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The Synthesis And Optimization Of Sulfide And Halide Solid Electrolytes For All Solid-State Batteries, Teerth Brahmbhatt

Doctoral Dissertations

Countries and organizations around the world have established ambitious targets to transition away from fossil fuel-based energy sources and devices. The transition is focused on cleaning up power generation by converting coal, natural gas, and oil-based power generation to renewables and nuclear energy. Decarbonizing other sectors of energy use, transportation for example, will require broader electrification. To drive this move away from fossil fuel powered transportation will require portable energy storage devices. Conventional lithium-ion batteries are a popular candidate to lead this shift. However, these batteries often rely on flammable liquid electrolytes and carbon anodes that suffer from low energy …

Synthesizing, Purifying, And Characterizing Molten Chloride Salts, Phillip W. Halstenberg

Doctoral Dissertations

Molten chloride salts have vast potential as heat transfer fluids with both nuclear and concentrated solar power applications. For application in energy systems, the characteristics that govern these systems must be well understood. This work focuses on inorganic molten chloride salts with a special emphasis on the experimental aspect of chemical research. Chapter 2 covers the synthetic approaches for the formation of molten chloride mixtures. Many salts can be purchased from industrial suppliers, but most must be purified therefore, Chapter 3 evaluates various methodology developed for removal of impurities in salt mixtures. Once the salt of proper content and purity …

The Controlled Synthesis Of Hydrogen Electrocatalysts For Alkaline Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell And Electrolysis Applications Via Chemical Vapor Deposition, Stefan Thurston Dubard Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

The development of catalysts for the electrochemical processes of hydrogen systems (e.g., fuel cells and electrolyzer systems) continues to be an attractive area of research for renewable energy technologies. One significant challenge has been developing hydrogen catalysts suitable for alkaline environments, mainly due to the sluggish kinetics of hydrogen reactions. In alkaline environments, the kinetics are decreased by two orders of magnitude when compared to acidic environments. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a conventional method used to synthesize these types of catalysts. This effort discusses extending work being done using a modified CVD process known as “Poor Man’s” CVD (PMCVD) …

Synthesis And Physical Properties Of High Entropy Oxide Ceramics, Brianna L. Musicó

Doctoral Dissertations

Utilizing entropy as the driving force for stabilizing oxide materials offers a path for the discovery of innovative compounds with unique structure-property relations. The multi-cation approach inherent to high entropy oxides (HEOs) is expected to allow for the tailoring of physical properties that meet the requirements of potential applications. However, the intrinsic disorder and highly localized chemical environments of HEOs bring along new challenges. In order to shed light on the complexities associated multi-cation oxides, we have initiated a systematic study of polycrystalline HEO samples across multiple crystal systems. This work expands the multi-component concept to new compositions and crystal …

Manufacturing Of Carbon-Based Hybrid Nanocomposites With Engineered Functionalities Via Laser Ablation Synthesis In Solution (Lasis) Techniques, Erick Leonardo Ribeiro

Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon-based composite materials have long been fabricated and extensively used in our daily lives. In the past decades, with rapid development of nanotechnology, these class of material have gained even more attention owing to their outstanding properties which directly results in their prospects to revolutionize technological development in many fields, ranging from medicine to electronics. Nevertheless, for certain applications, including electrochemical energy storage/conversion devices, the chemically inert nature of these materials creates obstacles and thus requires their coupling with other active species. This thesis explores the use of Laser Ablation Synthesis in Solution (LASiS) in tailoring promising strategies and pathways …

Design And Synthesis Of Lipid Probes Used For Membrane Derivatization And Fusion, Stuart Allen Whitehead

Doctoral Dissertations

Lipids control a variety of complex biological processes. Bulk lipids such as phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylserine (PS), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) represent the major components of cellular membranes. In addition, unilamellar vesicles composed of lipids (liposomes) are valuable for delivery applications since they can encapsulate and transport drugs and other agents. In order to maximize delivery efficiency and target specific membranes, the ability to trigger and control vesicle-vesicle fusion is desirable. Such approaches generally seek to mimic the membrane fusion machinery present in nature while imparting specificity in the membranes that undergo fusion. The goal of this work is selective drug delivery …

Incorporating Carbon Nanotubes Into Carbon Fiber Via Surface Modification, Robert Benjamin Ripy

Masters Theses

Ever more advanced materials need to be designed to further the exploration of avenues of science and engineering. Metals and traditional composites are not meeting the needs of today’s stringent demands for lightweight and strong materials. There is a need for advanced materials that are lighter and stronger to replace conventional materials; carbon fiber composites became the obvious choice because of their outstanding mechanical properties. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fiber has reached its apex in terms of its strength to weight ratio. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offer a lightweight and potentially stronger alternative to PAN based fibers. However, it is difficult …

Developing Synthetic Methods To Prepare Discrete Metal-Organic Nanotubes, Derek L. Mull

Masters Theses

Metal-organic nanotubes (MONTs) are an emerging class of discrete materials that are the 1D variant of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MONTs have potential to become an alternative 1D material to carbon nanotubes, metal oxide nanotubes, and boron nitride nanotubes because they possess an organic ligand that can be functionalized and tuned for specific applications. Despite this potential, only a handful of structures have been reported and only two examples of discrete MONTs exist in the literature. It is thus imperative to develop general methods to prepare and characterize discrete MONTs to bring them to the forefront of the scientific literature.

Efforts …

The Synthesis Of Serine Competitive Inhibitors To Limit The Impact Of Fungal Endocarditis, Michael R. Brouner

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Support-Modified Nanoparticle-Based Catalysts And Mixed Oxide Catalysts For Low Temperature Co Oxidation, Andrew Justin Binder

Doctoral Dissertations

Heterogeneous catalysts are responsible for billions of dollars of industrial output and have a profound, if often understated, effect on our everyday lives. New catalyst technologies and methods to enhance existing catalysts are essential to meeting consumer demands and overcoming environmental concerns. This dissertation focuses on the development of catalysts for low temperature carbon monoxide oxidation. CO [carbon monoxide] oxidation is often used as a probe reaction to test overall oxidation activity of a given catalyst and is an important reaction in the elimination of toxic pollutants from automotive exhaust streams. The work included here presents three new heterogeneous catalysts …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Doped Mayenite As A Transparent Conducting Oxide, Sabina Nwamaka Ude

Doctoral Dissertations

Base and doped mayenite (Ca₁₂Al₁₄O₃₃) were synthesized using both solid-state and citrate gel techniques; and fired in air and reducing atmospheres. The prepared compositions were studied using neutron and x-ray diffraction at room temperature, high temperature x-ray diffraction (HTXRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), digital optical microscopy, and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Electrically conductivity was measured on the Fe (iron) doped samples using a 2-point, after firing in a reducing atmosphere.

The HTXRD data on pure mayenite synthesized using citrate gel method and fired in air showed …

Synthesis Of Isotopologues And Nanoparticles For Hyper Raman Spectroscopy, Burton K. Mandrell

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Of Palladium-Based Electrocatalysis—From Pure Metal To Bimetallic Nanoparticles, Haijun Gao

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on synthesis and characterization of palladium-based nanoparticles. Background information of the research in this thesis is provided in Chapter 1. Preparation and characterization of pure palladium nanoparticles are presented in Chapter 2. A fast and convenient method to prepare ultra small Pd nanoparticles via Pluronic P123 reduction is discussed in detail. Impregnation method and poly method are also studied in this chapter. Chapter 3 reports the studies of these methods to prepare ultra small bimetallic (bimetallic means a mixture of two metals) palladium-based nanoparticles. Oleylamine-mediated method used Pd nanoparticles prepared via P123 reduction as precursor. Ultra small …

Tantalum Carbene And Imide Complexes. Synthesis, Characterization, And Pathways Of Formation, Julia Kathryn Covington Abbott

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on two different types of organometallic compounds, carbenes and imides. The first project deals with the archetypal Schrock carbene, and the second project studies complexes that contain metal-nitrogen bonds, both amides and imides.

A summary of the research in this dissertation is discussed in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 begins the studies of the archetypal Schrock carbene (Bu^tCH₂)₃Ta=CHBu^t. The studies include the synthesis of deuterated compounds (Bu^tCD₂)₃TaCl₂ and Bu^tCD₂Li, observation and identification of the intermediate, Ta(CD₂Bu^{t …}