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Environmental Research At The Advanced Photon Source
Citation:
Kemner, K. M., M. I. Boyanov, P. Eng, P. Fenter, S. Heald, B. Lai, S. S. Lee, K. G. SCHECKEL, S. Skanthakumar, L. Soderholm, S. R. Sutton, AND R. E. Wilson. Environmental Research At The Advanced Photon Source. H. Wagner (ed.), Synchrotron Radiation News. Taylor & Francis Group, London, Uk, 23(5):20-27, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
To evaluate the roles the Advance Photon Source can play in addressing questions in molecular environmental science.
Description:
Because of the importance of probing molecular-scale chemical and physical structure of environmental samples in their natural and often hydrated state, synchrotron radiation has been a powerful tool for environmental scientists for decades. Thus, the crucial role that a highly coherent and high-brightness hard X-ray source such as the Advance Photon Source (APS) can play in addressing many of the outstanding questions in molecular environmental science (MES) was recognized even before "first light" at the facility. No single synchrotron-based technique or experimental approach can adequately address the tremendous temporal and spatial heterogeneities of the chemistry, physics, and biology of natural environmental samples. Thus, it is common at the APS that multiple X-ray techniques and experimental systems are employed to investigate environmental samples, often chosen for their ability to focus on solute species, plants, microbes, organics, interfacial species, or solids. Some of the general classes of X-ray techniques that are available to environmental and geological scientists at the APS include 1) X-ray absorption and other bulk spectroscopies, 2) X-ray microprobes and microscopies, 3) bulk scattering approaches and 4) surface and interface scattering approaches. The breath of topics within MES that is often addressed at the APS is large. Just a few examples of these include: 1) sediment microstructure, 2) any combination of water, plant, microbe, mineral, and metal interactions, 3) chemical speciation, mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity of contaminants, 4) reactivity, fate, and transport of colloids and nanoparticles, 5) remediation of contaminated sediments and groundwater, and 6) reactivity of mineral surfaces. Even this abbreviated list of topics demonstrates the widespread value of the APS and explains the often two to three times oversubscription rate by general users to make use of this facility. What follows are just a few examples of the many areas of MES research being performed at the APS, illustrative of the critical role the facility has played in shedding new light on environmental sciences.
