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Material Measurement Laboratory

Chemical Sciences Division

Projects/Programs

Displaying 51 - 75 of 113
Map of the world, with six colors used to identify the six regional metrology organizations.

International Comparisons for Chemical Measurements

Ongoing
International agreements and decisions concerning trade and our social well-being increasingly require mutual recognition of measurements and tests among nations. The Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on national measurement standards and calibration and measurement certificates issued by NMIs...
Main image is a partial periodic table with a blue background, with a graphic overlay of an atom in the bottom left corner.

Isotope Metallomics Quality Assurance Program (IMQAP) Consortium

Ongoing
The use of stable metal isotopes in the health and medical sciences, known as Isotope Metallomics, shows promise for developing clinical biomarkers and improving diagnostics and prognostics. This field is grounded in the idea that certain pathologies trigger physiological responses which lead to...
Figure with the word “isotope” and related icons superimposed on a photograph of a man pointing to the figure.

Isotope Metrology

Ongoing
The application of isotope measurements drives advances in an enormous number of fields and stakeholder engagements, including federal and state government agencies, academia, and private industry including the medical industry. The objective of the NIST Isotope Metrology Program is to address the...
Photograph of a seabird with a spotted turquoise egg.

Isotopes as Environmental Tracers in Biological Specimens

Ongoing
Multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) provides sensitive and precise measurements of stable isotope ratios and can be coupled to a variety sample introduction systems such as laser ablation and gas or liquid chromatography. The versatility and performance of MC-ICP...
drawing of hydrogen fuel cell

Measurement Quality in Hydrogen Storage R&D

Ongoing
The hydrogen storage project targets metrologies that assess kinetics and energetics of hydrogen charging and discharging in combinatorial structures as well as the degradation mechanisms that limit life of use. New capabilities are being developed and several existing measurement capabilities are...

Measurements and Standards for Botanical Dietary Supplements

Ongoing
Many consumers believe that botanical dietary supplements will improve their health and that these "natural" remedies are both effective and free from the side effects that may occur with other medications. There are occasional reports of inaccurate labeling, adulteration, contamination (with...
Photograph showing labeled units of SRM 1649 Urban Dust and SRM 1649a Urban Dust.

Measurements and Standards for Contaminants in Environmental Samples

Ongoing
In 1971 NIST issued the first natural environmental matrix SRM for contaminants, SRM 1571 Orchard Leaves, with certified concentrations for trace elements. The development of SRM 1571 Orchard Leaves formalized the approach of combining results from "two or more independent and reliable analytical...
Photograph of a unit of SRM 2668 with labeled box and frozen plastic vials.

Measurements and Standards for Contaminants in Biological (Human) Materials

Ongoing
The development of SRMs to support measurements for contaminants in biological fluids and tissues will expand quality assurance capabilities to important species critical to human health. We will provide SRMs that are representative of the analytical challenges that may be encountered by analysts in...
Food Triangle

Measurements and Standards to Support Nutrition Labeling

Ongoing
Well-characterized certified reference materials are needed by laboratories in the food testing and nutrition communities to facilitate compliance with labeling laws and improve the accuracy of information provided on product labels so that consumers can make good choices. As a result of the...
MANTA Logo

Method Assessment for Non-Targeted Analyses (MANTA) Program

Ongoing
Typical targeted analysis aims to detect and/or quantify a set of known chemical compounds using specific instrumental techniques (such as liquid chromatography with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry). In contrast, non-targeted analysis is an analytical technique that detects, identifies, and/or...
A line drawing of a woman's head styled like a classical carved bust

METIS

Ongoing
A Metrology Exchange to Innovate in Semiconductors
Illustration showing examples of acidic, neutral and alkaline pH values ranging from 0 to 14 that include battery, stomach acid, lemon, soda, tomato, coffee, milk, water, blood, egg white, stomach tablets, ammonia solution, soap, bleach and drain cleaner.

pH Metrology

Ongoing
The suite of NIST pH SRMs forms the basis for pH measurements in the United States, and pH is the most-often-measured chemical quantity. Hence this NIST work directly or indirectly impacts a large number of users in industry, government, and academia. One of the most critical set of users is in...
Metrology is the foundation of the entire semiconductor enterprise. Standards provide the highest “value added” of all processes.

Metrology of Purity and Contaminants in Solid Materials

Ongoing
Purity evaluations of high-purity bulk materials used in chips manufacturing are calibrated against reference materials that are often not matrix-matched to the materials under test. In other words, differences in the compositions of the calibrants and the samples being analyzed can result in large...
Photograph of a dog sniffing luggage.

Metrology and Standards for Canine Olfactory Detection of Explosives

Completed
Effective and accepted by the public, trained dogs are the most frequently deployed detection systems for identification of explosives threats in mobile applications. In addition to being highly sensitive, dogs can rapidly discriminate the unique profile of an explosive in a presence of a large...
Figure showing four components of metabolomics with samples and processing

Microbial Metabolomics

Ongoing
Mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy are widely used and complementary analytical platforms for the characterization, identification, and quantification of a metabolome. MS techniques, typically coupled to chromatography, provide a chemical fingerprint of complex...
MMQAP figure

Micronutrients Measurement Quality Assurance Program (MMQAP)

Completed
The MMQAP supported the long-term (months to years) reliability of selected fat- or water-soluble vitamin measurements in human serum and plasma. Results from the comparison studies helped participants to make accurate clinical and health-care decisions as well as to maintain and improve their...
Two-dimensional chromatogram showing the separation of four compounds as shaded elliptical areas

Multidimensional Chromatography

Ongoing
The development of robust analytical methods remains one of the most important (and costly) parts of chemical metrology. The separation of targeted constituents from other components in a sample matrix is necessary for accurate and precise measurements. Multidimensional chromatography is an...
Photograph of an automobile at an emissions testing station, with testing equipment and probe positioned at the car tailpipe.

New Gas Standard Reference Materials to Support the Automotive Industry

Completed
NIST currently supports AIGER members by maintaining reasonable inventories of required gas SRMs that consist of dilute mixtures of key pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitric oxide. Newer vehicles produce lower levels of these pollutants because their engines...
Graphical Depiction of the Microwave Induced Combustion Process for S Determination in Coal SRMs

New Methods for Measurement of Sulfur in Fossil Fuels

Ongoing
NIST has a long history of developing high accuracy analytical methods and SRM materials for trace elements in fossil fuels. NIST has applied the microwave induced combustion methodology in combination with isotope dilution analysis for sulfur determinations, representing the first-reported...
Photo of fuel platform burning on the sea water

NIST Assists in Marine-Related Disaster Response

Ongoing
NIST and the Biospecimen Science Group continue to collaborate with NOAA Fisheries, other federal and state agencies, and non-profit organizations to provide the ability to accurately assess exposure of marine animals to environmental stressors and provide a resource for retrospective analysis of...
NIST Biorepository Freezers

The NIST Biorepository

Ongoing
The NBSB was established in 1979 at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD with a pilot project archiving human liver samples associated with collections through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). New collaborations and banking projects were established including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
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