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Iron Oxide Nanomagnets In Polymer Matrices – Synthesis And Characterization, Shenjie Qiu Sep 2018

Iron Oxide Nanomagnets In Polymer Matrices – Synthesis And Characterization, Shenjie Qiu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Magneto-responsive polymer-iron oxide materials have been fabricated by coating various polymers on iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The stability of magneto-responsive polymer-iron oxide materials relies on the selection of appropriate coating anchors, such as catechols and silanes. This dissertation describes two robust polymer coating systems on iron oxide NPs. One system focuses on thermo-responsive nitrated catechol-N-isopropylacrylamide polymers with binding enhancement factors (EnF) of ~40 and ~20 towards iron oxide NPs and a boronic acid compared to the polymers without the nitro group. The second system involves coating of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) on iron oxide NPs via a silane anchor …


Nmr Characterizations Of Candidate Battery Electrolytes, Stephen A. Munoz Sep 2018

Nmr Characterizations Of Candidate Battery Electrolytes, Stephen A. Munoz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Enormous strides have been made in next-generation power sources to build a more sustainable society. Energy storage has become a limiting factor in our progress, and there are huge environmental and financial incentives to find the next step forward in battery technology. This work discusses NMR methods for characterizing materials for use in battery application, with a special focus on relaxometry and diffusometry. Examples are provided of various recent investigations involving novel candidate electrolyte materials with different collaborators. Works discussed in this thesis include: the characterization of a new disruptive solid polymer electrolyte technology, investigations of the dynamics of super …


Nanoporous Carbon-Based Co2 Reduction Catalysts: Exploring The Combined Effects Of Surface Chemistry And Porosity, Wanlu Li Feb 2018

Nanoporous Carbon-Based Co2 Reduction Catalysts: Exploring The Combined Effects Of Surface Chemistry And Porosity, Wanlu Li

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For the first-time sulfur-doped, nitrogen-doped and sulfur, nitrogen-codoped nanoporous carbons were systematically studied as catalysts for CO2 electrochemical reduction reaction (CO2ERR). The Faradaic efficiencies (FE) of CO and CH4 formation were calculated to evaluate the performance of these carbons. The best catalysts showed the FE of CO and CH4 formation of 29% and 0.76%, respectively. It was found that the overall performance in CO2ERR dramatically increased upon the reduction pretreatment of the carbons in N2-saturated electrolyte before the CO2 reduction process. The pretreated carbon showed the maximum FE of CO …