Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) Facility at BATAN for Nanostructure Studies in Materials Science and Biology

A 36 meter small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) BATAN spectrometer (SMARTer) which is the second largest SANS spectrometer nowadays in the Asia-Oceania region was constructed at the neutron scattering laboratory (NSL) in Serpong, Indonesia. Lots of works on replacing, upgrading and improving the control system, experimental methods, data collection and reduction in the last three years have been carried out to revitalize and then optimize the performance of SMARTer. At first, some standard samples were measured for the inter-laboratory comparison and several kinds of substances such as liquid, gel, powder, and solid-state thin film have been investigated recently of proposed research interest. The morphological changes from ellipsoidal into cylindrical (worm-like) micelles of self-assembly amphiphilic molecules, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and transformation of disordered into ordered spherical micelle system from unimer Gaussian coils of PEO-PPO-PEO triblock copolymers (Pluronics) in solution by salt addition were also observed. Particle size and its distribution of spherical polystyrene latex and silica nanoparticles in dilute solution have been simply distinguished by applying a spherical calculation model. Bragg peaks which correspond to a lamellar structure was revealed from a powder sample of silver behenate [CH3(CH2)(20)COOAg] nanoparticle and a solid-state PS-PEP, polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-alt-propylene), diblock copolymer film. The growth mechanism and fractal structures from aggregation of nanoparticles such as Fe3O4 ferrofluids or titanium-silica aerogels were investigated directly using a SANS technique through a power-law scattering of fractal structures approximation fitted at their scattering profiles. Meanwhile, magnetic structure from metal-alloys, CuNiFe showing anisotropic magnetic scattering structure properties up to 1 Tesla of external magnetic field was also accomplished confirming the nanocrystalline and magnetic domain sizes. The detail structure of n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside (beta-DMS) core-shell micelle has been revealed by applying a contrast variation, H2O/D2O mixture. Preliminary investigation of globular protein on folding-unfolding, protein denaturation and protein self-assembly studies is being performed. It can be concluded that SMARTer, a 36 m SANS BATAN spectrometer becomes a major tool for structural investigations in the effective length scale of 1 - 100 nm in materials science and biology.