Significant evidence suggests that the global nitrogen cycle is not balanced. The intensification of agriculture and rising emissions from the burning of fossil fuels are largely responsible for this imbalance, as both of these anthropogenic activities have enhanced reactive nitrogen emissions by a factor of three over the last century. Furthermore, these harmful environmental pollutants are responsible for the formation of certain aerosols, which have negative implications for both natural ecosystems and human health. A chief challenge in engineering solutions to this imbalance lies in quantifying and identifying all global nitrogen fluxes in the atmosphere and pedosphere. This requires high-resolution measurements of both natural and anthropogenic sources and sinks. This research will aim to quantify the rate of natural nitrogen-based atmospheric emissions that arise due to nanoscale interactions between soil nanominerals and sunlight. Currently, anthropogenic sources are generally more accurately mapped than emissions from natural or semi-natural sources. Therefore, further efforts to identify which nanoscale phenomena aid the formation and nitrogen-based emission in soils is important to advance our understanding of the global nitrogen cycle. The work will also support undergraduate education, serving as the basis of a capstone project through Georgia Tech's Food-Energy-Water initiatives, which is enabled through the Serve-Learn-Sustain program. This capstone project will engage undergraduate seniors from a range of academic disciplines including engineering and social sciences. In addition, this work seeks to engage the non-scientific community through a collaboration with the Atlanta wide initiative Science-Art-Wonder. Through this program, researchers will collaborate with artist to transform key scientific findings into art pieces that will be displayed at the Atlanta science festival.

The main research objective of this project is to understand how photocatalytic earth-abundant nanominerals in soils and sands contribute to reactive nitrogen emissions. Specifically, the PI will investigate the role mineral, soil and atmospheric properties play in increasing the activity of nanominerals for ammonia and nitrous oxide production. The nanoscale structure-property relationships of common nanominerals will be probed through photo(electro)catalytic testing to discern the impact mineral size and surface nanostructure have on catalytic activity. In depth first-principles calculations and atmospheric testing will also elucidate which nanoscale chemical mechanisms and physical phenomena promote sunlight driven reactive nitrogen production and emission from soils and sands. This fundamental understanding will provide insight into the role terrestrial nanominerals play in mediating the natural nitrogen cycle, providing a foundation for more accurate models of nutrient fluxes in terrestrial and atmospheric settings. The project will seek to establish a holistic view of the role soils and agriculture play on atmospheric pollution. The impact of the work will be enhanced by outreach and educational efforts. The findings will be highlighted through a publicly accessible website and YouTube videos that demonstrate key findings and suggest simple experiments that can be performed with household items.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2020-01-01
Budget End
2022-12-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
$498,650
Indirect Cost
Name
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30332