Chemical and Biological Sciences

Division of Chemical and Biological Sciences

CBS explores chemical and physical processes at complex interfaces. Understanding these interactions is critical to transforming new feedstocks, recycling and repurposing materials, designing more efficient processes, and reducing energy costs.

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Research teams in the Division of Chemical and Biological Sciences conduct fundamental and applied studies of how to control and manipulate chemicals and biological materials. We work to develop new catalysts that enable more efficient chemical reactions, discover new ways to convert plants to biofuels, understand how solvents affect chemical reactions, and how molecules diffuse on surfaces and through tiny pores.

Developing new instruments is also at the heart of our research. Understanding Nature's fundamental building blocks requires us to be able to see things at tiny length scales and fast time scales. We are at the cutting edge of developing tools and methods for understanding what drives biological and chemical processes; we are leaders in the fields of mass spectrometric imaging, solid state NMR, Raman spectroscopy, and single particle analysis.

Basic research conducted within the CBS is performed primarily through funding provided by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences.