Skip to main content

Applications for Environmental Chemistry

IMSERC houses a large pool of modern instrumentation for environmental chemists. Our center is integrated with the Chemistry Department at Northwestern University where scientists run their experiments on a 24/7 basis. From monitoring reactions to full structure elucidation, researchers and students have access to a variety of techniques that can be used for:

Crystallographic atomic structure determination, identification, and refinement of organic and inorganic compounds for extraction of structural information such as:

Determination of unit cell and bonding environment (bond-lengths, bond-angles, cation-anion coordination, site-ordering, etc.)

Determination of packing of molecules and co-crystals

Determination of extended structure and packing of building blocks

Determination of (non)centrosymmetric or chiral topologies

Refinement of modulated and twinned structures (incommensurate, commensurate, composite superstructures)

High resolution data for charge density measurement and precise assignment of atoms with similar chemical environment

Powder evaluation of sample purity (sensitivity of ~2% by weight)

Quantitative determination of individual crystalline phases and impurities in mixtures of powder

Monitor reactions in real time as a function of time, temperature, pressure, and gas flow/pressure

Probe catalytic changes to substrates

Investigate decomposition mechanism

Construction of phase diagrams

Rocking curve measurements for evaluation of defect density and quality of crystals

Texture measurements and orientation of grains in a polycrystalline sample

Strain analysis

In-situ monitoring of crystallization processes with increasing temperature

Crystallographic atomic structure determination of nanomaterials, nanoparticles and amorphous materials

Particle size of crystalline phase

Total scattering techniques in combination with synchrotron and/or neutron radiation

Modeling and atomic structure determination of nanoparticles and glasses

Decomposition temperature using ThermoGravimetric analysis which can be coupled with GC-MS for the identification of the decomposition products

Temperature of combustion with ThermoGravimetric analysis and identification of combustion volatiles using GC-MS

Mass Spectrometry

Quantitative determination of analytes of interest in environmental samples down to low parts-per-trillion

Mass spectrometry has the ability quantitate a wide range of analytes to a very low level while still maintaining many orders of magnitude in dynamic range. Specifically, mass spectrometry can readily measure pollutants in drinking water, soil, waste water, sludge etc., as well as perform untargeted or targeted chemometric profiling of the same.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Non-destructive in vivo and in situ study for environmental samples

Identifying a wide range of structural and metabolic changes during plant growth

Determining soil structure and the interactions between key soil components

Determining the molecular composition of a living organism from solutions to solids

Thermal analysis which can be coupled with GC-MS for the determination of:

Melting point using either Differential Thermal Analysis or Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Crystallization transition using either Differential Thermal Analysis or Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Glass transition using Differential Scanning Calorimetry

Decomposition temperature using ThermoGravimetric analysis which can be coupled with GC-MS for the identification of the decomposition products

Temperature of combustion with ThermoGravimetric analysis and identification of combustion volatiles using GC-MS

In-situ monitoring of solid-state reactions using Differential Thermal Analysis

Qualitative and Quantitative elemental analyses

Halide determination (Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine) in solids or liquids using X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Survey of impurities and elements heavier than Sodium with X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy

Optical spectroscopy

Determination of functional groups and likely solvent molecules using Infrared (IR) spectroscopy

Vibrational stretches using Raman and IR Spesctroscopy

Color, band gap, and absorption measurements using Ultra-violet (UV), visible (Vis), and IR spectroscopies

Photoluminescence, lifetime phosphorescence, and emission measurements using spectrofluorimeter