Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Towards Environmental Sustainability Of Nanotechnology Through Improved Evaluations Of Impact And Risk To Aquatic Species: Cross-Species Comparisons From The Laboratory And Environmentally Realistic Exposure Scenarios In The Field, Becky J. Curtis

Theses and Dissertations

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are utilized in a wide variety of applications and products, including everything from toothpaste and personal care products to industries such as aerospace, defense, medicine, electronics, and agriculture. Depending on the application, release of ENMs to the environment may occur through both unintentional and deliberate routes. High surface-area-to-volume ratios make ENMs more volatile than bulk counterparts, and their small size allows translocation within biological systems that would not be possible with larger materials. These and other characteristics make ENM-biological system interactions unpredictable, creating uncertainty about their potential risks to environmental health. The purpose of this research is …

Mxenes As Flow Electrodes For Capacitive Deionization Of Wastewater, Naqsh E. Mansoor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The energy-water nexus poses an integrated research challenge, while opening up an opportunity space for the development of energy efficient technologies for water remediation. Capacitive Deionization (CDI) is an upcoming reclamation technology that uses a small applied voltage applied across electrodes to electrophoretically remove dissolved ionic impurities from wastewater streams. Similar to a supercapacitor, the ions are stored in the electric double layer of the electrodes. Reversing the polarity of applied voltage enables recovery of the removed ionic impurities, allowing for recycling and reuse. Simultaneous materials recovery and water reclamation makes CDI energy efficient and resource conservative, with potential to …

Novel Solar Cells Based On Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials And Recycled Lead Components, Xiaoru Guo

Theses and Dissertations

To meet the rapidly growing demand for energy and reduce the use of dwindling fossil fuels, the efficient utilization of renewable energy is a constant pursuit globally. Because solar cells convert vastly available sunlight into electricity, developing high-performance and low-cost solar cells is a top strategy for future energy supply. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are the most promising choices. In the meantime, highly concentrated sulfuric acids from retired lead-acid batteries become an environmental concern, and lead contamination in drinking water raises concerns in general public. This study addresses both above-mentioned problems by using two-dimensional (2D) …

Development And Degradation Analysis Of Novel Micro And Nanostructured Transition Metal Oxide (Tmo) Anodes For Aqueous Sodium Ion Batteries., Santanu Mukherjee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the primary motivations driving battery technology research is the need to develop cleaner and more efficient energy storage systems. The portable electronics industry has developed exponentially, especially over the last couple of decades and therefore the importance of efficient electrochemical energy storage systems cannot be overstated. Li-ion batteries have been the predominant rechargeable energy in use, however, they have their own particular drawbacks viz. flammability of the electrolyte, expensive mining of the Li metal etc. This is where the importance of Na-ion batteries lie. This research focuses on using existing transition metal oxides (TMOs) and tuning their crystal …

Numerical And Experimental Studies Of Atomic Layer Deposition For Sustainability Improvement, Dongqing Pan

Theses and Dissertations

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an approved nano-scale thin films fabrication technique with remarkable uniformity and conformity in surface geometry. This dissertation presents numerical and experimental studies to investigate the transient physical and chemical ALD process in order to improve its sustainability performance in terms of throughput, wastes and emissions.

To be specific, in this dissertation, the transient process of ALD is studied extensively through both numerical and experimental approaches to find the influential factors on the two main critical sustainability issues: low throughput and negative environmental impacts. Different numerical schemes are developed and studied for ALD process simulations. In …