Science & Technology at the Ames Laboratory

2014

Issue 1

Behind

Science the

at

The Ames Laboratory
Contents

Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 3

From the Director

Copyright 2014 by the Ames Laboratory. All rights 

reserved. For additional information about the Ames 

Laboratory or topics covered in this publication, 

please contact: 

ENERGY

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF Office of

Science

Inquiry is published biannually by the Ames 

Laboratory Office of Public Affairs. Iowa 

State University operates the Laboratory 

for the U.S. Department of Energy under 

contract DE AC02 07CH11358. 

Editor, Inquiry

Ames Laboratory

111 TASF

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

The Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory seeking solutions to energy-related 

problems through the exploration of chemical, engineering, materials and mathematical sciences, and physics. 

Established in the 1940s with the successful development of the most efficient process to produce high-purity 

uranium metal for atomic energy, Ames Lab now pursues much broader priorities than the materials research that 

has given the Lab international credibility. Responding to issues of national concern, Ames Laboratory scientists 

are actively involved in innovative research, science education programs, the development of applied technologies 

and the quick transfer of such technologies to industry. Uniquely integrated within a university environment, the 

Lab stimulates creative thought and encourages scientific discovery, providing solutions to complex problems and 

educating and training tomorrow’s scientific talent.

Steve Karsjen: Public Affairs Director

Kerry Gibson: Editor

Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi: Contributing Editor

Laura Millsaps: Contributing Editor

Grant Luhmann: Art Director

ost great achievements in life aren’t 

singular events. There’s a foundation that’s laid 

through basic work with involvement of many 

different and talented people. The success 

of a basketball team requires dedicated teamwork and 

countless hours spent practicing jump shots or ball-handling 

skills. Before a race car driver takes the checkered flag, his 

dedicated crew spends hours tweaking the car to eke out 

every last ounce of horsepower and makes sure 

the pit stops come off like clockwork.

Science is no different. For every discovery, 

big or small, there are countless hours spent in 

the lab developing experiments, analyzing data 

and then trying to replicate the results. It takes 

experimentalists, characterization experts, and 

theorists all working together.

Research at the Ames Laboratory exemplifies 

just this type of teamwork, as you’ll see in the 

stories presented in this issue. While projects 

must have designated principal investigators, 

or PI’s as we call them, our work is very much 

a team effort. Experimental work by Vitalij Pecharsky in 

hydrogen storage media (story on page 8) and Aaron Sadow 

in methane catalysis (story on page 14) relies heavily on 

solid-state NMR characterization work by Marek Pruski 

(story on page 16). Read about these and other projects and 

find out who and what is “Behind the Science” at Ames Lab.

We also broke ground in June for the Sensitive Instrument 

Facility. This state-of-the-art building will provide some much 

needed space for the next generation of electron microscopy 

equipment that’s integral to our characterization capabilities. 

Its unique isolation features will allow an unimpeded view of 

materials at the atomic scale.

This Director’s Message is also my last as I’m handing 

the Director reigns over to the very capable hands of Adam 

Schwartz. Adam brings to the laboratory a great deal 

of experience and a deep well of infectious enthusiasm 

for materials sciences and materials discovery, and I 

look forward to continued successes and growth of the 

Laboratory under his leadership. I’ve 

enjoyed my time as interim director 

and appreciate all the support I’ve 

received from the staff here and 

at the DOE. I’m excited about our 

collective future and wish Adam all 

the best as he prepares to lead us in 

the months and years to come.

Tom Lograsso, Interim Director

A New Era

Leadership M

Laboratory Teamwork

in Ames Laboratory

18 EDUCATION

For every discovery, big or small, there 

are countless hours spent in the lab 

developing experiments, 

analyzing data and then 

trying to replicate the results. 

It takes experimentalists, 

characterization experts, and 

theorists all working together.

Beauti f ul Chemistry 6

P A 5G E

4 Awards

8 Shaking up

the Hydrogen Fuel Race

Snapshots 10at 1/1,000,000,000,000of a second 12Science of the small 

offers big diversity

14Turning methane

into valuable feedstock 16

Spectral Fingerprints Reading
4 Inquiry Issue Inquiry Issue 2 1 | 2014 | 2013 Inquiry Issue 

1 | 2014 5

d a m S c h w a r t z h a s b e e n n a m e d t h e 

next director of the Ames Laboratory. The 

announcement was made April 17 and Schwartz 

began his duties on June 2.

Schwartz comes to Ames from Lawrence Livermore 

National Laboratory where he served as division leader 

of the Condensed Matter and Materials Division and also 

coordinated LLNL’s projects for the Critical Materials 

Institute, a $120 million DOE Energy Innovation Hub 

led by the Ames Laboratory. 

“Ames is a world-class institution known for its 

work in materials science, computational chemistry 

and condensed matter theory, and Adam will certainly 

maintain the high caliber of research,” said Secretary 

of Energy Ernest Moniz. “He will guide Ames Lab as it 

confronts new challenges in science and technology in 

service to our nation.”

“Iowa State is honored to operate the Ames Lab on behalf 

of the Department of Energy, and the partnership between 

the University and Lab is important to the entire nation,” 

said President Steven Leath. “Dr. Schwartz’s outstanding 

scientific credentials, leadership skills, and vision will be 

tremendous assets in moving the Lab forward.”

Schwartz is an accomplished researcher whose work 

has focused on plutonium aging and alloys, advanced 

characterization, and the dynamic properties of materials. 

In addition to serving as director of the Ames Laboratory, 

he will also hold the rank of tenured professor in Iowa 

State’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

“The Ames Lab is a world leader in materials 

science, with an exceptional reputation, and with great 

momentum,” Schwartz said. “I look forward to working 

with the Lab’s scientists and operations staff to develop 

new materials and technologies that address America’s 

energy challenges.”

Schwartz earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees 

in metallurgical engineering, and a Ph.D. in materials 

science and engineering, all from the University of 

Pittsburgh. He joined Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory as a postdoctoral research associate in 1991.

Schwartz replaces former Ames Lab director Alex 

King, who stepped down in April 2013 to become director 

of the Critical Materials Institute. Tom Lograsso, acting 

deputy director and division director for materials science 

and engineering, served as interim director during the 

year-long search process. A Soukoulis wins Born Award

Ames Laboratory senior physicist Costas Soukoulis has been named as the 

recipient of the 2014 Max Born Award by the Optical Society. Soukoulis is being 

recognized for “his creative and outstanding theoretical and experimental research 

in the fields of photonic crystals and left-handed metamaterials and for novel 

applications of these materials to manipulate electromagnetic radiation.”

The award, which recognizes contributions to physical optics, is named for 

Max Born, a German physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the 

development of quantum mechanics, solid-state physics and optics and winner of 

the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics. 

Outstanding APS Referees

Two Ames Lab scientists, Andreas Kressig and Pat Thiel, were named 

2014 American Physical Society Outstanding Referees. The award 

recognizes scientists for their exceptional quality, number and timeliness of 

A

their work assessing manuscripts for publication in APS scientific journals.

wards

Three named APS Fellows

Three Ames Lab scientists have been named 2014 Fellows of the American Physical Society. The Fellow award 

recognizes exceptional contributions in the field of physics through research, application, service or education.

Costas Soukoulis

Andreas Kressig Pat Thiel

Makariy Tanatar

for “studies of the 

superconducting 

and normal states 

of unconventional 

superconductors using 

directional charge 

and heat transport 

measurements.”

Adam Kaminski

for “angle-resolved 

photoemission 

spectroscopy studies 

of unconventional 

superconductors.”

Klaus Schmidt-Rohr for 

“inventing and improving 

advanced solid-state NMR 

techniques that provide 

important new information 

about polymers, such as 

the Nafion used in fuel 

cells, those which occur 

naturally in plants and 

soils, and those which form 

nanocomposites in bone.”

Gordon named

 Schrodinger Medal winner

The World Association of Theoretical 

and Computational Chemists has 

named Ames Lab scientist Mark 

Gordon the 2014 Schrodinger Medal 

winner. The WATCC awards the 

Schrodinger medal each year to 

one outstanding theoretical and 

computational chemist.

Gschneidner receives 

Acta Materialia award

Karl A. Gschneidner Jr., senior 

metallurgist at Ames Laboratory, 

was presented the 2014 Acta 

Materialia Materials and 

Society Award in February. The 

award honors scientists who 

have made a major positive 

impact on society through 

materials science.
6 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 7

ne thing Andreja Bakac knows about her 37 years 

as a chemist — it has been beautiful. 

“There is a lot of beauty to chemistry, the kind 

that anyone can appreciate. You don’t have to be a 

scientist to see it,” she says.

“I love the colors. Inorganic compounds cover the entire 

spectrum, from sky blue to emerald green, purple, yellow and 

everything in between. Sometimes the hues are different at 

different concentrations of reagents or when observed from 

different angles. And crystals, tiny or large, can take breathtaking shapes and colors.”

Bakac, a senior scientist for Ames Laboratory and adjunct 

professor in the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State 

University, was drawn to the beauty of chemistry in middle 

school. Though she enjoyed studying other subjects like 

physics, math, and literature, chemistry had special appeal. 

As she gained knowledge in the science, attending the 

University of Zagreb and University of Leeds, it became 

clear that it also suited her personality. 

“By nature I am not a patient person,” Bakac says. “I can’t 

wait to see results. Organic chemistry is typically slow, so 

that you set up an experiment and let it run for hours. In 

inorganic chemistry, especially the kind we do, reactions are 

finished in minutes, microseconds, nanoseconds. I like that.”

Bakac has turned that beauty and speed into an 

entire career exploring and understanding the nature of 

chemical reactions. 

 Her research group studies ways to activate normally 

unreactive molecular oxygen (02

) through the use of specially 

designed complexes of transition metals, such as iron or 

cobalt. The ultimate goal is to develop catalytic oxidations 

with 02 in ways that are efficient and environmentally friendly, 

ideally using light as an energy source. 

“Oxidation is the most prevalent type of chemical 

reaction, occurring in nature and useful in industry. Oxygen 

is free and all around us. Light is provided by the sun. Thus 

the ingredients are freely available. What we need to do is 

to find a way to make them work together toward our goal,” 

says Bakac. 

Another research area for Bakac is the reactivity of nitric 

oxide (NO), a free radical so vital in biology, medicine, and 

the environment that it was named “Molecule of the Year” by 

the journal Science in 1992. Bakac’s group has produced and 

studied several metal-based precursors that use visible light 

to release NO slowly and in a controlled manner, properties 

crucial for many applications 

“My research team and I work to contribute to the basic 

understanding of how all these reactions happen on the 

molecular level, how fast they are, what intermediate states 

are involved, and how the conditions affect the outcome,” 

says Bakac.“ In-depth understanding of a particular reaction 

gives you the power to tailor the outcome by changing 

temperature, pressure, reagent concentrations and other 

parameters. If you understand it, you can control it.”

A scientist and a writer

Bakac will be retiring at the end of the year, and 

is thinking about the new directions her life will take 

outside of the lab. While she will include leisure time and 

travel, Bakac is also thinking about a second calling. 

“I’m sure I will miss science. It will be hard to 

leave the lab, my colleagues and students behind. But 

science takes all of your time, energy, and enthusiasm, 

and there comes a point when you start thinking about 

other things that you are interested in and want to do 

before it is too late.“

For Bakac that means picking up another thing she 

finds beauty in: literature. Not only does she have a 

lengthy backlog of books to read, she’s got a plan to 

write some of her own. 

“I have a diploma in children’s literature, and I’m 

planning to write for children. I don’t have a specific 

topic or story just yet, but whatever I write will have a 

strong science component to it.”

by L aura M i L lsap S

BeautifulChemistry

by L aura M i L lsap S

O

Andreja Bakac
8 Inquiry Issue 

1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 

1 | 2014 9

he concept seems simple. You put two 

compounds into a steel container, add some stainless 

steel ball bearings, tighten down the lid, then shake 

the heck out of it. When you open the container, the 

two compounds have undergone a transformation, creating 

new compounds that normally require the use of a solvent.

Ames Laboratory scientist Vitalij Pecharsky has been 

studying “mechanochemistry” for more than a decade to 

unlock the secret of how ball-milling is able to facilitate 

important solid state reactions at room temperature without 

the use of solvents. 

“Because of the process – stainless steel balls smashing 

together inside a sealed stainless steel container – you can’t 

probe the materials while you process them,” Pecharsky says. 

“The best you can do is take samples periodically and hope to 

develop a map for what’s taking place.”

While solvent-free mechanochemical processing could 

revolutionize industries across the spectrum, Pecharsky and 

his Ames Lab colleagues have focused most of their attention 

on aluminum trihydride (AlH

3

, also known as alane) because 

of its potential as a hydrogen fuel source. Alane shows promise 

because it can safely store and distribute large amounts 

of hydrogen confined in a solid material and it releases its 

hydrogen at a relatively low temperature so it doesn’t require 

much input energy. It can also be used as a solid propellant, 

such as rocket fuel, with both the hydrogen and aluminum 

consumed as fuel.

As a fuel, hydrogen has about three times more energy than 

gasoline by weight. However, for a car to carry an equivalent 

amount of hydrogen fuel as a typical tank of gasoline, it would 

have to be stored at extremely high pressure or liquified at 

-253 degrees Celsius, neither of which is economically or 

commercially feasible. Storing hydrogen as a solid material 

offers the auto industry a more practical alternative.

To produce AlH

3

, Shalabh Gupta and Ihor Hlova – 

members of the team – place an alkali metal hydride, such 

as lithium hydride, sodium hydride or potassium hydride in 

a ball mill with an aluminum halogenide, such as aluminum 

chloride, aluminum bromide or aluminum iodide. 

“If you start with lithium hydride (LiH) and aluminum 

chloride (AlCl

3

) and mill them together, you wind up with 

LiCl and AlH

3

,” Pecharsky says. “You don’t lose anything and 

it doesn’t require a solvent. We can get the same results using 

sodium hydride, which is much more readily available. So 

it can be relatively inexpensive to produce; you don’t have 

waste other than LiCl or NaCl (common kitchen salt) or 

used solvent to dispose of.”

Importantly, it doesn’t require a lot of energy to break AlH

3

into its individual components. According to Pecharsky, it 

degrades into aluminum and hydrogen at about 100 degrees 

C – the boiling point of water.

“The Department of Energy has set targets for hydrogen 

production systems at six percent by weight by the year 

2015,” he says. “Our technique is capable of producing a 

total hydrogen capacity of 10 percent so we’re optimistic 

about its potential.”

Besides Pecharsky’s group’s experimental work, other Ames 

Lab scientists are involved in the project. Characterization by 

solid-state NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) expert Marek 

Pruski and his group members – Takeshi Kobayashi and 

Jennifer Goldston, and microscopist Scott Chumbley and 

his student Tim Prost are helping to unlock what is taking 

place inside the ball mill. And theorist Duane Johnson and 

members of his team – LinLin Wang and Nikolai Zarkevich 

– are working to understanding the how. The work is being 

funded by DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

the Hydrogen Fuel Race

One Scientist, 

Several Hats

“My basic training, going all the way back to the 

70s was in chemistry,” says Pecharsky, who received 

his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemistry and his Ph.D 

in inorganic chemistry all from L’viv State University 

in L’viv, Ukraine. “But later on, I switched to materials 

science and then physics, so I don’t really know who or 

what I am anymore.”

He came to Ames Laboratory and Iowa State 

University in 1993 as a visiting scientist, working with Karl 

Gschneidner Jr. on magnetic refrigeration and stayed on 

full time in 1995. His involvement in the hydrogen research 

came about as a result of scientific curiosity.

“How did I get involved in this? That’s probably the 

million dollar question,” Pecharsky chuckles. “There 

are two things that we look at; one is the science and 

the second is potential practical application – do we 

have a useful product at the end.”

“The science here is very interesting because 

there’s little you can do to characterize the materials 

during the process,” he adds. “You monitor them at 

various points and then try do deduce what’s taking 

place. But it’s that difficulty that makes it interesting. 

Advanced characterization and strong theoretical 

support help a lot.”

“Together with my former colleague – Dr. Viktor 

Balema, who is now with Sigma Aldrich – we initiated 

an exploratory effort related to mechanochemistry 

of complex hydrides more than 15 years ago,” says 

Pecharsky. “And today we have a useful process that 

leads to alane, as described in our recent provisional 

patent application filed with the U.S. Patent and 

Trademark Office.”

T

Shaking up

Shalabh Gupta holds a ball mill canister where the 

solvent-free reaction takes place. The sealed canister 

presents challenges to understanding just how the 

reaction is carried out.

BY KERRY GIBSON
10 Inquiry Issue 1 

| 2014 Inquiry Issue 

1 | 2014 11

mes Laboratory physicist Jigang Wang is 

revealing the mysteries of new materials using 

ultra-fast laser spectroscopy. Wang likens the 

technique to high-speed photography where many 

quick images reveal subtle movements and changes inside 

the materials. Seeing these dynamics is one emerging strategy 

to better understanding how new materials work, so that we 

can use them to enable new energy technologies.

Wang and his colleagues recently used ultra-fast laser 

spectroscopy to examine and explain the mysterious 

electronic properties of iron-based superconductors. 

Superconductors are materials that, when cooled below 

a certain temperature, display zero electrical resistance, a 

property that could someday make possible lossless electrical 

distribution. Superconductors start in a “normal,” often 

magnetic, state and then transition to a superconducting 

state when they are cooled to a certain temperature.

What is still a mystery is what goes on in materials 

as they transform from normal to superconducting. And 

this “messy middle” area of superconducting materials’ 

behavior holds richer information about the why and how of 

superconductivity than do the stable areas. 

“The stable states of materials aren’t quite as interesting 

as the crossover region when it comes to understanding 

materials’ mechanisms because everything is settled and 

there’s not a lot of action. But, in this crossover region to 

superconductivity, we can study the dynamics, see what goes 

where and when, and this information will tell us a lot about 

the interplay between superconductivity and magnetism,” 

says Wang, who is also an associate professor of physics and 

astronomy at Iowa State University. 

But the challenge is that in the crossover region, all 

the different sets of a material’s properties that scientists 

examine, like its magnetic order and electronic order, are all 

coupled. In other words, when there’s a change to one set of 

properties, it affects all the others. So, tracing what individual 

changes and properties are dominant is difficult.

Wang and the team use ultra-fast laser spectroscopy 

to “see” the tiny actions in materials. In ultra-fast laser 

spectroscopy, scientists apply a pulsed laser to a material 

sample to excite particles within the sample. Some of the 

laser light is absorbed by the material. Other time-delayed 

light pulses subsequently hit the material and can be used 

to take super-fast “snapshots” of what is going on in the 

material following the laser pulse. The snapshots are replayed 

afterward like a stop-action movie. One decisive advantage of 

this approach is the capability to shoot the first frame in less 

than one trillionth of a second. 

The technique is especially well suited to understanding 

the crossover region of iron-arsenide based superconductors 

materials because the laser excitation alters the material so 

that different properties of the material are distinguishable 

from each other in time. With the help of successive 

“snapshots and replays,” even the most subtle evolutions in 

the materials’ properties can show their secrets.

“Ultra-fast laser spectroscopy is a new experimental tool 

to study dynamic, emergent behavior in complex materials 

such as these iron-based superconductors,” says Wang. 

“Specifically, we answered the pressing question of whether an 

electronically-driven nematic order exists as an independent 

phase in iron-based superconductors, as these materials go 

from a magnetic normal state to superconducting state. The 

answer is yes. This is important to our overall understanding 

of how superconductors emerge in this type of materials.”

Wang and his colleagues have also used ultra-fast laser 

spectroscopy to demonstrate broadband terahertz wave 

generation using deep-sub-wavelength metamaterials emitters, 

quantum ultrafast magnetic switching, and stimulated 

emission of Dirac fermions in graphene monolayers. 

“Ultra-fast laser spectroscopy is still a relatively new 

characterization technique,” says Wang. “My goal is to 

help merge the field with the traditional materials research 

community, which may orchestrate a new paradigm for 

quantum materials discovery, understanding and control.”

Snapshots

More is Different

“If there’s a theme to my research, it’s small things 

and complex things,” says Jigang Wang.

His fascination with the small started as an 

undergraduate physics student.

“I was interested in the scientific philosophy of 

reductionism: that to understand phenomena, we 

have to go to the small, smaller and smallest until we 

find and understand the most fundamental particles. 

That by understanding one small piece, we can better 

understand the whole,” says Wang.

The interest led him to study very small 

semiconductor nanostructures in graduate school 

and carbon nanotubes as a postdoctoral researcher. 

But, along the way, Wang turned to physicist Philip 

Warren Anderson’s concept of “more is different,” which 

emphasizes the importance of complexity – how small 

particles organize themselves and how the organization 

creates different levels of principles that help explain 

the whole.

“We see that this concept cuts across different 

subdisciplines of physics, biology, chemistry, and 

applied science, and, of course, also in materials 

science, like superconductivity or magnetism,” says 

Wang. “You have these fascinating functions from these 

many particles bound by simple interactions. I study 

these complex systems: their dynamics, or how they 

change; how certain changes in the systems correlate 

to other changes to drive cooperative behaviors; and 

their nonlinearity, or how the output from a system is 

different from the input, to build functionalities.”

“More is indeed different,” he adds. “And my goal 

using femto-second laser spectroscopy is to build our 

understanding how these complex quantum materials 

work by revealing their organization principles from 

nanoscale to mesoscale and how we can harness their 

properties for energy applications.”

A

“Ultra-fast laser spectroscopy is still a 

relatively new characterization technique. 

“My goal is to help merge the field with the 

traditional materials research community, 

which may orchestrate a new paradigm for 

quantum materials discovery, understanding 

and control.”

Ames Laboratory scientists use ultra-fast laser spectroscopy to “see” 

tiny actions in real time in materials. Scientists apply a pulse laser 

to a sample to excite the material. Some of the laser light is absorbed 

by the material, but the light that passes through or reflected from 

the material can be used to take super-fast “snapshots” of what is 

going on in the material following the laser pulse.

BY B reehan G erleman L ucchesi

at 1/1,000,000,000,000 

of a second
12 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 13

o the casual observer, the science of 

developing mesoporous nanoparticles would 

seem to be a narrowly focused, even esoteric 

area of chemistry. 

But to Igor Slowing, a scientist for Ames Laboratory 

since 2009, the research is a jumping off place for a 

wide range of scientific disciplines, and that’s the 

attraction. 

 “These particles are really a means of accomplishing 

many different things—they are a platform we can 

modify or adapt to do anything, from making fuels to 

delivering medicines to cleaning the environment to 

things like creating specialized lenses. These structures 

give me many opportunities to learn more about other 

areas of science, and that is really exciting to me.” 

Pursuing a wide range of interests has always been 

important to Slowing, who taught organic chemistry at 

three different universities, published books of short 

stories, and operated a theater company in his native 

Guatemala before coming to Iowa State University to 

pursue his Ph.D. studies. 

He completed his Ph.D. in 2008 and post-doctoral 

work with the late Victor Shang-Yi Lin, researching the 

use of nanoparticles for intracellular drug delivery. 

Now, Slowing and fellow Ames lab researchers have 

successfully developed a biofuel refining technique 

using mesostructured nanoparticles that combine two 

processes—sequestering free fatty acids and catalyzing 

the conversion to green diesel. 

Pursuing the use of nanoparticles as catalysts for

renewable fuels presents big challenges, says Slowing, as 

well as big advantages. 

“There’s such a big diversity of renewable resources. 

For each resource, whether it’s grass or microalgae or 

orange peels, the technology must be adapted to best 

process it. This can be a difficult thing,” Slowing explains. 

“But the advantage is this: if we can develop smart, 

clean, economical processes that are specific to each 

material, these biorenewable resources can then be used 

not only for fuel, but also as sources for other things like 

pharmaceutical components. In that way, we can exploit 

the benefits of each of these resources fully.”

In another project, Slowing is also working to develop 

nanoparticles that can be used as a substitute catalyst in 

place of chromium, used in the processing of hydrocarbons 

but is also an environmental contaminant and carcinogen. 

And in a different application, Slowing will be partnering 

with a researcher from Mississippi State University in a 

project to develop nanomaterials that can absorb nuclear 

waste contamination in the environment. 

It is a far cry from the technology’s origins. With the 

increasing complexity and capabilities of these particles, 

they have gotten larger, Slowing says, and are more 

properly categorized in the mesoscale, or structures 

larger than 100 nanometers. Because the chemical and 

physical properties of nanoscale materials differ from the 

bulk properties of the same material and are the key to 

their amazing potential, these mid-range or mesodomain 

materials may hold even more surprises. 

“These can act as a bridge between the macro- and 

nano-world, and we don’t know a lot right now about what 

other properties may emerge. It’s one of the great questions 

I have for future research, and that I look forward to 

tackling,” says Slowing. “Throughout history, it has been 

the understanding of these properties and how to control 

them that has been missing,” Slowing adds. “As we gain 

better understanding, the possibilities for their application 

will continue to expand.”

T

Academic Family Tree:

Slowing also conducts research in an area 

unrelated to nanoparticles: he keeps an academic 

genealogy tree on the wall of his office—with names, 

dates, and pictures.

With pages hanging in a line reaching to the ceiling, 

Slowing can trace his academic heritage starting with 

his own doctoral research at Iowa State. From there, 

his academic heritage goes back on this office wall 

a few hundred years. It includes scientists who were 

history books unto themselves, like Benjamin Rush, 

a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a 

physician; or Justus von Liebig, a 19th century German 

chemist and inventor.

“I’ve always loved history in general and the history 

of science in particular,” says Slowing. “When I began 

to study chemistry, I was curious to know how I was 

related to these people that I was reading about.”

And Slowing’s historical 

research enabled him to trace 

his academic genealogy over 

600 years, to the flowering of 

scientific thought that occurred 

in Western Europe.

Slowing says he’d like to 

learn more about the scientists 

in his family tree that are still 

alive and actively researching. 

Among them is Harry Gray, a 

pioneering bioinorganic chemist 

at the California Institute 

of Technology whose work 

Slowing finds fascinating.

“These are scientists actively working in areas very 

different from mine, and yet their accomplishments 

keep inspiring my work. The influence of ideas across 

the years and across scientific disciplines is a great 

history lesson.”

Science of the small offers

by L aura M i L lsap S

big diversity
14 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 15

lentiful natural gas has been a boon to the 

U.S. energy sector. While it is fueling electrical power 

plants and providing heat for industry and homes, 

natural gas still can’t hold a candle to petroleum as a 

feedstock when it comes to making other products, such as 

plastics, chemicals and other types of fuels.

The problem with natural gas is that it’s primarily 

methane, along with some ethane and propane. Methane, 

comprised of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, 

is tough to process because those hydrogen-carbon bonds 

are quite strong, and stronger than carbon-hydrogen and 

carbon-carbon bonds in valuable fuels and chemicals. 

But Ames Laboratory scientist Aaron Sadow hopes to 

develop catalysts that will break those bonds, yet control 

the outcome.

“The chemical industry can’t use methane,” Sadow 

says. “It can’t go into high-value applications because it’s 

difficult to efficiently and selectively convert. Ethane, by 

comparison, can easily be converted into ethylene, which 

is a precursor for a lot of chemicals and polymers.”

“Before shale gas, companies were looking for alternative 

sources of ethylene, because the price of petroleum was 

going up and it wasn’t economically feasible to use it for 

ethylene production,” he continues. “Thanks to abundant 

natural gas, that’s no longer the case. But if you look at 

other types of chemical feedstock that you can’t get from 

shale gas, those prices have continued to climb.”

But if methane could be unlocked as a source 

for those compounds, the value of natural gas 

would be increased and reliance on petroleum 

would be diminished.

Methane conversion has been tried for quite 

some time. However, methane reactions are 

hard to control and some of the intermediate 

products are unstable. In other words, once a 

reaction starts, it’s hard to stop methane from 

breaking down all the way to carbon dioxide 

and water.

A group of Ames Lab researchers, with collaboration 

from other national labs and private industry, has been 

looking for ways to control those reactions via catalysis. 

Within Ames Lab, Sadow’s group has looked to Igor 

Slowing for help with high-surface-area metal oxides 

and to Marek Pruski’s group to help characterize those 

materials via solid-state NMR. Theoretical groups led by 

Mark Gordon, Teresa Windus and Jim Evans are working 

to develop models for what’s taking place.

“We (Sadow’s group) had found some reactions 

where we were able to break what we thought were 

strong bonds with reducing reagents and that suggested 

a strategy for activating surfaces for bond activation 

chemistry,” Sadow says. “Since these are dynamic 

systems, understanding how conversions happen will 

be really important. We had some recent results where 

we’d seen some molecular chemistry which suggested 

strategies for activating surfaces and high surface area 

materials towards bond activation.”

“A lot of the general ideas are out in the literature, but 

what we bring is explicit insight into what goes on at single 

sites. We hope to then extrapolate that to high surface 

areas,” he says. “We’re well set up to try figure out what’s 

taking place and how we might control it.”

Turning methane

P

into valuable feedstock

BY KERRY GIBSON

Sadow believes 

in teamwork

The current work relates somewhat to research 

Sadow did as a graduate student at the University of 

California-Berkeley. 

“I was in Don Tilley’s group where we were using 

organometallic molecules to activate methane,” Sadow 

says. “Unfortunately the organometallic systems are 

delicate – they’re very sensitive to air, moisture and 

temperature. In our current work, we’re hopeful that 

a metal oxide surface with lots of sites will overcome 

that problem.”

For Sadow, cracking the methane problem is both 

a chemical challenge and an economic imperative.

“Methane activation has been a challenge for 100 

years,” he says. “We know how to burn it and we can turn 

it into syngas under gasification conditions, but that’s 

an inefficient pathway. At the same time, we also can’t 

continue to rely on oil for all these chemical precursors.”

“The group we have here at Ames Lab is in a 

unique position,” he continues. “To be industrially 

useful, you need systems that are thermally stable. 

Fortunately, there have been tremendous advances 

in spectroscopic techniques for heterogeneous 

catalysis. The nano revolution has really given us new 

insight into what’s on surfaces and how to think about 

surfaces and surface reactivity.”

“Ames Lab has experts in materials, characterization, 

and expertise in trying to understand reactivity and 

develop single-site catalysts, so you bring it all together 

and we hope to affect some exciting changes.”

“The chemical industry can’t use methane.” 

Sadow says. “It can’t go into high-value 

applications because it’s difficult to 

efficiently and selectively convert. Ethane, 

by comparison, can easily be converted into 

ethylene, which is a precursor for a lot of 

chemicals and polymers.”
16 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 17

hy is solid-state nuclear magnetic 

resonance is so powerful? Because it can tell 

us how individual atoms are arranged within 

a material,” says Ames Laboratory scientist 

Marek Pruski. “And, it can tell us how molecules or 

molecular fragments move in very short time frames.”

To obtain this detailed information about materials’ 

structure and dynamics, solid-state NMR monitors 

the response of atomic nuclei to excitation with radio 

frequency waves. 

“The frequency at which nuclei respond creates a 

unique spectral ‘fingerprint’ of their local environment 

within a material,” says Pruski.

These “fingerprints” are especially 

useful in understanding the structure of noncrystalline materials — that is, materials that do 

not display regular crystalline structure amenable 

to diffraction studies. But, solid-state NMR is a 

challenging business. Because it operates at the 

low-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum, the 

population difference between energy levels involved 

in NMR transitions is exceedingly small—only a few 

spins per million effectively generate the NMR signal. 

To remedy the sensitivity woes, solid-state NMR 

experts, like Pruski, are constantly looking for new 

strategies, which include innovative radio frequency 

pulse sequences and advanced instrumentation: 

stronger magnets, state-of-the-art probes, and novel 

computational tools. 

In the last few years, several approaches involving 

‘hyperpolarization’ of nuclear spins have emerged that 

are poised to revolutionize NMR spectroscopy. Chief 

among these is dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). In 

short, DNP NMR relies upon excitation of the unpaired 

electrons by microwave irradiation and subsequent transfer 

of the resulting spin polarization to the material’s nuclei, 

resulting in a much stronger response from these nuclei 

than is possible in conventional solid-state NMR. 

In June, Ames Laboratory became home to the first DNP 

NMR used for materials science in the United States.

“This instrument will allow us to improve the sensitivity 

by 100 times, and thus take data up to 10,000 times faster,” 

says Pruski.

Commercial DNP NMR systems only became available 

in the last few years. Pruski and his Ames Laboratory 

colleague, Takeshi Kobayashi, collaborated with research 

groups in Europe to demonstrate how useful the DNP 

NMR will be for materials research at Ames Laboratory.

“We have solid evidence that the DNP NMR is a 

game-changing technique,” says Pruski. “Remarkably, 

DNP NMR is still emerging. There’s great potential for 

its further development, and we are looking forward to 

making these advances. Most importantly, however, we 

want to utilize this new capability within several Ames 

Lab’s research programs to study complex metal hydrides, 

novel heterogeneous catalysts, biological nanocomposites, 

thermoelectrics and other energy-related materials.”

Spectral Fingerprints 

“W

Serendipity sets 

Pruski’s career path

Ask Marek Pruski what keeps him interested in his 

work and he doesn’t pause for even a second: “Nuclear 

magnetic resonance is a superbly exciting discipline 

that continues to develop. And the rate at which it 

develops just doesn’t slow down.”

“And, it’s just the right mix, for me, of physics and 

chemistry and experiment and theory. The variety 

keeps it exciting,” he adds.

Pruski’s path to joining the solid-state NMR 

research community was quite serendipitous. He was 

attending an NMR conference in Poland when he 

literally bumped into Bernie Gerstein, a former leader 

of Ames Lab’s solid-state NMR program.

“I was coming in a hotel lobby through a revolving 

door, and Bernie was going out and we ran right into 

each other. I recognized him as one of the plenary 

lecturers at the conference, and we got to talking 

and decided to go to dinner. A three-hour dinner 

conversation turned into an offer to become a postdoctoral researcher in Bernie’s group at Ames Lab.”

Pruski joined Ames Laboratory in 1985 as a postdoc and became a staff scientist in 1988. Since then, 

he’s enjoyed being at the leading edge of the field and 

watching the community of solid-state NMR grow.

“The development of NMR is an absolutely 

phenomenal thing to watch and be a part of. It’s just 

fascinating. I love it.”

“The frequency at which nuclei respond 

creates a unique spectral ‘fingerprint’ of 

their local environment within a material,” 

says Pruski. “These ‘fingerprints’ are 

especially useful in understanding the 

structure of non-crystalline materials—

that is, materials that do not display 

regular crystalline structure amenable to 

diffraction studies.”

Reading BY B reehan G erleman L ucchesi
18 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 19

or the hundreds of students who travel to 

Washington, D.C. each year, the Department 

of Energy’s National Science Bowl provides an 

incredible opportunity for teams to participate 

in intense competition, sightsee at the National Mall, 

and make new friends. 

But for some students, the benefits don’t end with just 

the obvious. The event also includes Saturday Science Day 

talks, given by the DOE’s leading scientists, that provide 

the perfect forum for students to bombard scientists with 

questions on leading-edge topics. The answers they get 

can also hold importance down the road. 

At least that’s the way it’s worked out for student 

William Meier. Meier was a member of the Oak Park 

High School team from 

Kansas City that competed 

in the 2008 National Science 

Bowl. Meier remembers his 

team having a great time 

during Science Bowl, as 

well as the Saturday Science 

Day talk that made a lasting 

impression on him, both 

because of the topic and the 

scientist who delivered it. 

The scientist was Paul 

Canfield, senior physicist 

at the Ames Laboratory 

and Distinguished Professor 

of physics and astronomy at Iowa State University, who 

spoke on the design, discovery, growth, characterization 

and use of novel materials. The lively session included an 

informative back-and-forth exchange between the veteran 

scientist and the student participants. 

“I have always enjoyed hearing from scientists very 

knowledgeable on a topic,” says Meier. “I had a background 

in earth science and mineralogy at the time of the talk 

so I found Dr. Canfield’s lecture incredibly interesting. 

Crystal growth seemed to be a great example of how I 

could combine several topics I loved.” 

“That was a really neat event,” Canfield adds. “I 

specifically remember William coming up after the 

talk and discussing details of new materials growth and 

characterization. I was impressed with the depth of his 

knowledge, even at that time. He clearly had an interest 

in geology as well as basic crystallization.” 

As enjoyable as he found the exchange with Canfield, 

Meier’s desire to learn more about crystal growth took 

a back seat to the National Science Bowl competition 

matches that weekend. After Science Bowl were his junior 

and senior years of high school and preparing for college 

and selecting a college major. Ultimately, Meier chose 

to pursue ceramic engineering at Missouri University of 

Science and Technology. 

“I took a temporary detour from physics to materials,” 

says Meier, “but I still took many courses in physics and 

chemistry at MS&T, which allowed me to indulge my 

interest in these topics.” 

“I even thought about changing my major to physics, 

but I enjoyed the engineering faculty in my department 

so I decided to finish my undergraduate degree first, then 

switch to physics for graduate school.” 

And that’s when the interaction with Canfield he’d 

enjoyed some five years earlier resurfaced. 

“I remembered Dr. Canfield’s talk from 2008,” said 

Meier. “So I called him up and he encouraged me to 

apply to the physics program at Iowa State.” 

Now a first-year graduate student in physics at ISU, 

Meier says his next step is to join Canfield’s crystal-growth 

group. “I’m attending his group meetings, and it sounds 

like I will be learning some of the growth techniques this 

semester and summer.” 

“I was so pleased when William called me,” Canfield 

says. “He really made an impression during that Saturday 

talk, and I was delighted at the idea of having him perform 

his Ph.D. research here. I think his background in geology 

and material science compliments the condensed matter 

physics work we emphasize. Ultimately new materials 

research draws from all of these sources and William has 

a good start at a very interdisciplinary foundation. The 

interdisciplinary nature of research is something that the 

Science Bowl, as well as the Science Saturday event, tries 

to emphasize.” 

Early opportunities for interactions with scientists 

can “definitely influence career choices” says Meier, 

who hopes that after doing research as a post-doc at a 

university or national laboratory he can ultimately find a 

faculty position in physics or materials science and teach 

further generations. And who knows? Perhaps one day 

he’ll be giving an invited Saturday Science Day talk at the 

National Science Bowl and another inquisitive student 

just like him will be in attendance.

 

BY steve karsjen

F

Besides the National Science Bowl, Meier also 

participated in the DOE’s Science Undergraduate 

Laboratory Internship program, first at the Ames 

Laboratory, where in the summer of 2011 he worked 

with Rana Biswas, Ames Lab physicist, doing 

computer modeling of textured solar cells and then 

the following summer with scientists at Sandia 

National Lab. 

ScienceBowler

William Meier

William Meier and his Ames Lab mentor, Rana Biswas, at the 

2011 SULI poster session.

18 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 Inquiry Issue 1 | 2014 19

From

Paul Canfield answers questions from William Meier (center 

left) and his teammates after the conclusion of his formal Saturday Science Day talk at the 2008 National Science Bowl.

to Scientist

Canfield and Meier met recently in Canfield’s office, which 

prompted another lively discussion on new materials growth 

and characterization. 

Science Undergraduate

Laboratory Internship
Ames Laboratory

111 Technical and Administrative Services Facility

Ames, Iowa 50011-3020

515-294-9557

www.ameslab.gov

2014

Issue 1

Ames Laboratory physicist Alan Goldman’s x-ray diffraction work helped 

prove the existence of quasicrystals, materials with five-fold geometry 

first described by 2011 Nobel Prize winner (and Ames Lab scientist) 

Danny Shechtman.

Crystallography, the study of the 

crystalline structure of materials, was 

born in 1914 when German scientist 

and Nobel Prize winner Max vonLaue 

discovered that x-rays focused on 

crystals diffract, revealing the crystalline 

structure within. In the century, since 

von Laue’s discovery, x-ray diffraction has 

become a powerful tool, in the field and 

particularly at the Ames Laboratory, in 

understanding the make-up of materials 

and how those structures affect a 

material’s properties and characteristics.

100 years of Crystallography