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Full-Text Articles in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Zirconium Diboride, Hexagonal Boron Nitride, And Amorphous Alumina Thin Films For High Temperature Applications, David Murdock Stewart Dec 2016

Zirconium Diboride, Hexagonal Boron Nitride, And Amorphous Alumina Thin Films For High Temperature Applications, David Murdock Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of microelectronic sensors and actuators in harsh, high temperature environments, such as power plants, turbine engines, and industrial manufacturing, could greatly improve the safety, reliability, and energy efficiency of these processes. The primary challenge in implementing this technology is the breakdown and degradation of thin films used in fabricating these devices when exposed to high temperatures >800 °C and oxidizing atmospheres. Zirconium diboride, hexagonal boron nitride, and amorphous alumina are candidate materials for use as thin film sensor components due to their high melting temperatures and stable phases. Zirconium diboride thin films have metallic-like electrical conductivity and remain …


Applied Photoproperties Of Phenylene Ethynylenes, Patrick L. Donabedian Oct 2016

Applied Photoproperties Of Phenylene Ethynylenes, Patrick L. Donabedian

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Light-absorbing molecules can be used as powerful tools to perturb and understand biological systems by fluorescence, sensitization, or photochemical reactions. A thorough understanding of the delivery of dyes to specific biochemical targets and the processes that control the fate of excited-state energy is needed to engineer useful technology out of organic photochemistry. This thesis presents four projects investigating different aspects of pathogen destruction and biochemical sensing in a variety of systems, using the properties of p-phenylene ethynylenes (PEs), an especially flexible and well-studied class of conjugated molecules. Of particular relevance, some PEs are found to be effective dyes for amyloid …


Laser Direct Written Silicon Nanowires For Electronic And Sensing Applications, Woongsik Nam Aug 2016

Laser Direct Written Silicon Nanowires For Electronic And Sensing Applications, Woongsik Nam

Open Access Dissertations

Silicon nanowires are promising building blocks for high-performance electronics and chemical/biological sensing devices due to their ultra-small body and high surface-to-volume ratios. However, the lack of the ability to assemble and position nanowires in a highly controlled manner still remains an obstacle to fully exploiting the substantial potential of nanowires. Here we demonstrate a one-step method to synthesize intrinsic and doped silicon nanowires for device applications. Sub-diffraction limited nanowires as thin as 60 nm are synthesized using laser direct writing in combination with chemical vapor deposition, which has the advantages of in-situ doping, catalyst-free growth, and precise control of position, …


Inter-Droplet Membranes For Mechanical Sensing Applications, Nima Tamaddoni Jahromi May 2016

Inter-Droplet Membranes For Mechanical Sensing Applications, Nima Tamaddoni Jahromi

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation combines self-assembly phenomena of amphiphilic molecules with soft materials to create and characterize mechanoelectrical transducers and sensors whose sensing elements are thin-film bioinspired membranes comprised of phospholipids or amphiphilic polymers. We show that the structures of these amphiphilic molecules tune the mechanical and electrical properties of these membranes. We show that these properties affect the mechanoelectrical sensing characteristic and range of operation of these membrane transducers. In the experiments, we construct and characterize a membrane-based hair cell embodiment that enables the membrane to be responsive to mechanical perturbations of the hair. The resulting oscillations of membranes formed between …