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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.™ 

 

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

Ab Initio Studies on Voltage Gating of Ion Channels

Lead Institution
City College of New York
Principal Investigator
Michael Green
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Abstract: The ab initio and DFT computations proposed here will clarify the mechanism of ion channel voltage gating. Ion channels are proteins in cell membranes that allow passage of K+, Na+, or Ca2+…

Glycolipid Structure, Dynamics and Recognition in a Membrane Environment

Lead Institution
University of Georgia
Principal Investigator
Robert Woods
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Eukaryotic cells depend on external surface markers, such as glycolipid molecules, to recognize and bind various other molecules as part of normal growth and maturation. As glycolipid molecules are…

Adhesion of Polymer Spheres to Modified Natural Fibers

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
James Holbery
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The technical motivation of the research is to advance current capabilities in natural fiber surface chemistry to develop modification processes that simultaneously displace water within the fiber…

Reduction of U6+ by magnetite and the rate of electron transfer

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Frances Skomurski
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The reductive adsorption of uranium(VI) by ferrous iron in magnetite (Fe3O4) is an important process for reducing the mobility of contaminants in groundwater and for sequestering radionuclides in the…

Hydronium Hydroxide at Platinum Interfaces

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
James Cowin
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Hydronium hydroxide is in principle a very high-energy form of water. Normally it is considered too unstable to exist. Recent work at PNNL finds a particularly stable form of water adsorbed on a…

High-Resolution 27Al and 133Cs NMR of Weathered Hanford Sediments

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Karl Mueller
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Hanford vadose zone sediments (Hanford coarse, Hanford fine, and Ringold silt) have been weathered by reaction with a simulated Hanford tank waste leachate and examined with a wide array of…

Degradation of Lignin Using Homogeneous Catalysis in Ionic Liquids

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Zongchao Zhang
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The objective of the proposed work is to use ionic liquids as a reaction medium for homogeneous catalysis of the lignin degradation process, using weak-base organic catalysts that are soluble in…

Analysis of Self-Assembled Monolayers on Mesoporous Supports (SAMMS) Materials

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
John Bays
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The ability of self-assembled monolayers on mesoporous silica (SAMMS) to serve as a support for interfacial chemistry has been thoroughly proven by researchers at PNNL and other institutions. We…

Ice Nucleation on Aged Field Aerosols

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
James Cowin
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The number, density, and lifetime of clouds are strongly dependent on the kind of aerosol particles that are present, that act as "cloud nucleation centers" (CNC). This is one of the major…

Characterization of protein confinement in functionalized nanoporous supports

Lead Institution
Guilin University of Technology
Principal Investigator
Chenghong Lei
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
One of the key fundamental scientific questions is how isolated proteins maintain their native active conformations in solution or in immobilization matrix. Molecular crowding and confinement theory…

Irradiation Induced Nanostructures

Lead Institution
University of Michigan
Principal Investigator
Lumin Wang
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The ion beam technique has been proven to be a very effective tool for the fabrication of nanostructures of various kinds. The two general types of these nanostructures are those consist of…

Non-empirical simulations of nuclear fuel materials

Lead Institution
European Commission Joint Research Centre
Principal Investigator
Paul Van Uffelen
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Using DFT computer simulation methods implemented in VASP4.6 and NWChem codes we will study the atomic, electronic and magnetic structure of nuclear fuel materials (UO2 and UN) investigating what…

High Resolution Electron Microscopy Study of Nanostructured Materials

Lead Institution
Yale University
Principal Investigator
Jun Liu
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
The objective of this proposal is to use EMSLs advanced electron microscopy facility to characterize the compositions and properties of the nanostructured catalysts and nanostructured materials and…

THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ADSORBED FE(II) AND ITS REACTIVITY WITH NITRITE

Lead Institution
University of Kentucky
Principal Investigator
Christopher Matocha
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Nitrate-dependent, iron(II) oxidation is an important process in the inhibition of soil iron(III) reduction. One important reaction that contributes to this process is chemical reoxidation of…