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Projects

As a scientific user facility, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) provides expertise, instrumentation, and resources to 250 projects each year. 

EMSL projects displayed on the EMSL web site project page reflect project abstracts and information migrated to this page before April 30, 2024. To review current and past EMSL user projects, visit EMSL Science Central.™ 

 

Microscopic analysis of carbon-based nanomaterials

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Yongsoon Shin
Project type
Exploratory Research
We are synthesizing nanostructured carbon-based materials from different carbohydrate precursors, such as glucose, fructose, and their derivatives. Functional carbon spheres with core-shell…

High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of the 360 cm-1 Band of Acetonitrile

Lead Institution
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Linda Brown
Project type
Exploratory Research
We will record and analyze the high resolution infrared spectrum of the 360 cm-1 band of acetonitrile. The purpose of this work is to determine the line shapes and positions of the rovibrational…

Computational Study of Oxygen Reduction on SOFC Cathode Surfaces

Lead Institution
Georgia Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator
Meilin Liu
Project type
Exploratory Research
This project is to examine the detailed reaction mechanisms of oxygen reduction process in the cathode of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) employed with first-principle calculations of gas-surface…

Hydrophobic coatings development for contactor membranes

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Dean Matson
Project type
Exploratory Research
Porous contactor membranes are being developed for mass transfer of species into and out of aqueous solutions in high temperature corrosive environments encountered in heatpump and other applications…

Surface Structure Analysis of Hematite Thin Films Grown by MBE Technique

Lead Institution
Northwestern University
Principal Investigator
Laurence Marks
Project type
Exploratory Research
This proposed activity will focus on the the preparation of hematite thin films using the MBE system in EMSL and the characterization of surface structures of the as-deposited thin films utilizing…

ESEM Characterization of Aerosol Materials

Lead Institution
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Stephen Joyce
Project type
Exploratory Research
The unique capability of the ESEM will be used to study the morphological change of materials such as simple inorganic salts as a function of humidity and temperature over atmospherical relevant…

Sputtered Au for Alkane Thiol Self-Assembly

Lead Institution
University of Washington
Principal Investigator
Kip Hauch
Project type
Exploratory Research
The scope of this project will be to provide smooth sputtered Cr/Au layers on glass substrata for use in the self-assembly of novel poly(ethylene glycol) terminated alkane thiols.

Morphology and composition of encoded segmented metal oxide nanowires

Lead Institution
Southern Illinois University
Principal Investigator
Andrei Kolmakov
Project type
Exploratory Research
The recent interest in one-dimensional semiconducting nanostructures is based on their possible operation as ultrasmall active elements in applications such as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics,…

Zero Emission Research & Technology (ZERT) CO2 Sequestration Leakage Evaluation Task: Parameterization of Leakage from Geologically Sequestered CO2 (PNNL Scope # 46379).

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Christopher Thompson
Project type
Exploratory Research
Understanding, characterizing, and ultimately quantifying leakage rates of geologically sequestered CO2 through the confining layers (caprock) is critical to site monitoring and verification (SMV),…

Microscopic visualization of membrane pores and bacterial foulants

Lead Institution
University of Houston
Principal Investigator
Shankar Chellam
Project type
Exploratory Research
My research is mainly centered on membrane technologies for municipal water purification. We (1) elucidate contaminant transport and membrane fouling mechanisms, (2) devise methods to enhance…

Oxidation of atmospheric organic particulate matter

Lead Institution
University of British Columbia
Principal Investigator
Allan Bertram
Project type
Exploratory Research
Organic particulate matter is abundant throughout the atmosphere. These organic particles may contribute significantly to the radiative forcing, thus, changing the Earth's climate. Additionally,…

Visualization of Gamma H2AX Foci

Lead Institution
NASA Ames Research Center
Principal Investigator
Marianne Sowa
Project type
Exploratory Research
Genomically unstable cells have been demonstrated to release a "factor" into the medium which when transferred to stable cells results in 100% cell death. First demonstrated by Nagar and…

DNA Microarray Automation and Analysis

Lead Institution
Argonne National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Darrell Chandler
Project type
Exploratory Research
The objective of this project is to automate the molecular biology and reagent manipulations associated with the hybridization and detection of nucleic acid binding events on the surface of a DNA…

Architectural Rendering of EMSL Office Expansion

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Michael Perkins
Project type
Exploratory Research
I would like to build a 3-d model of the new office expanision at EMSL and render several images. These renderings will be used to help visualize the actual space and aesthetics of the project