The Guo Lab
Alexandra Navrotsky Institute for Experimental Thermodynamics
IN BRIEF
We are interested in the Structures and Thermodynamics of Nano, Bulk-Size Lanthanide and Actinide (Transuranium Actinide) Materials, for applications in nuclear fuel, nuclear waste form, and critical metal mineralization.
Our group has expertise in advanced structural and thermodynamic techniques:
- Thermal analysis and calorimetric techniques;
- X-ray/neutron scattering and X-ray absorption spectroscopy;
- High-pressure static compression techniques.
CURRENT RESEARCH TOPIC
- Actinide thermochemistry (transuranium labs for U, Th, Pu, etc.)
- Rare Earth Elements (REE) and actinide ceramics
- Geochemistry of REE and actinide (nano)minerals
- Molten salt thermochemistry (Calvet calorimetry on heat of mixing and heat capacity)
- Nuclear fuel research (U-N, U-Si, U-C, nanosized oxides, MOX)
- Nuclear ceramic-based wastes (silicates and phosphates)
- Materials under extremes (high-temperature, high-pressure, and hydrothermal conditions)
NEWS
 Congrats to Yecenia Cortez for receiving the Auvil Scholars Fellowship! Yecenia will be supported for the 2024-2025 academic year to conduct undergraduate research 04/03/24  Congrats to Yecenia Cortez for wining the Crimson Award (top place) for Engineering and Physical Sciences during SURCA 2024! Thanks for all our undergraduate students presenting their excellent work in SURCA! 03/27/24  Congrats to Xiaodong Zhao for receiving the CAS Doctorate Student Achievement Award in the Sciences! Xiaodong will be awarded in April 18th for recognizing his achievement during PhD 03/08/24  Maggie’s paper of nano pyrochlore published on Nanoscale!Surface thermodynamics of yttrium titanate pyrochlore nanomaterials 02/16/24  Congrats to Bryn Merrill for accepting into the Seaborg Institute Graduate Program in Los Alamos National Laboratory! Bryn will be a Seaborg student at EES-16 in summer 2024 02/05/24  RSI paper from a collaboration work with LANL led by StrzeleckiNew Methodology for Measuring the Enthalpies of Mixing of Molten Salts Using High Temperature Drop Calorimetry 01/18/24  Intermetallics paper from a collaboration work with LANL led by StrzeleckiHigh-pressure structural behavior and elastic properties of Ce2In and Ce3In: A combined in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and density functional theory study 12/13/23  Congrats to Maggie Reece for successfully defending her Ph.D. in Chemistry! Dr. Reece will be postdoc in LANL 11/09/23  Chem. Eng. J. paper from a collaboration work with the Zhang groupSynergetic catalytic effect in functionalized HP-MOF system for boosted catalytic performances 10/11/23  Guo’s group as a core participate in NSF NRT-LEAD program got awarded NRT: Convergent Next-Generation Robotics Training: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Adaptive Design (NRT- LEAD) amid a Changing World of Work 08/15/23  Xiaodong and Juejing’s paper of machine learning XRD featured on J. Phys. Chem. C!Machine learning automated analysis of enormous synchrotron X-ray diffraction datasets 07/23/23  Dalton Trans. Paper from a collaboration work with the Dacheux group (ICSM)How hydrothermal synthesis improves the preparation of (Zr, Ce)SiO4 solid solutions 06/21/23  Congrats to Savannah Kahl for receiving the Auvil Scholars Fellowship! Savannah will be supported for the 2023-2024 academic year to conduct undergraduate research 04/12/23  Juejing’s paper of machine learning RUS published on Sci. Rep.!A Graphical Fingerprint Assisted Machine Learning Method for Retrieving Elastic Moduli from Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy 04/11/23  Congrats to Emma Carlsen for receiving the DOE University Nuclear Leadership Program (UNLP) Fellowship! Emma will receive the three-year fellowship from NEUP to do fuel research 04/06/23 Congrats to Bryn Merrill for receiving the NASA Space Grant Fellowship in Chemistry! Bryn will receive the fellowship to do research project on high entropy TBC 03/09/23  Congrats to Shinhyo Bang for accepting into the Seaborg Institute Graduate Program in Los Alamos National Laboratory! Shinhyo will spend three months in LANL EES-16 and be a Seaborg student in summer 2023 03/08/23  J. Elecrochem. Soc. Paper of molten salt EDRR from a collaboration work with the Ivory groupElectrochemical Deposition with Redox Replacement of Lanthanum with Uranium in Molten LiCl-KCl 02/28/23  Juejing and Andrew’s collaborative paper on single atom Pt published in Small!Boosting Electrochemical Catalysis and Non-enzymatic Sensing towards Glucose by Single-atom Pt Supported on Cu@CuO Core-shell Nanowires 01/26/23  Chem. Geo. paper from a collaboration work with LANL led by NisbetThe Solubility and Speciation of Nd in Carbonate-bearing Hydrothermal Fluids up to 250 °C 11/20/22  Andrew’s paper on clinoptilolite published on Phy. Chem. Min.!Determination of P-V Equation of State of a Natural-Clinoptilolite using High Pressure Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction 11/15/22  Guo’s group starts research on molten salt thermodynamics funded by DOE NEUP (Penn State led) A Molten Salt Community Framework for Predictive Modeling of Critical Characteristics 10/15/22 Congrats to Kyle Kriegsman for receiving M.S. degree in Chemistry! Kyle is now pursuing a career in the Army 09/22/22 Guo’s group starts research on high entropy ceramics funded by NSF CAREER: Explore and Regulate Thermodynamics of f-block High Entropy Ceramics 09/01/22  ACS Appl. Mater. Inter. paper from collaboration with the Wu groupEnergetic Stability and Interfacial Complexity of Ti3C2Tx MXenes Synthesized with HF/HCl and CoF2/HCl as Etching Agents 08/30/22  Vitaliy’s paper of uranium nitride published on J. Nucl. Mater.!Energetics of Oxidation and Formation of Uranium Mononitride 07/07/22  Andrew’s paper of REE oxyapatites published on Phy. Chem. Min.!Structure and Thermodynamics of Calcium Rare Earth Silicate Oxyapatites, Ca2RE8(SiO4)6O2 (RE = Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm) 05/03/22 Congrats to Bryn Merrill for accepting in the WSU-PNNL Distinguished Graduate Research Program! Bryn is expected do research in PNNL in 2024 04/15/22  Andrew’s paper on fluocerite published on Nature Geoscience!Fluocerite as a precursor to rare earth element fractionation in ore-forming systems 04/07/22 |
 Congrats to Bhargav Iyer for receiving the Undergraduate Research Fellowship! Bhargav will be supported for the 2024-2025 academic year to conduct undergraduate research 04/03/24  Xiaodong’s paper of high pressure DFT published on Dalton Transaction (HOT articles)!Phonon Softening Induced Phase Transition of CeSiO4: A Density Functional Theory Study 04/02/24  Congrats to Henry Anderson for accepting into the National Security Internship Program in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory! Henry will be doing radiochemistry internship at RPL in summer 2024 03/05/24  Xiaodong’s paper of REE-doped gibbsite published on Chem. Eng. J.!Incorporation of rare earth elements Sc, Y and La into gibbsite 02/19/24  J. Phys. Chem. C Paper of radiation effects on minerals from a collaboration work with PNNL led by ZhangEffects of Ionizing Radiation on the Thermodynamic Stability of Boehmite and Gibbsite 02/16/24  Andrew’s paper of review paper on zircon-type materials published on American Mineralogist!Crystal chemistry and thermodynamic properties of zircon structure-type materials 02/01/24  Navrotskyite, a natural mineral named after Navrotsky, a collaboration work with Carnegie Museum of Natural History led by OldsNavrotskyite, K2Na10(UO2)3(SO4)9·2H2O, a new sodium and potassium uranyl-sulfate mineral from the Blue Lizard mine, Red Canyon, White Canyon District, San Juan County, Utah 12/16/23 Congrats to Xiaodong Zhao for successfully defending his Ph.D. in Chemistry! Dr. Zhao will be continuing research in PNNL 12/08/23 Guo’s group continues research on molten salt thermodynamics funded by DOE NEUP (Arizona State led) Determination of Local Structure and Phase Stability of Uranium Species in Molten Halide Salts: Linking Microscopic Structure with Macroscopic Thermodynamics 09/18/23  Juejing’s collaborative paper on Machine Learning Materials Science published in Chem. Eng. J.!Machine learning assisted phase and size-controlled synthesis of iron oxide particles 08/05/23  J. Mol. Liq. Paper from a collaboration work with PNNL led by LonerganThermodynamic Investigation of the NaCl-KCl Salt System from 25 to 950 °C 07/14/23  Chem. Geo. Paper from a collaboration work with the Gabitov group (Mississippi State)Uranium Update by Phosphate Minerals at Hydrothermal Conditions 06/10/23  Advanced Materials paper from a collaboration work with the Song group (WSU)Toward High-Performance Metal–Organic-Framework-Based Quasi-Solid-State Electrolytes: Tunable Structures and Electrochemical Properties 05/02/23  Congrats to Vitaliy Goncharov for successfully defending his Ph.D. in Material Science & Engineering! Dr. Goncharov will be postdoc in ASU 04/12/23  Vitaliy’s paper of uranium carbide published on J. Nucl. Mater.!Energetics of Oxidation and Formation of Uranium Carbide 04/12/23  Congrats to Matthew Heaney for receiving the DOE University Nuclear Leadership Program (UNLP) and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowships! Matt will receive the three-year fellowships from both NEUP and DOD to do nano and MOX research 04/06/23  Andrew’s paper of high pressure CeSiO4 published on JPCC!High-Pressure Structural and Thermodynamic Properties of Cerium Orthosilicates (CeSiO4) 02/16/23  J. Mater. Sci. paper from a collaboration work with the Lang group (UTK)Grain Size Dependence of Thermally Induced Oxidation in Zirconium Carbide 01/13/23  Small paper from collaboration with the Lin group (Xi’an Jiaotong)Stepwise Crystallization of Millimeter Scale Thorium Cluster Single Crystals as a Bifunctional Platform for X-ray Detection and Shielding 12/19/22  Guo’s group starts research on UN and U-Si SNF funded by NRC Understanding of Degradation Pathways and Long-term Stabilities of UN and U-Si based Spend Nuclear Fuels in Pool Storage and Dry Disposal | news 11/15/22  Guo’s group starts research on recovering REE from red muds funded by DOE ARPR-E (PNNL led) Re-Mining Red Mud Waste for CO2 Capture and Storage and Critical Element Recovery (RMCCS-CER) 11/01/22  Congrats to Andrew Strzelecki for successfully defending his Ph.D. in Material Science & Engineering! Dr. Strzelecki is now postdoc in LANL 09/23/22  Vitaliy’s paper of thermodynamics of MOF in collaboration with Zhang Group published on Inorg. Chem.!Energetic Systematics of Metal-Organic Frameworks: A Case Study of Al(III)-Trimesate MOF Isomers 09/13/22  Nat. Comm. paper from collaboration with the Lü group (HPSTAR)Nested Order-Disorder Framework Containing a Crystalline Matrix with Self-filled Amorphous-like Innards 08/09/22  Chem. Comm. paper from collaboration with the Lin group (Xi’an Jiaotong)Enhancing Photosensitivity via Assembly of a Uranyl Coordination Polymer 07/25/22  Andrew’s paper of HREE xenotimes published on ACS Earth Space Chem.!Crystal Chemistry and Thermodynamics of HREE (Er, Yb) Mixing in Xenotime Solid Solution 05/02/22  Congrats to Jonathan Evarts for accepting in the WSU-PNNL Distinguished Graduate Research Program! Jonathan is starting research in PNNL 04/15/22  Vitaliy’s paper on hydroxylbastnäsite published on GCA!Energetics of Hydroxylbastnäsite Solid Solutions, La1-xNdxCO3OH 04/09/22  Dalton Trans. paper from collaboration with the Lin group (Xi’an Jiaotong U)Recent advances in the applications of thorium-based metal-organic frameworks and molecular clusters 04/07/22 Congrats to Maggie Reece for accepting into the Seaborg Institute Graduate Program in Los Alamos National Laboratory! Maggie will spend three months in LANL EES-14 and be a Seaborg student in summer 2022 03/11/22 |
Older news
11/30/2021 Xiaofeng Guo received CAS Early Career Achievement | link
03/11/2022 Andrew Strzelecki was selected to the LANL G. T. Seaborg Institute Graduate Research Program
03/01/2022 We received NSF EAR funding to study thermodynamic solid solution models for REE minerals
11/30/2021 Xiaofeng Guo received NSF CAREER Award and began research on high entropy ceramics thermodynamics
07/30/2021 Hope Lackey won the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award
07/10/2021 Wendy Yu graduated with an honor B.S. in Chemical Engineering (Summa cum laude)
05/19/2021 Vitaliy Goncharov was selected to the LANL G. T. Seaborg Institute Graduate Research Program
05/19/2021 Rebecca Hsieh was awarded the DeVlieg Undergraduate Research Foundation Award and the TMP Washington Research Foundation/Boeing Research Scholarship Award
01/25/2021 Xuite, a newly identify nano-garnet mineral, is named for Hongwu Xu and Huifang Xu (nominated by Seungyeol Lee and Xiaofeng Guo) | link
We are partnered with the Wu Lab in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, the Institute of Materials Research, and Nuclear Science Center.
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