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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Top-Down And Bottom-Up Fabrication Of Key Components In Miniature Energy Storage Devices, Wenhao Li Oct 2019

Top-Down And Bottom-Up Fabrication Of Key Components In Miniature Energy Storage Devices, Wenhao Li

Doctoral Dissertations

The advent of miniature electronic devices demands power sources of commensurate form factors. This spurs the research of micro energy storage devices, e.g., 3D microbatteries. A 3D microbattery contains nonplanar microelectrodes with high aspect ratio and high surface area, separated by a nanoscale electrolyte. The device takes up a total volume as small as 10 mm3, allowing it to serve on a chip and to provide power in-situ. The marriage of nanotechnology and electrochemical energy storage makes microbattery research a fascinating field with both scientific excitement and application prospect. However, successful fabrication of well-functioned key components …


Designing Ion-Containing Polymers With Controlled Structure And Dynamics, Joshua Enokida Oct 2019

Designing Ion-Containing Polymers With Controlled Structure And Dynamics, Joshua Enokida

Doctoral Dissertations

Ion-containing polymers are a unique class of materials for which strong electrostatic interactions dictate physical properties. By altering molecular parameters, such as the backbone chemical structure, the ion content, and the ion-pair identity, the structure and dynamics of these polymers can be altered. Further investigation of the molecular parameters that govern their structure-property relationships is critical for the future development of these polymeric materials. Particularly, the incorporation of ammonium-based counterions into these polymers offers a facile method to tune their electrostatic interactions and hydrophobicity. Applying this concept, a bulky dimethyloctylammonium (DMOA) counterion was used to modify the organic solubility of …


Double-Network Materials Via Frontal Polymerization & Supercritical Co2 Processing, Matthew Joseph Lampe Jul 2019

Double-Network Materials Via Frontal Polymerization & Supercritical Co2 Processing, Matthew Joseph Lampe

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents work focused on producing materials in non-equilibrium states by taking advantage of novel processing techniques. First, epoxy-based resins which can undergo radically promoted, cationic, thermal, frontal polymerization are investigated for their potential use as adhesives. These resins are found to be capable of sustaining propagating polymerization fronts between several different substrate materials, resulting in high levels of adhesion in some cases. In addition, a similar frontal resin was developed that can undergo sequential gelation and frontal polymerization. The gels are formed by radically crosslinking acrylate monomers within the epoxy resin. These gels can then be manipulated, and …


Synthesis And Molecular Transport Studies In Zeolites And Nanoporous Membranes, Vivek Vattipalli Mar 2019

Synthesis And Molecular Transport Studies In Zeolites And Nanoporous Membranes, Vivek Vattipalli

Doctoral Dissertations

The advent of nanoporous materials such as zeolites and nanoporous membranes has provided cost-effective solutions to some of the most pressing problems of the 20th century such as the conversion of crude oil into fuels and valuable chemicals. Hierarchical zeolites and mesoporous inorganic membranes are showing great promise in addressing new problems such as the conversion of biomass into value-added chemicals and development of energy-efficient separation processes. The synthesis and fundamental aspects of molecular transport in these new materials with hierarchical porosities need to be better understood in order to rationally develop them for these desired applications. Pore narrowing …