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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.

Imaging of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode

Lead Institution
Carnegie Mellon University
Principal Investigator
Cristina Amon
Project type
Large-Scale EMSL Research
Microstructure imaging of a solid oxide fuel cell cathode is a necessary component of a computational modeling effort investigating the reactive transport of chromium species in the porous cathode of…

Benchmark non-Born--Oppenheimer calculations on small molecules

Lead Institution
University of Arizona
Principal Investigator
Ludwik Adamowicz
Project type
Exploratory Research
The proposed research addresses the development and tests theoretical methods that allow very accurate variational calculations of atomic and molecular systems without using the Born--Oppenheimer…

TEM study of interfacial layers in Nb-clad stainless steel

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Jung-pyung Choi
Project type
Exploratory Research
Nb-clad 304L stainless steel manufactured by cold rolling is currently under consideration for use as a bipolar plate material in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stacks. To make the…

High Resolution TEM of Doped Ceria System

Lead Institution
University of Florida
Principal Investigator
Juan Nino
Project type
Exploratory Research
Higher ionic conductive solid oxide electrolyte is critical for the realization of portable device based on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Doped ceria materials show promise owing to their higher…

High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of Spiropentane and Bicyclopentane

Lead Institution
Oregon State University
Principal Investigator
Joseph Nibler
Project type
Exploratory Research
The structures and physical properties of small organic strained-ring systems are of interest to both experimental and theoretical chemists. The object of the proposed research is to apply high…

Background signal studies with PTR-MS

Lead Institution
Washington State University
Principal Investigator
Halvor Westberg
Project type
Exploratory Research
In some of our ambient measurement studies with the PTR-MS, acetaldehyde and some of the other polar oxygenated organics have shown unexpected high concentrations. Since the PTR-MS can have mass…

Relating nanostructure to composite properties via 3D TEM imaging

Lead Institution
Oregon State University
Principal Investigator
John Simonsen
Project type
Exploratory Research
Our previous proposal (PNNL 27090a) was unsuccessful in imaging CNXLs in polymer matrices, but was successful in obtaining excellent images of CNXL aerogels. We therefore propose to utilize…

Overall warm syngas cleanup

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Liyu Li
Project type
Exploratory Research
Gasification of biomass to syngas followed by catalytic synthesis of hydrocarbons or oxygenates provides a feasible strategy to meet the increasing demand for transportation fuels. This syngas has…

TEM and MDS study of NPSS

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Xin Sun
Project type
Exploratory Research
Nano-Precipitates Strengthening Steels (NPSS) are currently under consideration for use as various vehicle components in the automotive industry for their excellent combination of mechanical…

Structure and reactivity of the basal and edge surfaces of gibbsite.

Lead Institution
Brigham Young University
Principal Investigator
Barry Bickmore
Project type
Exploratory Research
Density functional theory molecular orbital calculations will be used to compute the structures of various hypothetical protonated basal and edge surfaces of gibbsite. Computed bond length data will…

Single-Molecule Enzymatic Reaction Dynamics

Lead Institution
Bowling Green State University
Principal Investigator
H. Peter Lu
Project type
Exploratory Research
T4 lysozyme catalyzes the hydrolization of the bacterial cell wall and involves complex conformational changes. Although this hydrolization is one of the most important enzymatic reactions, its…

SEM on electrode surface/Electrode preparation and testing

Lead Institution
Oregon Health & Science University
Principal Investigator
Wassana Yantasee
Project type
Exploratory Research
Polyaniline was grown on the electrode (Ti and Au) surface. SEM analysis is needed to see if the polyaniline film on the surface is uniform. Electrode modified with functional materials will be…

ETD LDRD project for Uranium sensor test

Lead Institution
Oregon Health & Science University
Principal Investigator
Wassana Yantasee
Project type
Exploratory Research
The lab space in EMSL 1410 is needed for testing chemically modified electrodes as Uranium sensors.

Modification and Characterization of Radiation Behaviour of Zircon (ZrSiO4)

Lead Institution
University of Cambridge
Principal Investigator
Ming Zhang
Project type
Exploratory Research
Zircon (ZrSiO4) is of great interest in the field of materials science, mineralogy and geochemistry, and it is also widely used in ceramic, foundry, welding rod coatings, refractory industries and U…