Science Highlights | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

Conceptual art showing the rare earth element promethium in a vial surrounded by an organic ligand. Scientists have discovered hidden features of promethium, opening a pathway for research on other lanthanide elements.

In an Advance for Promethium Production, Researchers Get a New View of the Element’s Properties

Scientists characterize a promethium coordination complex for the first time, furthering the understanding of difficult-to-study lanthanide elements.

Strong interactions between neighboring metal and sulfur atoms are found to influence the properties of electronic excited states created by light absorption, as shown by X-ray spectroscopy methods at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.

Excited Electronic States of Metallic Atoms Rely on their Sulfuric Neighbors

Scientists discover that bond covalency is an important property of excited states in molecules containing metal-sulfur bonds.

Crystallographic and spectroscopic evidence now show that americium and curium yield a variety of polyoxometalate compounds that their lanthanide counterparts are unable to form.

Heavy Ligands Unravel New Chemistry for Heavy Elements

Heavy ligands, like polyoxometalates, open a new frontier in the chemistry of actinide elements.

Structure of Iridium (Ir) dimer complex showing an Ir-Ir bonding molecular orbital populated (left) and an Ir-Ir anti-bonding molecular orbital depopulated (right) by optical excitation.

Advanced Techniques Paint a More Accurate Picture of Molecular Geometry in Metal Complexes

Ultrafast X-ray scattering and advanced numerical simulations decode distinct molecular structures and their equilibration dynamics in metal-metal complexes.

Conversion of CO2 to butene via a solar-driven tandem process. First, CO2 is converted to ethylene using an electrochemical reactor and solar-derived electricity. Next, ethylene is converted to butene via thermal catalysis with heat from solar irradiation.

Driving Chemical Transformations Through the Power of Solar Energy

Researchers combine solar energy, electrochemistry, and thermal catalysis to remove the need for fossil fuel-driven chemical conversions.

A long-predicted ultrafast isomerization in the UV photochemistry of bromoform is visualized for the first time by femtosecond time-resolved electron diffraction. At 267 nm excitation, the reaction pathway surpasses direct dissociation by a 60:40 margin.

Bromoform Molecules Like to Rearrange Their Atoms

Ultrafast electron diffraction imaging reveals atomic rearrangements long suspected to be crucial in the photochemistry of bromoform.

Researchers retrieved the time-varying molecular structure of photoexcited o-nitrophenol from ultrafast electron diffraction data using a genetic algorithm

Speedy Nuclei Do the Twist

Ultrafast electron imaging captures never-before-seen nuclear motions in hydrocarbon molecules excited by light.

Copper X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements of catalysts in action demonstrate light-driven oxidation of copper nanoparticles under photocatalytic operating conditions.

X-ray Measurements Reveal an Unexpected Role for Copper in Photocatalysts

Copper catalysts play an unexpected oxidizing role during unassisted photocatalysis when coupled with plasmonic light absorbers.

A gas-phase X-Ray scattering experiment captures cyclopentadiene rapidly transforming into the strained bicyclo[2.1.0]pentene. This structure change is triggered by a pump pulse (blue) and detected through X-ray scattering (yellow).

Carbon Rings Under Stress

Ultrafast X-ray experiments provide direct evidence that interaction of light with a hydrocarbon molecule produces strained molecular rings.

Shale is physically and chemically complex at all scales of interest. Multimodal, multiscale imaging, and characterization allows researchers to study how to control the transport and reactivity of matter inside complex porous structures such as shale.

Scientists Characterize Shale Cap Rocks at Tiny Scales

Years of basic scientific research crosscutting multiple disciplines produces new information on the nanoscale complexities of shale.

Nanocrystals (left) capture light (hv) and then transfer electrons (e-) to nitrogenase enzymes (upper right) to convert dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3). A sacrificial reaction (bottom right) completes the process.

Powering Enzymes with Light to Make Ammonia

Scientists examine how molecular systems made of nanocrystals and proteins support the production of ammonia using light.

Water-soluble and oil-soluble organic molecules effectively separate different elements in the lanthanide series of the Periodic Table.

“Tug of War” Tactic Enhances Chemical Separations for Critical Materials

Opposing teams of water-loving and oil-loving molecules separate metals called lanthanides that are important in developing clean energy technologies.