National Renewable Energy Laboratory 7 articles published in JoVE Engineering Performing In Situ Closed-Cell Gas Reactions in the Transmission Electron Microscope Kinga A. Unocic1, Dale K. Hensley1, Franklin S. Walden2, Wilbur C. Bigelow3, Michael B. Griffin4, Susan E. Habas4, Raymond R. Unocic1, Lawrence F. Allard5 1Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2Protochips Inc., 3Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Michigan, 4Catalytic Carbon Transformation & Scale-up, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 5Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Here, we present a protocol for performing in situ TEM closed-cell gas reaction experiments while detailing several commonly used sample preparation methods. Chemistry Applying Dynamic Strain on Thin Oxide Films Immobilized on a Pseudoelastic Nickel-Titanium Alloy Hanyu Zhang1, Eric E. Benson1, Kurt M. Van Allsburg2, Elisa M. Miller1, Drazenka Svedruzic3 1Chemical and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2Catalytic Carbon Transformation and Scale-Up Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 3Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Dynamic, tensile strain is applied on TiO2 thin films to study the effects of strain on electrocatalysis, specifically proton reduction and water oxidation. TiO2 films are prepared by thermal treatment of the pseudo-elastic NiTi alloy (Nitinol). Chemistry Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance Shaun M. Alia1, Bryan S. Pivovar1 1Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory The protocol describes the synthesis and electrochemical testing of platinum-nickel nanowires. Nanowires were synthesized by the galvanic displacement of a nickel nanowire template. Post-synthesis processing, including hydrogen annealing, acid leaching, and oxygen annealing were used to optimize nanowire performance and durability in the oxygen reduction reaction. Chemistry Temperature-programmed Deoxygenation of Acetic Acid on Molybdenum Carbide Catalysts Connor P. Nash1, Carrie A. Farberow1, Jesse E. Hensley1 1National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Presented here is a protocol for the operation of a micro-scale temperature-programmed reactor for evaluating the catalytic performance of molybdenum carbide during acetic acid deoxygenation. Chemistry Determination of Carbonyl Functional Groups in Bio-oils by Potentiometric Titration: The Faix Method Stuart Black1, Jack R. Ferrell III1 1National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Here we present a potentiometric titration technique for accurately quantifying carbonyl compounds in pyrolysis bio-oils. Biochemistry Biomass Conversion to Produce Hydrocarbon Liquid Fuel Via Hot-vapor Filtered Fast Pyrolysis and Catalytic Hydrotreating Huamin Wang1, Douglas C. Elliott1, Richard J. French2, Steve Deutch2, Kristiina Iisa2 1Chemical and Biological Process Development, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), 2National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Experimental methods for fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to produce bio-oils and for the catalytic hydrotreating of bio-oils to produce fuel range hydrocarbons are presented. Hot-vapor filtration during fast pyrolysis to remove fine char particles and inorganic contaminants from bio-oil was also assessed. Environment High-throughput Screening of Recalcitrance Variations in Lignocellulosic Biomass: Total Lignin, Lignin Monomers, and Enzymatic Sugar Release Stephen R. Decker1, Robert W. Sykes1, Geoffrey B. Turner1, Jason S. Lupoi1, Crissa Doepkke1, Melvin P. Tucker1, Logan A. Schuster1, Kimberly Mazza1, Michael E. Himmel1, Mark F. Davis1, Erica Gjersing1 1BioEnergy Science Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Plant cell wall structure and chemistry traits are evaluated to identify ideal feedstocks for biofuels and bio-materials. Standard methods have limitations when applied to large data sets. These high-throughput pretreatment, enzyme saccharification, and pyrolysis-molecular beam mass spectrometry methods compare large numbers of biomass samples with decreased experimental time and cost.
