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

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.

This image shows the variation in permeability in a network of fractures due to quartz dissolving in the fractures. Each plane represents an individual fracture in the network.

Filling in the Cracks: Scientists Improve Predictions for the Dissolution of Minerals in Rock Fractures

A new correction factor for predicting dissolution rates uses measurable geological properties in fractured media.

Measurement Technique Sheds New Light on Semiconductors for Solar Fuels

A new experiment determines the energy available to drive chemical reactions at the interface between an illuminated semiconductor and a liquid solution.

To Study Radioactive Neptunium and Plutonium, Researchers Establish a Novel Chemistry

Ligand design and electrochemical studies pave a new path toward stable high-valent mid-actinide complexes.