virginia Tech, the University of California, Santa Barbara and Wake Technical Community College — have also expressed interest in using the instrument.
Providing Unique Student Opportunities
ORaCEL doctoral students Tajah Trapier, Benjamin Hines and Vahid Mahdikhah are already using Xeuss 3.0 in their research, which is funded by DMREF and the Office of Naval Research’s Doping in Organic and Printed Electronics project. In the future, ORaCEL also plans to involve undergraduate students in their work with the instrument.
“I wasn’t introduced to these sorts of technologies until I was in my Ph.D. program, so gaining exposure to such a high-end instrument as an undergraduate student will be a unique experience,” Mukherjee said.
ORaCEL has not wasted any time in breaking in the new instrument. Just over a year after receiving the grant to purchase the Xeuss 3.0, ORaCEL is already testing it and starting its initial rounds of studies.
“The initial sets of data are emerging, and in many ways, they are similar to what we collect at synchrotron beamlines,” Mukherjee said. “Synchrotrons are large particle accelerators that speed up electrons to nearly light speed, producing intense beams of light. A synchrotron beamline is a specialized path that directs this light for experiments. There are only 10-12 beamlines with similar capabilities in the U.S., so being able to get comparable data right in our lab is huge.”
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