Engineering Commons^™

Redefining The Operation And Design Considerations Of Organic Solar Cells: Role Of Morphology And Defect States, Biswajit Ray

Open Access Dissertations

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology is currently a topic of great interest for potentially low cost solar energy conversion and possibility of many novel PV applications (e.g., building-integrated PV, portable solar cells). Successful commercialization of this technology, however, will require significant improvement in efficiency and lifetime. In the last few years, innovation in novel polymer synthesis has raised the efficiency of OPV above 10%, at par with a-Si and earth-abundant solar cells. Further improvement in performance relies on breakthroughs in device design, which requires profound understanding of the physics of device operation. A major challenge in the design of the state …

Development Of Quantitative Ft- Ir Methods For Analyzing The Cure Kinetics Of Epoxy Resins, Sang Ha Son

Open Access Dissertations

Epoxy thermosets are important engineering materials with applications in coating, adhesives, packaging and as structural components in a variety of advanced engineering products. The ultimate performance of polymer critically depends upon the details of the cure chemistry used to produce the thermoset. In order to better understand and monitor the cure chemistry, quantitative analysis of the FT-IR response has been developed for describing the epoxy-amine curing reaction as well as monitoring the hydrogen bonding that occurs in these systems The FT-IR analysis includes (i) quantitative deconvolution of complex peaks into individual spectral contributions, (ii) peak identification via DFT analysis and …

Bending, Wrinkling, And Folding Of Thin Polymer Film/Elastomer Interfaces, Yuri Ebata

Open Access Dissertations

This work focuses on understanding the buckling deformation mechanisms of bending, wrinkling, and folding that occur on the surfaces and interfaces of polymer systems. We gained fundamental insight into the formation mechanism of these buckled structures for thin glassy films placed on an elastomeric substrate. By taking advantage of geometric confinement, we demonstrated new strategies in controlling wrinkling morphologies. We were able to achieve surfaces with controlled patterned structures which will have a broad impact in optical, adhesive, microelectronics, and microfluidics applications.

Wrinkles and strain localized features, such as delaminations and folds, are observed in many natural systems and are …

Tuning The Properties Of Metal-Ligand Complexes To Modify The Properties Of Supramolecular Materials, Ian Henderson

Open Access Dissertations

Supramolecular chemistry is the study of discreet molecules assembled into more complex structures though non-covalent interactions such as host-guest effects, pi-pi stacking, electrostatic effects, hydrogen bonding, and metal-ligand interactions. Using these interactions, complex hierarchical assembles can be created from relatively simple precursors.

Of the supramolecular interactions listed above, metal-ligand interactions are of particular interest due to the wide possible properties which they present. Factors such as the denticity, polarizability, steric hindrance, ligand structure, and the metal used (among others) contribute to a dramatic range in the physical properties of the metal-ligand complexes. Particularly affected by these factors are the kinetic …

Enhanced Mechanical Performance Of Low Dielectric Constant Thin Films Synthesized In Supercritical Co2, And Sans Studies Of Microemulsions Induced Or Destabilized By Compressed Co2, Alvin Horatio Romang

Open Access Dissertations

Block copolymer (BCP) phase segregation and self-assembly into two or more distinct domains are primarily dictated by two parameters: the block volume fraction, f, and the product of the segment-segment interaction parameter and the length of polymer chain, XN. The volume fraction determines a block copolymer's phase segregated morphology, whereas XN dictates its overall segregation strength, or phase stability. In order to achieve smaller domain sizes, the interaction parameter must be increased to compensate for the decrease in chain length. In the melt, PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO (Pluronic) triblock copolymer surfactants do not phase segregate primarily due to their low molecular weights …

Fiber Formation From The Melting Of Free-Standing Polystyrene, Ultra-Thin Films: A Technique For The Investication Of Thin Film Dynamics, Confinement Effects And Fiber-Based Sensing, Jeremy M. Rathfon

Open Access Dissertations

Free-standing ultra-thin films and micro to nanoscale fibers offer a unique geometry in which to study the dynamics of thin film stability and polymer chain dynamics. By melting these films and investigating the subsequent processes of hole formation and growth, and fiber thinning and breakup, many interesting phenomena can be explored, including the nucleation of holes, shear-thinning during hole formation, finite-extensibility of capillary thinning viscoelastic fibers, and confinement effects on entanglement of polymer chains. Free-standing films in the melt are unstable and rupture due to instabilities. The mechanism of membrane failure and hole nucleation is modeled using an energy barrier …

Structure-Property Evolution During Polymer Crystallization, Deepak Arora

Open Access Dissertations

The main theme of this research is to understand the structure-property evolution during crystallization of a semicrystalline thermoplastic polymer. A combination of techniques including rheology, small angle light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopy are applied to follow the mechanical and optical properties along with crystallinity and the morphology. Isothermal crystallization experiments on isotactic poly-1-butene at early stages of spherulite growth provide quantitative information about nucleation density, volume fraction of spherulites and their crystallinity, and the mechanism of connecting into a sample spanning structure. Optical microscopy near the fluid-to-solid transition suggests that the transition, as determined by time-resolved mechanical …