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Chemistry

Essential to our future

Researcher Scott Edmundson grows algae for biofuel.

(Image by Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

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A clean-energy future for the United States relies on innovation. Our ability to control these essential energy transformations will require harnessing the power of chemistry.

Chemistry permeates research advances being made every day at PNNL. In national security, chemistry forms the basis for exploring new ways to detect chemical signatures to track and deter chemical and biological threats. Within earth systems, chemistry at work within plants and microbes informs our understanding of the health of the planet. In the realm of energy storage, a series of discoveries in redox flow batteries and other alternatives to today’s lithium-ion batteries could bring down the cost of energy storage. In the meantime, advances in lithium-ion research are improving existing technology.

Video: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

And the fundamental science of chemical physics supports efforts in all these areas.

Tackling Complex Problems

Developing new forms of chemistry and innovating within established fields requires a team effort and the most advanced instrumentation.

Our catalysis research programs harness teams from across PNNL and the nation to tackle complex problems in many energy processes, including converting waste into fuel, creating efficient hydrogen fuel processes, or making biofuel out of plants resistant to breakdown. Each of these arenas is an invitation to PNNL scientists to engage—to improve in the catalytic process—increasing overall performance and lowering costs.

We continuously invest in this clean-energy future, making a $90 million investment in chemical, materials, and energy research with our Energy Sciences Center.

Top Stories

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023
Staff Accomplishment

Wendy Shaw Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

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Portrait photo of Wendy Shaw
SEPTEMBER 5, 2023
Staff Accomplishment

FAIR-ness Reigns at PNNL

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Photo collage of Britta Johnson, Francisco Ponce, Juan Lopez Ruiz (top row) Brent VanDevender, Praveen Thallapally, and Joshua Suetterlein (bottom row)
AUGUST 29, 2023
Feature

A Brave and Daring Poem by the IDREAM Team

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Aluminum crystals found in radioactive Hanford tank waste
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Featured Research

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023
Spotlight

IDREAM Poem Takes First Place in DOE Poetry of Science Art Contest

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Aluminum crystals found in radioactive Hanford tank waste
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
Research Highlight

The Birth of Hydrated Electrons from Aqueous Iodide

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Generated image of water molecules with electron density clouds on some of them
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023
Research Highlight

Understanding Diopside Reactivity for Carbon Storage

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Ions leeching from rock and forming different shapes of new minerals
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Facilities & Centers

Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis Energy Sciences Center Center for the Science of Synthesis Across Scales Interfacial Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials

Related Divisions

Physical Sciences Division

Related Links

What is Molecular Catalysis?What is Biocatalysis?Job OpeningsComputational ChemistryCondensed Phase and Interfacial Chemical PhysicsGeochemical and Biogeochemical ProcessesPhysics and Chemistry of Epitaxial OxidesInstitute for Integrated CatalysisComputational and Theoretical Chemistry Institute

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