Projects

The electronic structure and charge carrier driven chemistry on solid surfaces

Lead Institution

University of Pittsburgh

Principal Investigator

Hrvoje Petek

Project type

Exploratory Research

The experimental and theoretical understanding of photocatalysis is of vital importance for the solar-to-chemical energy conversion and for environmental remediation. Photocatalytic conversion of…

Development of Self-Healing Materials through Rational Design of Interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Ram Devanathan

Project type

Exploratory Research

This research proposal aims to integrate experimental and modeling efforts to advance the fundamental science of interfaces, such as nanoparticle surfaces, to understand the process of self-healing…

Probing surface hydroxyls of sub-micron FeOOH particles by Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy

Lead Institution

Umea University

Principal Investigator

Jean-Francois Boily

Project type

Exploratory Research

This work was devised to contribute to a new basis of understanding of mineral surface reactivity using Sum Frequency Generation (SFG) spectroscopy. As it is primordially focused on FeOOH minerals in…

Characterization of Chemical Changes Observed for Uranium Particulate Materials

Lead Institution

Savannah River National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Glenn Fugate

Project type

Exploratory Research

Small uranium particulates emanating from nuclear fuel cycle and weaponization processes can be collected at significant distances from their source. The chemical and physical characteristics of…

Investigation of Surface Coating on High Voltage Lithium Ion Cathode Materials Using Combined TEM and Atom Probe Tomography

Lead Institution

University of California, San Diego

Principal Investigator

Ying Meng

Project type

Exploratory Research

Lithium ion batteries are the top candidates for on-board energy storage in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and fully electric vehicles due to a higher energy density and rate capability…

Multilayered Metal/Ceramic Composites for Structural Materials Application

Lead Institution

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Principal Investigator

Jie Lian

Project type

Exploratory Research

The design of structural materials for advanced nuclear materials is limited within a window confined by radiation-induced embrittlement at low temperature and creep rupture at high temperature…

Characterization of Surface, Interfacial, and Bulk Phenomena for Next Generation Electronic Systems

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Gregory Herman

Project type

Exploratory Research

This project aims to improve the fundamental understanding of materials, chemistries, and interfacial phenomena for novel electronic devices and systems. Our initial efforts focus on the synthesis,…

Probing the Selective Action of Cerium Oxide in Cancer and Normal Cells

Lead Institution

University of Central Florida

Principal Investigator

Sudipta Seal

Project type

Exploratory Research

There is an imminent need to determine the mechanisms that define the interaction of nanomaterials with biological systems. Several nanomaterials show unique and perplexing characteristics in…

Polarization-Induced Interfacial Reactions between Nickel and Sulfur in Fuel Cell Electrodes and Mitigation of Sulfur Poisoning via Ni Surface Modification

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Olga Marina

Project type

Exploratory Research

The purpose of this project is 1) to gain understanding how the electrode chemistry is affected by exposure to fuel gas impurities under polarization, and 2) how to efficiently minimize the negative…

Interfacial Investigations of Nuclear Waste Forms

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Joseph Ryan

Project type

Exploratory Research

EMSL resources are requested to enable an international team of collaborators to solve fundamental problems in interfacial glass corrosion chemistry. With the recent dismissal of Yucca Mountain as…

Advanced microstructural analysis of environmental degradation using site-specific transmission electron microscopy and atom-probe tomography

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Daniel Schreiber

Project type

Exploratory Research

Environmental degradation of Ni-based alloys continues to be a major problem in high-temperature water environments such as those found in nuclear reactors and steam generators. Despite several…

Probing Mechanical Deformation and Evolution of Physical/Chemical Properties in High Capacity Li Battery Materials during Electrochemical Cycling Using In-Situ TEM

Lead Institution

Stanford University

Principal Investigator

Yi Cui

Project type

Exploratory Research

The goal of this work is to probe electrochemical transformations in next-generation Li-ion battery materials in-situ to correlate morphology, structural changes, and physical degradation to…

Investigation of Surface/Interface Structure and Chemistry of Tungsten-Based Oxides and Oxynitrides

Lead Institution

University of Texas at El Paso

Principal Investigator

Chintalapalle Ramana

Project type

Exploratory Research

The focus of the present project is on the tungsten (W) based oxide and oxynitride thin-films, which will have numerous applications in energy conversion and utilization technologies. The goal of the…

Characterization of Catalyst Materials in the Electron and Atom Probe Microscopes

Lead Institution

Argonne National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Ilke Arslan

Project type

Exploratory Research

The aim of this proposal is to combine existing techniques in the electron and atom-probe microscopes to afford novel methods for a fundamental understanding of catalyst interactions with atomic…

Unraveling Oxygen Reduction Reaction at Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathodes

Lead Institution

Boston University

Principal Investigator

Srikanth Gopalan

Project type

Exploratory Research

We seek to uncover the role of the structure and chemistry of the surfaces of solid oxide fuel cell cathodes in the oxygen reduction reaction. In particular we seek to understand the relationship of…

Mass spectrometry analysis of nucleotides/nucleosides

Lead Institution

Washington State University Tri-Cities

Principal Investigator

Kathleen McAteer

Project type

Exploratory Research

We wish to synthesize a number of specifically-labeled DNA oligomers that will be valuable in characterizing the structure and dynamics of damaged DNAs. In order to do this we will isolate 13C and…

Dopamine Replacement Therapy and Parkinson's Disease

Lead Institution

Uppsala University

Principal Investigator

Malin Andersson

Project type

Exploratory Research

Dopamine (DA) replacement therapy with L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) is currently the most efficient pharmacotherapy for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), but with disease…

DFT and Ab Initio Studies of the size dependent structure and properties of Boron and Gold Nanoclusters

Lead Institution

Brown University

Principal Investigator

Lai-Sheng Wang

Project type

Exploratory Research

Clusters provide intermediate molecular systems bridging the gap between atoms and condensed matter. Their finite and controllable size in principle makes them ideal candidates for molecular-level…

Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Diseases - Year III

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Garry Buchko

Project type

Exploratory Research

New medicines are urgently needed against infectious diseases that are becoming increasingly more resistant to current therapies. The strategy being used by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to…

Ab Initio Calculations of Charge Carrier Properties and Excited-State Processes in Scintillator Materials

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Renee Van Ginhoven

Project type

Exploratory Research

The development of new and improved materials for radiation detection is driven by unmet detector requirements for nuclear non-proliferation, homeland security, imaging for medical diagnosis and…