Creating a Research Nexus in Catalysis
By Wendy Shaw
An innovative approach is creating a win-win-win situation for catalysis researchers, their projects, and science as a whole. Through joint appointments, professors are coming to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's campus to collaborate on current and proposed projects. And researchers from the national lab are going to universities to share insights, mentor students, and catalyze research. Read more.
Taking the High Road by Finding the Middle Ground
Meet Yi Lu. Since he was a teen, he's wanted to know how natural catalysts drive reactions at conditions that don't work for industries. Now, Lu is leading research to understand how catalysts in plants and microbes work by obtaining a precise, detailed mesoscale view of catalysts. With his colleagues, he's defining the catalytic middle ground, between the macro- and micro-scales. Answering fundamental questions about catalysts' mesoscale behavior could one day lead to harnessing natural sources of energy to produce electricity, fuels, and chemicals. Lu holds a joint appointment with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Read more.
Science Short: When a Catalyst Takes the Plunge
Turning carbon dioxide into formate requires overcoming challenges related to the choice of catalyst, solvent, and base. Led by Eric Wiedner, researchers may have found an optimal solution. With some back-of-the-envelope calculations, the team predicted that a cobalt catalyst that functioned in an organic solvent could take a different path to work in water and, in doing so, overcome each challenge. Read more.
January 2018
Catalysis News
Joint appointment named AAAS Fellow. John Peters, a joint appointment at PNNL and Washington State University, was elected to the society's highest honor. Read more.
Kelsey Stoerzinger selected as one of the 2018 Caltech Young Investigator Lecturers in Engineering and Applied Physics. The award offers a way to connect with potential collaborators and colleagues. Read more.
Samantha Johnson Earns Best Poster Award at Theoretical Chemistry Conference. The award, on behalf of the Journal of Physical Chemistry, recognized the quality of her computational chemistry research as well as the design of her poster and her ability to share her insights. Read more.
New Catalyst Meets Challenge of Cleaning Exhaust from Modern Engines. Researchers created a catalyst that reduces pollutants in the cooler settings expected in advanced engines. Their work, published in Science, offers a way to create a better catalyst while using less platinum. Read more.
Atoms Rearrange in Electrolyte and Control Ion Flow under Tough Conditions. A team achieved the first 3-D view of the atomic structure at the interface of water and the mineral hematite as the reactions occur. Read more.
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,400 staff and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. As the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.
EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, is a DOE Office of Science user facility. Located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., EMSL offers an open, collaborative environment for scientific discovery to researchers around the world. Its integrated computational and experimental resources enable researchers to realize important scientific insights and create new technologies.
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