Chemical Sciences Research Area
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is a leader in chemical sciences. We focus on attaining a molecular-level understanding of complex multi-phase systems and phenomena that is critically important to our clients' needs. Our expertise includes fundamental research in
- Condensed phase and interfacial chemical physics
- Computational chemistry
- Geochemistry and biogeochemistry
- Separations, detection, and analysis
- Catalysis.
We succeed because of our teams. Our teams develop novel approaches as well as utilize routine routes to synthesize molecular, nanostructured, and solid-state systems; analyze the samples with multiple instruments; and model the results for detailed insight and to predict new systems for synthesis and analysis. Within the national lab, our teams form around the disciplines needed to solve the problem, regardless of where the people are in the organization structure. This allows us to bring different scientific perspectives for our clients. We also bring in collaborators from academia, other national labs, and industry.
Our experimental and theoretical analysis draws upon nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a variety of microscopy techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, computation tools such as the NWChem for high-performance computational chemistry as well as supercomputers, and other tools. When the tools do not exist, we create them. For example, we have built unique probes for real-time NMR studies of catalysts under operating conditions, single-particle laser ablation mass spectrometers for analysis of aerosol particles, and the nanospray desorption electrospray ionization instrument for highly sensitive analysis of minute samples. Many of these tools are available for others to use through EMSL.
The U.S. Department of Energy is our chief client. We conduct work for DOE's Office of Science and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Related Highlights
- Professor Shannon Stahl wins the 2020 American Chemical Society Catalysis Lectureship
- IDREAM Research Featured at the DOE Office of Science
- Nanocrystal study provides insights on growth, assembly, and aggregation
- Aluminum Complexes Identified Via Vibrational Fingerprints
- Illuminating how nitrogenase makes ammonia
- Scientists Achieve Difficult Chemical Step with Lower Energy Input
- Understanding Principles Controlling Mineral Dissolution Far from Equilibrium
- Early Career Scientists, Huestis and Pope, Contribute Article to Frontiers Newsletter
- For hydrogen power, two metals may be better than one
- Invited review article emphasizes developments in ion soft-landing
- Why size matters for gold as a catalyst
- Summer 2018 Issue of Transformations Now Available
- The power of the (intermolecular) force
- Samantha Johnson's Early Career Success Featured in Frontiers in Energy Research
- Invited Article Reviews the Current State of Fuel Production from Waste Carbon
- Yuehe Lin Joins Washington Academy of Sciences
- Morris Bullock Elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences
- New Approaches to Chemical and Electrical Energy Conversions
- Making a Splash: Wiedner and Linehan Review How Liquids Alter Reactions That Store Energy
- The Intricate Dance of Ions Results in a New Material
- Wet Aluminum Hydroxide and Oxyhydroxide Particles Release Hydrogen When Irradiated
- Weber and Holladay Review Chemistry and Costs of Converting Waste to Fuel
- Science, Society, and Your Career: Learn More in the Current Issue of Transformations
- WSU, PNNL Strengthen Research Ties to Shape the Future: Together
- Chromium's Crowning Achievement: Breaking Dinitrogen's Triple Bond
- Research Hints at Double the Driving Range for Electric Vehicles
- Quarterbacking Catalysts by Positioning Atoms
- Methane Goes Out With Carbon Dioxide, But There's a Catch
- Small Differences, Large Impacts, and a Classic Connection
- Getting the Catalytic Details
- At the Edge, Ions Act
- Sue Clark to Help Evaluate DOE's Environmental Cleanup Technology Development
- Water Molecules Play Unexpected Role in Mineral Formation
- Simple Preparation, Fast Lasers Overcome Analysis Roadblock
- Water: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way
- Simulations Show How Atoms Behave Inside Self-Healing Cement
- Kelsey Stoerzinger Earns Young Investigator Lectureship
- Atoms Rearrange in Electrolyte and Control Ion Flow under Tough Conditions
- New Catalyst Meets Challenge of Cleaning Exhaust from Modern Engines
- Measuring Small Forces that Lead to Large Effects
- Mastering Tailored Design of Aluminum Nanomaterials
- John Peters Selected as AAAS Fellow
- The Nitrogenase Nuance
- Samantha Johnson Earns Best Poster Award at Theoretical Chemistry Conference
- First Northwest Theoretical Chemistry Conference Is a Hit!
- Greg Schenter and Chris Mundy Selected for Editors' Choice Session at Prestigious Physics Gathering
- Better Simulation Successfully Tested on Interfacial Water
- A Molecule Made to be Broken
- The Pivotal Step in Turning Carbon Dioxide
- Strong Showing at the North American Catalysis Society Meeting
- Meeting the Need for Catalytic Speed
- Converting Carbon Dioxide in Water
- Carbon Capture Technology Featured at ACS
- Morris Bullock Honored for Scientific Achievement
- Bruce Kay Elected Member of Washington State Academy of Sciences
- Palladium Catalyst Charters A New Path
- Zdenek Dohnalek Named AVS Fellow
- A Duet of Firsts: Imaging Chemical Building Blocks
- Seeing the Forest and the Trees to Find Parasitic Reactions that Lead to Battery Failure
- Researchers Measure Forces that Align Crystals and Help Them Snap Together
- Sotiris Xantheas Joins Tokyo Tech's World-Class Research Hub
- Exploring the Relationship between the Two-Body and the Collective
- Coming Together, Falling Apart, and Starting Over, Battery Style
- When Ions and Molecules Cluster
- Johannes Lercher Elected to Membership in the National Academy of Engineering
- Particles Carry Hitchhiking Pollutants Far from Home
- Tipping Water: Finding the Balance Between Keeping Molecules Whole or Splitting Them on Oxides
- The Contradictory Catalyst
- Transformations: New Initiative in Chemical Transformations, Energy Everywhere, Contradictory Catalyst
- There and Back Again: Catalyst Mediates Energy-Efficient Proton Transport for Reversibility
- Water: Finding the Normal Within the Weird
- Morris Bullock Selected as AAAS Fellow
- Roger Rousseau Honored for Exceptional Scientific Achievement
- Catching More Carbon with Less Sticky Solvents
- Biogenic Particles Contribute to Formation of Aerosols
- A Cooperative Way to Make Ammonia
- Plutonium Keeps Its Electrons Close to Home
- Johannes Lercher Received Inaugural Lectureship from Australian Catalysis Society
- Carbon Capture and Conversion Together in Solution Reduces Energy Demands
- Transformations: Fundamental Catalysis Enabling Zero-Carbon-Footprint Future, Scale-up of Aviation Biofuels from Alcohols, Five Cents about Nickel Catalysts
- Nature and the Nurture of Aerosols
- The Case of the Cobalt Catalyst
- "Dream Team" Chosen to Study Basic Science of Nuclear Waste
- Johannes Lercher Receives International Award for Catalysis Research
- Stay! Teaching Technetium Not to Escape
- A Watery Roadblock in the Pathway to Biofuels
- Invited Reviews Showcase Analytical Research by Two Early Career Scientists
- Two PNNL Postdoctorate Researchers Win Awards for International Conference
- Optical Microscopy Takes a Hyperspectral Stroll to the Dark Side
- Following Nature's Lead: Mimicking Enzymes to Release Energy
- How to Heal Broken Bonds, Catalyst Style
- Why We Care about Carbonaceous Aerosols
- Chemists Settle Longstanding Debate on How Methane Is Made Biologically
- Thinning Out the Carbon Capture Viscosity Problem
- Catalyze It! Special Issue Highlights Drive for Discoveries at National Labs
- Five Cents About Nickel Catalysts
- Cleaning up Hybrid Battery Electrodes Improves Capacity and Lifespan
- Platinum, Puddles, and Water's True Nature
- A New Model for Simulating DNA's 'Atmosphere' of Ions
- The Hard Facts about Soft Landing Ions
- Cobalt Gets the Job Done
- Measuring Up: The Gold Standard for Catalysts in Real World Conditions
- Querying Excited Electrons
- Pollutants Slower to Degrade in Cool, Dry Air
- In Search of Stability: It's All About Staying Super Cool
- Maladaptive Soil Microbes Warn of Rocky Road Ahead
- Glezakou and Rousseau to Lead Symposium at National Conference
- Chromium Breaks the Toughest of Bonds, with the Right Support
- Special Issue of Scientific Journal Dedicated to Bruce Garrett
- Johannes Lercher Elected to European Academy of Sciences
- Invited Review Highlights Mass Spec Imaging Developments, Applications
- Molecules that Make Up Earth's Warming Blanket
- Bringing New Light to a Transformative Protein
- Trio Honored via Feodor Lynen Fellowship
- The Catalyst's Choice
- Transformations: Waste as Energy and Opportunity, Inventions in Catalysis, ACS Catalysis Lectureship Winners Interview
- Lou Terminello Elected AAAS Fellow
- Teaching Reactions How to Navigate
- PNNL Technologies Named to Prestigious R&D Magazine's 100 Top List
- Getting Water to All the Right Places for Carbon Sequestration
- Layla Mehdi Honored by MRS for Her Postdoctoral Work
- Going to Extremes with Zirconia
- The Noble Architecture of New Materials
- Yuehe Lin Named to 2015 List of Highly Cited Researchers
- The Color of Smog
- Shoving Protons Around
- Please Do Spill the Oxygen
- Two Great Catalysts that Work Great Together
- Arnab Dutta Garners Latest MT Thomas Award
- Grant Johnson Receives Early Career Exceptional Achievement Award
- Energy in Chemical Bonds and the Plant-Pollution Connection
- How to Store Sunlight on a Tight Energy Budget: Add More Protons
- Researchers Ace Hydrogenase at PNNL-Led Workshop
- The Story Behind ACS Winners Daniel DuBois, Morris Bullock, and the Hydrogen Catalysis Team
- Scientists Discover Precise Location of Active Sites on Popular Catalyst
- Oxygen: Not at All Random
- Three PNNL Staff Elected to Membership in State Academy
- Aluminum Clusters Shut Down Molecular Fuel Factory
- No Catalyst Is an Island
- Johannes Lercher Honored by Chemical Institute of Canada
- Johannes Lercher Delivers Hougen Lectureship
- New NMR Tool Helps Scientists Study Elusive Battery Reaction
- The Shorter Road to Having It All: Fuel Efficiency and Cleaner Exhausts
- Kneading Enzyme Makes Ammonia Levels Rise
- Transformations: Focus on Zeolites, Catalysis at ACS Meeting, Exploring Molecular Channels
- Could Computers Reach Light Speed?
- Five DOE Award Winners Pursuing Ph.D. Research at PNNL
- Finding the Missing Particles
- Brown Carbon Changes Environment, Climate
- Mimicking Biology to Create Fast, Efficient Catalysts
- Towards Controlled Preparation of Complex Architectures Using High-Intensity Beams of Mass-Selected Ions
- The Softer Side of Control without Clumping or Capping
- Water and the Changing Structure of Zeolites
- In the Heat of the Reaction, a Single Atom Delivers
- Monte Helm Advises Next Generation of Innovators
- Transformations: The Value of Catalysis, Top Five List from CME's Last Five Years, Catalytic Choreography
- Catalysis Team Wins Prestigious National Lectureship
- Adventure Planning, Catalyst Style
- Even at High Humidity, Aerosols Stick Around
- How Ionic: Scaffolding in Charge of Calcium Carbonate Crystals
- Small but Tough: Iridium Nanoparticles Resist Deactivation in Biofuel Production
- Chris Mundy Named American Physical Society Fellow
- Electron-Rich Ions Retain Charge When Softly Landed
- Dohnálek, Holladay Appointed to IIC Management Team
- Weaving a Catalyst
- Helm and Stolley Comment on Combining Sunlight Harvesters and Catalysts in Nature Chemistry
- Cheap Catalyst Gets Expensive Accessory
- 2014 Key Scientific Accomplishments Report Now Available
- Liquid Water Fails To Keep Ions Apart
- Left Alone, Palladium Atoms Get the Job Done
- Mapping the March to Methodical Materials
- Pinning Down Energy Levels that Govern Proteins' Shine
- Playing Twenty Questions with Molecules at Plasmonic Junctions
- Water Leads to Chemical that Gunks up Biofuels Production
- Johannes Lercher and Chuck Peden Named Wiley Research Fellows
- "Wetting" a Battery's Appetite for Renewable Energy Storage
- Creating a GPS for Aluminum Ions
- Molecular Mesh Catches a Chill
- Julia Laskin Receives Laboratory Director's Science and Engineering Achievement Award
- Building the Ideal Rest Stop for Protons
- The Stability of Gold Clusters: Every Ligand Counts
- Five PNNL Researchers Named Most Cited
- Transformations: Changing the Game in Biomass Conversion, Molecular Road Rage, and Long-Lived Biofuel Catalysts
- Window into Liquid Analysis Earns PNNL an R&D 100 Award
- Jay Grate Elected Electrochemical Society Fellow
- Researchers Propose a Common Yardstick to the Efficiency of Molecular Electrocatalysts
- DOE to Renew Energy Frontier Research Center at PNNL
- Heat Treatment of Copper-based Zeolite Catalysts Is a Hot Topic
- Satisfying Metals' Thirst Vital for High-Capacity Batteries
- Predicting Potholes on the Road to Renewable Energy
- Getting into the Fast Lane Means Minor Adjustments Far from the Catalyst's Core
- Navigating the Nitrogen Passage
- Aaron Appel's Invited Article on Catalysts for Renewable Fuels Appears in Nature
- Halving Hydrogen
- Lithium-sulfur Batteries Last Longer with Nanomaterial-Packed Cathode
- Several Faces of Physics Become One
- Uncovering the Details of Proton Relays Vital to Creating New Catalysts for Energy Storage
- The Science of Creating Catalysts for Energy Storage
- Building Complexity through Collaboration
- Krypton Reporter Uncovers Oxygen's Antics
- Ilke Arslan Joins Microscopy & Microanalysis Editorial Board
- Hot Radicals Change Material, Giving It an Affinity for Electrons
- Transformations: Meeting the Catalysis Challenge in Aviation Fuels, Propylene Glycol Process Recognized, Role of Frustrated Lewis Pairs in Catalysis
- Revving Up Catalysts by Building in Proton-Only Offramp
- PNNL's Condensed Phase Research Proves Popular with Scientists
- Fast Nickel Catalyst Breaks Into College Textbook
- Scientists' Advances in Measuring Water's Surface Potential Referenced in Electrochemical Book
- When Less Is More: Fewer Proton Relays Improve Catalytic Rates
- The Complexity of Catalytically "Cracking" Cellulose
- PNNL and Collaborators Receive ARPA-E Award for Gas-to-Liquid Fuel Biocatalysis
- A Better Bit of Binding
- Bullock's Perspective on Cheap Metals and Precious Performance Appears in Science
- Ilke Arslan Presents at National Academy of Sciences' Kavli Symposium
- International Scientific Conference Dedicates Session to Honor Jean Futrell
- Scientists Discuss How Catalysts Transform Waste into Fuels
- Strong Influence of a Minor Substitution in Gold Clusters
- Scientists Write Invited Review to Commemorate 60th Anniversary of Scientific Journal
- Scientists Write Book on Answering the Challenges of Clean Energy with Molecular Modeling
- Morris Bullock Named Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
- How the Newest Diesel Engines Emit Very Little Greenhouse Gas Nitrous Oxide
- Transformations: Kicking Catalysis' Precious Metals Habit, and the Strength of Collaborations
- Johannes Lercher Receives Francois Gault Lectureship Award
- Strong Forces at Work in Simple Table Salt
- New Catalyst Dives into Water to Produce Hydrogen
- A Crystal of a Different Color
- Analyzing the Status of Oxide Surface Photochemical Reactivity
- Who Did It Best? Energy Research Explained in 1001 Words
- Sotiris Xantheas Earns Exceptional Achievement Award from PNNL
- Transformations: Catalysis from Basic to Applied, from Crowded Highways to Open Skies
- When Benzene's Bonds Break: Hydrogen Release Depends on Bond Scission, Not Adsorption
- Bullock Honored by Royal Society of Chemistry
- Breaking Apart Clusters to Understand Growth
- Crossing the Atmosphere's Next Frontier
- Would You Hire This Catalyst?
- Controlling Proton Source Speeds Catalyst in Turning Electricity to Fuel
- Motivating Carbon Dioxide
- Smashing Glass at the Molecular Level
- Transformations Newsletter Presents Catalysis and Sustainable Energy
- A New Method for Measuring the Viscosity of Nanoparticles
- Chemical Society Symposium to Honor Catalysis Research of Dan DuBois
- Catalysts' Outer Coordination Spheres Take Their Place in the Spotlight
- One Year into Three-Year Bio-Based Jet Fuel Project
- Observing Chemistry of Atmospheric Particles and Droplets with New Mass Spectrometry Techniques
- Zizwe Chase Wins Oral Presentation Award at WSU's Wiley Exposition
- Synthetic Molecule First Electricity-Making Catalyst to Use Iron to Split Hydrogen Gas
- Julia Laskin Named Wiley Research Fellow
- Johannes Lercher Honored with 2013 Tanabe Prize for Catalysis
- Lanthanum Chromium Oxide's Energetic Dance with Light
- Adding Natural Elements to Synthetic Catalysts Speeds Hydrogen Production
- Proton Delivery and Removal Can Speed or Distract Common Catalyst
- Seeing a Common Catalyst with New Eyes
- Catalysis Research Star of New Newsletter, Video
- An Unexpected Pairing of Frustrated Molecules
- Yuehe Lin Elected to American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering's College of Fellows
- A Pathway for Protons
- Soft Landing and Particle Coverage Key to Keeping or Losing Charge on Surfaces
- Liem Dang Named Adjunct Professor at University of Utah
- Wayne Hess Named American Physical Society Fellow
- The Complexities of a Simple Molecule
- Nigel Browning Named AAAS Fellow
- Pollution Hitches Ride to Arctic
- Rewriting the Rules on Electron Affinity and Other Electrochemical Properties
- Nano-DESI Takes Active Approach to Understanding Complexity
- PNNL Research Featured on Cover of DOE's Basic Research Needs Report
- Praveen Thallapally Served as Guest Editor of Catalysis Today
- Searching for Molecular Radical's Secrets of Stability
- 2012 Fundamental & Computational Sciences Accomplishments Report Now Available
- Creating an Iron Understudy
- Moving Mountains: Electrons Hop through Iron Oxide Minerals in a Type of Semiconduction
- The Path a Proton Takes
- Listening to Life
- Iron Center and Pendant Nitrogen Needed to Achieve Catalyst's Goal
- Ionic Liquid Improves Speed and Efficiency of Hydrogen-Producing Catalyst
- Watching Molecules in Slow Motion
- Seeing All the Angles
- Liem Dang's Article Showing Unified Molecular Picture Graces Journal's Cover
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Forms Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, Names Director