Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Engineered Nanoparticles For Site-Specific Bioorthogonal Catalysis: Imaging And Therapy, Riddha Das

Doctoral Dissertations

Bioorthogonal catalysis offers a strategy for chemical transformations complementary to bioprocesses and has proven to be a powerful tool in biochemistry and medical sciences. Transition metal catalysts (TMCs) have emerged as a powerful tool to execute selective chemical transformations, however, lack of biocompatibility and stability limits their use in biological applications. Incorporation of TMCs into nanoparticle monolayers provides a versatile strategy for the generation of bioorthogonal nanocatalysts known as “nanozymes”. We have fabricated a family of nanozymes using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as scaffolds featuring diverse chemical functional groups for controlled localization of nanozymes in biological environments, providing unique strategies for …

Development Of Functional Biomaterials Using Protein Building Blocks, Li-Sheng Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Proteins have intrinsic molecular properties that are highly useful for materials applications, especially for biomaterials. My research has focused on translating these molecular properties to materials surface behavior. In one approach, I developed a fluorous-based thermal treatment strategy to generate stable thin films from a variety of naturally abundant proteins. The different surface properties generated from the choice of protein were utilized to modulate cell-surface interactions, prevent bacterial adhesions, and control drug loading/release. I have used nanoimprint lithography to generate patterned protein films for cell alignment. Coupling with inkjet printing deposition, I have fabricated mixed protein films with spatial and …

Characterization Of Nanomaterials For Thermal Management Of Electronics, Amit Rai

Doctoral Dissertations

Recently, there has been a growing interest in flexible electronic devices as they are light, highly flexible, robust, and use less expensive substrate materials. Such devices are affected by thermal management issues that can reduce the device’s performance and reliability. Therefore, this work is focused on the study of the thermal properties of nanomaterials and the methods to address such issues. The goal is to enhance the effective thermal conductivity by adding nanomaterials to the polymer matrix or by structural modification of nanomaterials. The thermal conductivity of copper nanowire/polydimethylsiloxane and copper nanowire/polyurethane composites were measured and showed more than threefold …

Electrical Characterization Of Graphene And Nanodiamond Nanostructures, A Z M Nowzesh Hasan

Doctoral Dissertations

The electrical characterization on two-dimensional carbon-based graphene and nanodiamond materials was performed to improve charge transport properties for the label-free electrical biosensors. The charge transport in solution-gated graphene devices is affected by the impurities and disorders of the underlying dielectric interface and its interaction with the electrolytes. Advancement in field-effect ion sensing by introducing a dielectric isomorph, hexagonal boron nitride between graphene and silicon dioxide of a solution-gated graphene field-effect transistor was investigated. Increased transconductance due to increased charge carrier mobility is accompanied with larger ionic sensitivity. These findings define a standard to construct future graphene devices for biosensing and …

Nanoparticle Catalytic Enhancement Of Carbon Dioxide Reforming Of Methane For Hydrogen Production, Nicholas Groden

Doctoral Dissertations

The U.S. produces 5559.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, of which 21% is produced by industrial processes. Steam reforming, an industrial process that accounts for 95% of all hydrogen production in industry, produces 134.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide or around 11% of the total carbon dioxide produced by industry. This carbon dioxide is then either emitted or goes through a sequestration process that accounts for 75% of the plant's operational costs. An alternative reaction to steam reforming is dry reforming, which utilizes carbon dioxide rather than emitting it and can be used in conjunction with current …

Lignin-Based Li-Ion Anode Materials Synthesized From Low-Cost Renewable Resources, Nicholas William Mcnutt

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s world, the demand for novel methods of energy storage is increasing rapidly, particularly with the rise of portable electronic devices, electric vehicles, and the personal consumption and storage of solar energy. While other technologies have arguably improved at a rate that is exponential in accordance with Moore’s law, battery technology has lagged behind largely due to the difficulty in devising new electric storage systems that are simultaneously high performing, inexpensive, and safe.

In order to tackle these challenges, novel Li-ion battery anodes have been developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that are made from lignin, a low-cost, renewable …

Enzyme Stabilization In Hierarchical Biocatalytic Food Packaging And Processing Materials, Dana Erin Wong

Doctoral Dissertations

The partnership of biocatalysts and solid support materials provides many opportunities for bioactive packaging and bioprocessing aids beneficial to the agricultural and food industries. Biocatalysis, or reactions modulated by enzymes, allows bioactive materials to assist in bringing a substrate to product. Enzymes are proteins which catalyze reactions by lowering the activation energy required to drive the production of a desired product. Enzymes are commonly utilized in food processing as catalysts with specificity in order to enhance product quality through the production of beneficial food components, and to break down undesirable components that may be harmful or may decrease product quality. …

Plasmonics Resonance Enhanced Active Photothermal Effects In Aluminum Nanoenergetics For Propulsion Applications, Jacques Abboud

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, aluminum nanoparticles (Al NPs) are shown capable to on-demand enhance and control the local photothermal energy deposition, both spatially and temporally, via active photothermal effects initiated by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon, and amplified by the Al exothermal oxidation reactions. Experiments in dry and wet environments along with computational modeling of the photothermal process are very desirable for gaining fundamental understanding, ignition optimization and parameter exploration.

Combined phenomena of motion and ignition of Al NPs are explored first in this study. Both resulting from exposing a pile of the nanoenergetics in hand to a single …

Energetics And Kinetics Of Dislocation Initiation In The Stressed Volume At Small Scales, Tianlei Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Instrumented nanoindentation techniques have been widely used in characterizing mechanical behavior of materials in small length scales. For defect-free single crystals under nanoindentation, the onset of elastic-plastic transition is often shown by a sudden displacement burst in the measured load-displacement curve. It is believed to result from the homogeneous dislocation nucleation because the maximum shear stress at the pop-in load approaches the theoretical strength of the material and because statistical measurements agree with a thermally activated process of homogeneous dislocation nucleation. For single crystals with defects, the pop-in is believed to result from the sudden motion of pre-existing dislocations or …