Atmospheric composition is changing at an unprecedented rate. Our research group identifies and quantifies atmospheric gases at (a) remote locations throughout the Pacific region from Alaska to New Zealand, (b) highly polluted cities throughout the world; and (c) areas with special conditions, such as burning forests and/or agricultural wastes. Gas chromatography utilizing flame ionization detection, electron capture detection, and mass spectrometry is our main analytical tool.

The field of atmospheric chemistry encompasses the chemical and physical processes which play key roles in the natural and polluted atmosphere, from urban to remote areas and from the lower to the upper atmosphere. Experimental approaches used for studies of atmospheric chemistry in our lab include Knudsen cell studies, long path FTIR, GC and GC-MS, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectrometry (DRIFTS) and single reflectance FTIR.

Our research has the joint goals of understanding the structural properties of ever more complicated chemical systems and achieving similarly powerful understanding of the underlying principles of chemical dynamics. In one such study we are measuring how the electronic wave function of a molecule changes as it dissociates. Another system of interest is gas hydrate clathrates. In these solids, water molecules form a hydrogen bonding network slightly higher in energy than pure ice, but whose structure consists of interconnected cages.

Nanomaterials offer great potential to deliver breakthroughs in the efficiency, cost and scalability of devices that produce electricity or fuels from sunlight. Our laboratory develops solar energy conversion and storage devices built from 0D, 1D and 2D nanoscale materials, integrating materials synthesis and fundamental opto-electronic characterization with device fabrication, testing, modeling and optimization.

I am interested in sol-gel processing of oxide ceramics, including thin films, grain boundaries in ceramics, interfacial engineering of superplastic ceramics, and analytical transmission electron microscopy. One of my current research projects focuses on grain boundary structure and ionic conductivity in yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramics. YSZ is used as a solid electrolyte in high-temperature fuel cells (those operating above 800 degrees Celsius).

We are interested in the mechanisms of photochemical interactions between the solar radiation and atmospheric aerosol particles. Can aerosol particles serve as efficient catalysts of photochemical processes? What sort of chemistry happens inside these particles as they drift through the atmosphere exposed to solar radiation? Can photochemical reactions on particle surfaces make the particles more toxic? In our laboratory, we try to find answers to these intriguing problems using modern analytical techniques based on laser spectroscopy, chromatography, and mass- spectrometry.

In collaboration with Prof. Blake, we study the composition of the earth's atmosphere in (a)remote locations throughout the Pacific region from Alaska to New Zealand, (b)highly polluted cities throughout the world, and (c)areas with special conditions, such as burning forests and/or agricultural wastes, or the marine boundary layer in oceanic locations with high biological emissions. Whole air samples are collected on land, ships, and aircraft and are returned to our laboratory for analysis.

We study metastable forms of doped solid hydrogen for possible use as a high-energy density storage medium. Important issues in this work include the surface dynamics, sticking, and growth mechanism of solid hydrogen, which is the most quantum mechanical solid. Techniques for doping hydrogen with energetic species using ion beams and characterizing the resulting material using optical and thermal probes are under development.