Contents of this Issue:
1. Science Highlight —
The Competition for Iron Impacts the Global Carbon Cycle
(contacts: O.W. Duckworth,
owend@nature.berkeley.edu; J.R. Bargar, bargar@slac.stanford.edu; G. Sposito,
gsposito@nature.berkeley.edu)
|
2. Science Highlight —
Ions in the Clutches of Carbon Nanotubes
(contacts: A.
Mehta, mehta@slac.stanford.edu; J.K Holt, jasonkholt@gmail.com)
Currently, more than 1/6th of the people in the world lack safe and
clean water. Population shifts, global warming and many other global changes
will make this shortage even more critical in the coming years. Solutions to
this problem lie in the development of new, energy-efficient means of purifying
water. One of the traditional purification technologies—called
membrane-based
reverse osmosis—is very energy intensive, and this is spurring a flurry of
activities into creating new, energy-efficient materials. Among the most
promising of these materials are carbon nanotubes. A related material,
activated carbon-basically carbon treated at extreme temperatures to achieve a
high degree of microporosity and functionality—has been used for a
century or more to filter water, and soak up unwanted compounds.
However, the precise arrangements of the atoms that give rise to these
purifying properties have mostly remained a mystery.
Illustration of the structural model for Br
coordination to graphene materials, derived from a model fit of the activated
carbon EXAFS data.
The most detailed picture yet of how specially arranged carbon atoms interact
with and adsorb ions has emerged from new research conducted in part at SSRL
Beam Lines 10-2 and 7-3. Using Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS)
researchers looked at the arrangement of bromine ions near the surfaces of
carbon nanotubes and activated carbon. The results were published in the
October 30, 2008 online edition of Advanced Materials.
Carbon nanotubes are created when extremely thin sheets of graphite are rolled
into tubes with walls one atom thick, and a diameter as small as a nanometer.
Although they do possess many subtle and important differences, nanotubes
appear to share many of activated carbon's unique properties in the presence of
ions. The recent study sheds light on what researchers term "zigzag" sites
present on the nanotube's surface, made up of carbon atoms configured in such a
way as to attract and hold on to ions. These results help researchers better
understand the surface chemistry of carbon nanotubes and potentially tailor it
for a range of applications, from electronics to environmental science.
To learn more about this research see the full scientific highlight at:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/research/highlights_archive/carbon-nanotubes.html
3. New Hours for Security Gates
It's important for onsite users to be aware that as of January 5, the Sector 30
gate is the only gate that remains open 24/7. Gate 17 is now open Monday
through Friday from 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Outside of these hours pedestrians can
enter through the turnstiles located at Gate 17 and behind Building 137.
Vehicles can enter through the Sector 30 Gate and follow the PEP Ring Road to
reach SSRL.
The Alpine Gate, which had been closed to regular traffic since the beginning
of the LCLS construction project in June 2006, is now open during weekday
commute hours: 6-10 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. A current SLAC ID badge is required to
enter this gate. Users, visitors and anyone else without a SLAC ID badge will
still need to check in at the main gate on Sand Hill Road.
4.
Safety Update
(contact: M. Padilla, mpadilla@slac.stanford.edu)
A series of safety questions has been incorporated into our proposal, beam time
request and support request processes, eliminating the requirement for
submitting a separate hazard form. However, if a specific experimental hazard
is identified as part of these processes, a Safety Review Summary must be
signed off on by the spokesperson before the start of beam time.
Effective February 2009, Radiation Worker Training (RWT) will be required to
conduct any work/experiments involving radioactive materials, including
handling activated beam lines or components. Shortly, SLAC will launch RWT and
GERT training modules via the web; however, the practical portion of the RWT
training must be completed in person. Please contact Matt Padilla
(mpadilla@slac.stanford.edu) if you have questions.
Other safety information and requirements should be reviewed well in advance of
scheduled beam time —specifically new training requirements for handling
Radioactive Materials, see the following links:
5.
Energy Secretary Looks to National Laboratories for the Future
January 23, 2009 Fermilab Today Article by Rhianna Wisniewski
|
6.
SSRL Users' Organization Needs Your Feedback
(contact: W.W. Lukens, wwlukens@lbl.gov, SSRL UOEC Chair)
Please take a few minutes to complete the 2009 SSRL user survey which is an
important tool to help us continue to provide excellent service to the SSRL
User Community. The information you provide here will be used to organize the
next Users' Meeting (tentatively scheduled October 19-21, 2009) and to report
on user interests/issues to SSRL management and scientific advisory committees.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=om4_2f1mhs195yJy3c0_2f7HVA_3d_3d
As an added incentive to provide your input, a random drawing of survey
participants will be held for several SSRL prizes including gift certificates
for the Guest House, SSRL/LCLS shirts, coffee mugs and SSRL baseball caps. If
you want to be part of the drawing for prizes, just enter your email address at
the end of the survey.
7.
Accelerating SSRL: Working toward Top Off and Higher Current
(excerpted from January 22, 2009 SLAC Today Article by Calla Cofield
from left: SSRL Technology Development group's Steve Gierman, John Schmerge and Jeff Corbett with Accelerator Physics team members Xiobiao Huang and James Safranek |
8.
Workshop on Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Diffraction Studies in
Structural Biology April 9-12, 2009
(contact: H. Tsuruta, tsuruta@slac.stanford.edu)
The SSRL Structural Molecular Biology Group will host a comprehensive workshop
on the use of primarily non-crystalline small-angle x-ray diffraction
techniques in structural biology research. The main focus of the workshop is
solution x-ray scattering studies on biological macromolecules. The first half
of the workshop will have lectures on theoretical and experimental aspects of
solution scattering as well as recent applications in biology. Computational
approaches to data interpretation and structural modeling will also be covered.
The workshop will also include related topics such as lipid and fiber
diffraction studies. The second half of the workshop is devoted to experimental
tutorials on solution x-ray scattering at Beam Line 4-2 and software
demonstration/tutorial sessions. Participants are encouraged to bring their own
samples for the experimental tutorials. A website with additional program and
registration information will be linked from SSRL's home page soon at:
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/
see also: http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~saxs/
9.
User Research Administration Update
(contact: C. Knotts, knotts@slac.stanford.edu)
—X-ray/VUV February-May Schedule Posted
The SSRL X-ray/VUV schedule for the
next scheduling period (February through May 24) has been posted to the web,
see http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/userresources/schedules.html
Please refer to the SPEAR operating schedule for dates when we will be DOWN for
Maintenance or Accelerator Physics so that you can plan your visits accordingly
http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/userresources/documents/08-09_run.pdf
—Macromolecular Crystallography Beam Time
Requests due January 30
Please submit a request for March through May 2009 beam time by Friday, January
30, at: https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/URAWI/Login.html. If you are
interested in beam time on SSRL's macromolecular crystallography beam lines,
but do not currently have an established proposal, please submit a Rapid Access
Application at:
http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/public/forms/beamtime/rapid_access.html
More information regarding beam line capabilities and remote access, etc., can
be found at: http://smb.slac.stanford.edu/public/
—X-ray/VUV Beam Time Requests due March 13
If you are interested in requesting beam time for the third scheduling period
for the 2009 run (~mid May through August 10, 2009), please submit your request
before March 13 by logging into the User Research Administration web interface
at:
https://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/URAWI/Login.html
If you run into any problems with the new URA web interface, or if you have
suggestions to improve this process, please let us know. We welcome your
feedback, and we look forward to your next visit to SSRL.
__________________________________________________________________________
SSRL Headlines is published electronically monthly to inform SSRL users, sponsors and other interested people about happenings at SSRL. SSRL is a national synchrotron user facility operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Additional support for the structural biology program is provided by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research, the NIH National Center for Research Resources and the NIH Institute for General Medical Sciences. Additional information about SSRL and its operation and schedules is available from the SSRL WWW site.
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