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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.

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…

Use of EMSL Scanning Microscopy Capabilities to Study Soil Mineral Weathering

Lead Institution
Washington State University
Principal Investigator
J. Dickinson
Project type
Exploratory Research
Our research concerns the effect of rooted plants on chemical weathering of minerals, focusing on the associated export or loss of base cations in drainage and runoff (chemical denudation). Our work…

SEM of Life Stages of Gall Wasps of the Family Cynipidae

Lead Institution
Humboldt State University
Principal Investigator
John DeMartini
Project type
Exploratory Research
For the partifcipant to learn scanning microscopy. For the participant to produce SEM photos of life stages of a variety of gall wasps found in California oak trees.

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…

AFM and XPS Corrosion Research on Rock Bolt for Yucca Mountain Repository

Lead Institution
University of Nevada, Reno
Principal Investigator
Dhanesh Chandra
Project type
Exploratory Research
Conventional electrochemical studies performed to understand corrosion behavior of metals do not give dynamic structural feedback due to presence of causing hydrogen embrittlement. We propose to…

Chemical State Image Analysis of Biologically Relevant Patterned Surfaces

Lead Institution
University of Washington
Principal Investigator
Bronwyn Wickes
Project type
Exploratory Research
Static ToF-SIMS imaging enables the spatial analysis of multiple surface species. ToF-SIMS images can be challenging to analyze because of their size, complexity and signal to noise. Images of…

Magnetics Nanoparticles Characterization

Lead Institution
University of Washington
Principal Investigator
Yuping Bao
Project type
Exploratory Research
Using TEM to chracterize the magnetic nanoparticles shape size , orientation.

XPS characterization of hydroquinone-treated hematite

Lead Institution
University of Wyoming
Principal Investigator
Carrick Eggleston
Project type
Exploratory Research
We are studying the adsorption and reaction of hydroquinone with hematite mineral surfaces in connection with questions regarding biological electron transport for iron reducing bacteria. Our…