Research image graces budget document
An image from the research of two EED scientists and an EMSL scientist was used for the cover of The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) supplement to President Obama's 2013 budget. EMSL is a national scientific user facility sponsored by DOE's Office of Science and located at PNNL in Richland, Wash.
The image is of a metal-organic framework (MOF) composed of zinc nitrate and 2,5-dihydroxy terephthalic acid at 10,000 times magnification, and was a part of a study to understand how nanoporous frameworks can be created and modified to improve gas capture properties.
The MOF is part of a new series of materials developed by PNNL that have tiny "cages" that can be used to trap carbon dioxide. The cages themselves consist of metal ions linked together with organic ligands forming a porous network that traps gas molecules. The image (in false color) was captured using a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope at EMSL. The NNI supplement gives a description, primarily from budget and programmatic perspectives, of the activities under way in 2011 and 2012, and planned for 2013 by the federal government agencies participating in the initiative. More info about the NNI is available at www.nano.gov.
For more information about PNNL's work with MOFs, see this PNNL website: http://iic.pnnl.gov/highlights/catalysts.stm.