The Collins Group had the honor of conducting the first microfluidic RSoXS experiments at the new NSLS-II instrument at Brookhaven National Laboratory with beamline scientist and NIST researcher Eliot Gann (pictured top left). The new instrument sets off a new capability of spatiochemical characterization of aqueous nanostructures.
The new RSoXS instrument, funded and built by NIST at the NSLS-II, was designed to enable a microfluidic stage (pictured) to place a ~1um sheet of aqueous sample in front of the X-ray beam (itself in high vacuum). PI Brian Collins and postdoc Terry McAfee (pictured) brought their stage to enable commissioning studies of the new capability.
The insert is constructed by Protochips to be used in transmission electron microscopes. It thus enables true multimodal (electrons and X-rays on the same sample) nanoscale investigations in-situ. Being a commercial product, it, furthermore, enables any user of the NSLS-II to bring their own insert to conduct such studies.
The first results of this study were published in the instrumentation paper describing the instrument and its capabilities.
