Collaborations in Catalysis
PNNL has established important linkages with Universities, such as the Institute for Environmental Catalysis at Northwestern University, as well as other National Laboratories.
Our collaborative partnerships include the Catalysis Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Sandia National Laboratory, and the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis at the University of Kansas.
Collaborations with China on clean energy
The International Consortium for Clean Energy was formed to safely and more efficiently use coal, the most significant fossil energy resource in the United States and China. The consortium's members are Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (including many staff from the Institute for Interfacial Catalysis) and China's Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics and the Institute of Coal Chemistry. Each organization has a long history of groundbreaking research and development on the production of energy from coal, and are all now engaged in significant efforts to reduce the emissions of CO2 from these technologies.
Dilute magnetic oxide study brings together university and two national labs
Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Washington, the Institute for Interfacial Catalysis, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory demonstrated for the first time that the magnetism in cobalt-doped zinc oxide is directly connected to the presence of additional electrons that convert the material from an insulator to a semiconductor.
PNNL, WSU, Utah State collaborate on d-Orbital Aromaticity
Left to right: Dr. Patrick Han*, Dr. Igor Lubinetsky**, Prof. D. Wayne Goodman*,
* Texas A&M University,
** Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Collaboration with Prof. D. Wayne Goodman and Dr. Patrick Han, Texas A&M University
Using a state-of-the-art variable temperature ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope (Fig. 1) located in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Professor D. Wayne Goodman and Dr. Patrick Han from Texas A&M University are collaborating with EMSL staff member, Dr. Igor Lyubinetsky, to explore a model bimetallic catalyst made by depositing isolated palladium (Pd) atoms on a crystalline gold (Au) support.
Figure 1. Variable temperature ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope (STM) located in the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Contact: Igor Lyubinetsky
The STM is being used to image, with atomic resolution, isolated Pd atoms surrounded by gold (Au) in a crystalline gold sample. As illustrated in the schematic drawings in Fig. 2, Pd atoms deposited onto a gold surface displace a Au atom and form isolated single sites (Fig. 2a) and isolated dimer sites (Fig. 2b). Dimer sites of Pd have been proposed in a recent Science article (in press) as critical reaction sites for the synthesis of vinyl acetate, an important industrial chemical. STM studies of this system will confirm the specific geometries of the Pd-Au ensembles and answer key fundamental questions, such as the nature of the altered electronic structure of the surrounded Pd atom and how these changes influence its catalytic properties. Additional issues related to the randomness of the distribution of dimer pairs as a function of the Pd coverage are also being addressed.
Figure 2b. Schematic representation of a dimer site-a pair of Pd atoms surrounded by Au atoms.
Figure 2a. Schematic representation of single atom site-a Pd atom surrounded by Au atoms.
Images acquired with adsorbed molecules such as carbon monoxide (CO) will provide atomic-level information regarding how molecules bind to bimetallic surfaces, i.e. on-top, bridging, etc., details critical to unraveling the complexities of heterogeneous catalysis. An understanding at this atomic level will aid in the optimization of existing catalysts and stimulate strategies for designing alloy catalysts with specific surface morphologies and superior properties.
Contacts:
D. Wayne Goodman
Igor Lyubinetsky
Patrick Han
