Engineering Commons^™

Light Downshifting Zinc Oxide-Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Nanocomposite Greenhouse Films, David V. Hiscott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

One method to increase the productivity of greenhouse agriculture is to increase the amount of photosynthetically available light within. This was accomplished through the use of nanocomposite greenhouse film comprised of light downshifting zinc oxide quantum dots and ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. As this material will be used on a commodity scale, two different approaches – a large batch process and continuous plug flow reactor – were designed for mass production of zinc oxide. A design of experiment was performed to determine which synthesis parameters contribute more strongly to the quantum dot’s growth. This was done for a small-scale batch …

Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (Bret) - Based Nanostructured Biosensor For Detection Of Glucose, Eugene Hwang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) is a distance dependent, non-radiative energy transfer, which uses a bioluminescent protein to excite an acceptor through resonance energy transfer. In this thesis, BRET technology is incorporated into a sensor comprised of a recombinant protein and quantum dots. The recombinant protein, which includes the bioluminescent protein, Renilla luciferase (Rluc), is used as the donor molecule and cadmium tellurium quantum dots as the acceptor molecules. Separating the donor-acceptor pair is a recombinant protein, glucose binding protein, which changes conformation upon binding glucose and brings the pair closer together, thus allowing BRET to occur. Optimization of the …

Nanostructured Biosensor For Tear Glucose Detection Based On Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (Bret) Mechanism., Denghuang Zhan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET), a sensitive, non-destructive and self-illuminated method, has been now commonly used to test protein interactions. Here, we describe a BRET sensor for non-invasively detecting glucose molecules. The sensor is made by the bioconjugation of quantum dots and recombinant protein. The recombinant protein contains the bacterial glucose binding protein (GBP) and a bioluminescent protein, Renilla luciferase (Rluc), used as the donor with the emission peak at 470 nm, which is able to excite the acceptor of BRET sensor made of cadmium tellurium quantum dots ( CdTe QDs) with the emission peak at 570 nm. The distance …

Engineered Quantum Dots For Eva Nanocomposite Films And Tio2 Photocatalysts, Md Abdul Mumin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Light absorbing inorganic nanoparticles in transparent plastics such as poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) are of enormous interest in emerging solar materials, including photovoltaic (PV) modules and commercial greenhouse films. Quantum dots (QDs) have the potential to absorb UV light and selectively emit visible light. However, how to stabilize the QDs for long product life spans without "blinking" while enabling their easy integration into polymer systems is lacking. This work examines different approaches for loading mesoporous silica encapsulated QDs into EVA polymer films which can control plant growth in greenhouses or enhance PV panel efficiencies.

Highly luminescent CdS and CdS-ZnS core-shell QDs …

Copper Indium Sulfide Quantum Dots For Light Selective Nanocomposite Thin Films And Solar Cell Applications, Harrison Ward

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Nanotechnology is allowing the solar energy industry to advance at an accelerating rate, although new materials and processes are required for developing new types of solar cells. Similar to other industries, it is desirable to develop the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions on how to make these next generation materials. Of these new materials, quantum dots (QDs) are of current scientific interest which provide record-breaking increases in efficiency and a new approach for harnessing solar radiation. However, most previous QD work has focused on lead or cadmium based materials, which are not earth friendly and have low thresholds in …

Surface Functionalization And Bioconjugation Of Nanoparticles For Biomedical Applications, Longyan Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Colloidal inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have been attracting considerable interest in biomedicine, from drug and gene delivery to imaging, sensing and diagnostics. It is essential to modify the surface of nanoparticles to have enhanced biocompatibility and functionality for the in vitro and in vivo applications, especially in delivering locally and recognizing biomolecules. Herein, the goal of this research work is to develop advanced NPs with well-tailored surface functionalities and/or bio-functionality for the applications in cell tracking and analytes detection.

In the first project, quantum dots incorporating with gelatin nanoparticles (QDs-GNPs) have been developed for bioimaging applications. Two different approaches have been …

Light And Heat Selective Polymer Nanocomposite Films For Sustainable Greenhouses, Jenna M. Allan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ontario greenhouse operations offer the ability to provide safe, local produce year-round. However, energy consumption associated with this service, as well as limited light intensity during winter months, is a significant problem. For this reason quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles and silica aerogel (SA) granules were investigated as potential filler materials for the enhancement of the optical and thermal properties of poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate) (EVA), a common greenhouse plastic, for the concurrent goals of increasing biomass production and reducing energy consumption in greenhouses.

The QDs, synthesized by colloidal chemistry using a single-molecular precursor method, along with commercial SA particles were integrated …