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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. 

Projects displayed below reflect information and abstracts that were published before April 30, 2024. To review current EMSL user projects, visit Science Central™.

  • Projects beginning at or after given date.
    Projects ending at or before given date.

Crystal Perfection in Cadmium Zinc Telluride Radiation Detectors

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Mary Bliss
Project type
Exploratory Research
This effort is to collect high resolution x-ray diffraction data to correlate with thermally stimulated current measurements. The samples are cadmium zinc telluride which have the potential to be…

Interfacing an Electrodynamic Ion Funnel with an Electrospray Ionization, Orthogonal Extraction, Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer for Improved Transmission of Single Stranded DNA Molecules.

Lead Institution
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Principal Investigator
Michael Westphall
Project type
Exploratory Research
In sequencing the Human Genome, the current technology of choice for separating Sanger DNA sequencing reactions is gel electrophoresis. This technique provides high resolution with single base…

Electron microscopy of oxide Thin Films

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
R. Smith
Project type
Exploratory Research
We are making Oxide thin films. We would like to use the electron microscope to determinine the structure and porosity of these samples.

Infrared Spectral Library of Bacterial Spores (Sharpe's NNSA, PNNL Scope #28727)

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Timothy Johnson
Project type
Exploratory Research
It has been demonstrated that bacterial endospores have unique infrared (IR) signatures that can be identified to the species-, and in some cases, to the strain-level using Fourier Transform Infrared…

Electron Microscopy and XPS analysis of Porous Silicon

Lead Institution
The Scripps Research Institute
Principal Investigator
Gary Siuzdak
Project type
Exploratory Research
The proposed research is designed to generate SEM and XPS data on porous silicon surfaces. The purpose is to correlate desorption/ionization on porous silicon (DIOS) mass spectrometry signals …

Gratings calibration and characterization

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Dean Matson
Project type
Exploratory Research
We are laser machining optical gratings in sputtered coatings for a client. Use of EMSL's optical profilometer is needed to calibrate the depth of the laser machined grooves in the gratings and…

Characterization of silicon carbide coating silicon wafer surface

Lead Institution
Oregon State University
Principal Investigator
Shoichi Kimura
Project type
Exploratory Research
This research looks into the possibility of coating the surface of silicon wafers with silicon carbide that is synthesized via the pyrolysis of polymethyl silane (PMS). The PMS is obtained by the…

High Resolution Spectra of Methane and its Isotopes

Lead Institution
College of William and Mary
Principal Investigator
Malathy Venkataraman
Project type
Exploratory Research
The purpose of this proposal is to incorporate the very high-resolution (better than 0.0025 cm-1) spectra of methane obtainable with the Bruker 120HR FTS in our multispectrum least squares analysis…

Low Temperature Imaging of Metal-Organics

Lead Institution
Washington State University
Principal Investigator
Kerry Hipps
Project type
Exploratory Research
Previous work in the laboratory of Professor Hipps has shown that the image contrast of metal-organics depends strongly on the nature of the metal center. Several mechanisms, such as resonant…

Photochemical Investigation of Adsorbed Biomolecules

Lead Institution
Private Industry (Roop)
Principal Investigator
Bobbi Roop
Project type
Exploratory Research
The research effort will focus on biomaterial adsorption, structural morphology, and growth processes on surfaces. A biomolecule which is involved in naturally occurring photosynthetic processes…

Freeze Drying of Iron Oxide Phases

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Edward Thornton
Project type
Exploratory Research
Iron oxide phases in aqueous media will be freeze dried using equipment available in EMSL Room 1541-45. This is a necessary step in the synthesis of iron oxide phases for experimental activities…

Vibration-Rotation Spectroscopy of Sulfur Trioxide

Lead Institution
Oregon State University
Principal Investigator
Joseph Nibler
Project type
Exploratory Research
This is a project to use the EMSL high-resolution Fourier transform to measure the rotationally resolved infared spectrum of sulfur trioxide and its oxygen-18 and sulfur-34 isotopometric data to…

Vibration-Rotation Spectroscopy of Sulfur Trioxide

Lead Institution
Oregon State University
Principal Investigator
Joseph Nibler
Project type
Exploratory Research
This is a project to use the EMSL high-resolution Fourier transform to measure the rotationally resolved infared spectrum of sulfur trioxide and its oxygen-18 and sulfur-34 isotopometric data to…

Growth and Characterization of Anatase Films

Lead Institution
Vienna University of Technology
Principal Investigator
Ulrike Diebold
Project type
Exploratory Research
We propose the epitaxial growth of anatase TiO2 films, and a thorough characterization of their surface properties. Titanium dioxide is an important oxide that is used in many technical fields. For…

Nickel Phosphorus Plating Analysis

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
James Davis
Project type
Exploratory Research
Use Scanning Electron Microscope to determin plating thickness and X-ray analysis to determin composition.

Evaluation of Ion Funnel for Drug Discovery

Lead Institution
Isis Pharmaceuticals
Principal Investigator
Steven Hofstadler
Project type
Exploratory Research
Our goal is to collaborate with PNNL scientists to evaluate the ion funnel technology as an improvement to our mass spectrometry based drug discovery efforts. We will discuss the theory and…

Study of Pattern Formation on the Surface of NiO films

Lead Institution
University of Connecticut
Principal Investigator
Boris Sinkovic
Project type
Exploratory Research
Understanding of the surface structure and morphology of NiO surfaces is becoming increasingly important because of their use in spin-valve geometry of GMR sensors. Thick NiO films (500 Å) have been…

Structure Determination of Cyclic Siloxane

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
David Nelson
Project type
Exploratory Research
A presumed cyclic siloxane has been observed after the synthesis of specific aromatic co-polymers prepared by hydrosilylation techniques. Some synthetic procedures produce up to 50% of the cyclic…