Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Solution And Surface Properties Of Architecturally- And Compositionally-Complex Block Copolymers And Their Binary Mixtures, Jesse Lawrence Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

The spontaneous generation of complex structures from polymeric building blocks provides a simple yet effective route to create useful soft matter structures having potential application in a variety of nanotechnologies. The topology, chemical structure, block composition, and sequence of the constituent building blocks of polymers are tunable through synthetic chemistry. This tunability offers attractive opportunities to generate complex, yet well-defined structures with control over the geometry, packing symmetry, and microdomain structure. This thesis work involves the study of the self-assembly behaviors of architecturally complex amphiphilic block copolymers (ABCs). ABCs are composed of two or more chemically distinct blocks that are …

Minimizing Sheet Resistance Of Organic Photovoltaic Cell Top Contact Electrode Layer: Silver Nanowire Concentration Vs. Conductive Polymer Doping Concentration, Caitlyn Cook

Materials Engineering

The top contact electrode layers of nine organic photovoltaic cells were prepared with two varying factors: three Silver nanowire (AgNW) densities deposited on a conductive polymer doped with three concentrations. Silver’s low sheet resistance of 20-Ω/sq is hypothesized to lower the sheet resistance of the anode layer and thus enhance the overall efficiency of the cell. Four-point probe measurements indicated that increasing AgNW density in the top contact electrode layer of an organic photovoltaic cell significantly reduces sheet resistance from 52.2k-Ω/sq to 18.0 Ω/sq. Although an increase in doping concentration of the conductive polymer reduced sheet resistance in low AgNW …

Functional Nanostructures From Nanoparticle Building Blocks, Jimmy Lawrence

Doctoral Dissertations

Advances in the synthetic strategies of engineered nanomaterials, multifunctional molecules and polymers have opened pathways for the development of functional nanomaterials having unique optoelectronic, mechanical, and biological properties. By designing the chemistry of surface ligands, the organic interface of nanoparticles, one can further the versatility and utilization of engineered nanomaterials, opening pathways for breakthroughs in sensing, catalysis, and delivery using nanomaterials. This thesis describes the synthesis and characterization of small molecule and polymer ligand functionalized inorganic nanoparticles (e.g., metal, semiconducting). Embedding specific chemical functionality into the ligand periphery of nanoparticles enables the resulting functional nanoparticles to react selectively …

Layer-By-Layer Antimicrobial N-Halamine Polymer Coatings For Food Contact Materials, Luis J. Bastarrachea Gutierrez

Doctoral Dissertations

Cross contamination during food processing represents a risk for public health and financial burden. Surface modification of food contact materials to render them antimicrobial can be effective against such risk. The objective of the present work was to develop antimicrobial coatings with the potential to be applied in a variety of food contact materials. The polymer coatings developed became antimicrobial by incorporation of a type of chlorinated compounds called N-halamines, capable of regenerating their antimicrobial activity. Two layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly surface modification procedures were followed. In the first procedure, bilayers of branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) were applied …

Biomimetic Oral Mucin From Polymer Micelle Networks, Sundar Prasanth Authimoolam

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Mucin networks are formed by the complexation of bottlebrush-like mucin glycoprotein with other small molecule glycoproteins. These glycoproteins create nanoscale strands that then arrange into a nanoporous mesh. These networks play an important role in ensuring surface hydration, lubricity and barrier protection. In order to understand the functional behavior in mucin networks, it is important to decouple their chemical and physical effects responsible for generating the fundamental property-function relationship. To achieve this goal, we propose to develop a synthetic biomimetic mucin using a layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition approach. In this work, a hierarchical 3-dimensional structures resembling natural mucin networks was generated …

Designed Synthesis Of Nanoporous Organic Polymers For Selective Gas Uptake And Catalytic Applications, Pezhman Arab

Theses and Dissertations

Design and synthesis of porous organic polymers have attracted considerable attentions during the past decade due to their wide range of applications in gas storage, gas separation, energy conversion, and catalysis. Porous organic polymers can be pre-synthetically and post-synthetically functionalized with a wide variety of functionalities for desirable applications. Along these pursuits, we introduced new synthetic strategies for preparation of porous organic polymers for selective CO₂ capture.

Porous azo-linked polymers (ALPs) were synthesized by an oxidative reaction of amine-based monomers using copper(I) as a catalyst which leads to azo-linkage formation. ALPs exhibit high surface areas of up to 1200 …