Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Novel Design And Facile Synthesis Of Functional Nanostructures For Energy And Environmental Application, Zhuojun Wang

Wayne State University Theses

Environmental pollution and energy crisis are two of the major obstacles in the development of a more sustainable society. It is an interesting but technically challenging task to design novel methods for the facile and scalable synthesis of multifunctional materials for applications in both energy storage and environmental remediation. In this thesis, I tried to design and synthesize novel nanostructured materials for energy and environmental applications, achieved highly promising results. I developed a facile electrochemical approach to synthesize the zinc oxide with the zinc element for photocatalytic reactions. It demonstrated dramatically improved performances in degradation of organic pollutant in water, …

Ac Conductivity Studies Of Polyethylene-Oxide-Garnet Type Li7la3zr2o12 Hybrid Composite Solid Polymer Electrolyte For Li-Ion Battery, Parisa Bashiri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Solid electrolytes including ceramics and polymers are considered to be the ultimate substitute for organic liquid electrolytes currently used in commercialized lithium ion batteries to address the safety concerns due to Li dendrite growth and internal short circuiting. However, low ionic conductivity due to high grain boundary resistance in ceramics and semi-crystalline nature of polymers has held back the solid electrolytes from being used in Li-ion batteries. Polyethylene oxide (PEO), complexed with a Li-salt, is a well-studied polymer electrolyte showing ionic conductivity properties at room temperature. However, the coexistence of amorphous and crystalline regions at room temperature (< Tm, the melting temperature) has

-8 -6 …

Characterization, Modeling, And Thermal Management Of High-Performance Lithium Batteries, Minjun Bae

Wayne State University Theses

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, as one of the most advanced commercial rechargeable batteries, play a crucial role in modern society as they are extensively used in portable electronic devices. Nevertheless, the limited electrochemical performance and poor thermal management systems of Li-ion batteries have hindered the expansion of their future applications. In search of alternative electrode materials to develop a battery with higher electrochemical performance, lithium (Li) metal has attracted much attention as an ideal alternative anode material due to its high specific capacity and lowest redox potential. However, needle-like Li dendritic growth causes severe safety concerns and thus prohibits practical applications …

Fundamental Insights On The Electrolysis Of Co2 Using Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells, Juliana Silva Alves Carneiro

Wayne State University Dissertations

The work reported in this thesis focused on providing a fundamental understanding, at the molecular level, required to guide the effective design of electrocatalysts towards a superior reaction kinetics on the electrode of solid oxide electrolysis cells SOECs devices (SOECs) during the CO2 electrolysis. High temperature SOECs are electrochemical energy conversion technologies, that have emerged as promising alternatives to mitigate environmental issues associated with combustion-based technologies, such as the rising atmospheric CO2 levels. The conversion of excess CO2 into high-energy molecules, such as CO can be efficiently achieved through the use of SOEC – which facilitates the electrochemical reduction of …

Evaluation Of Earth-Abundant Monometallic And Bimetallic Complexes For Catalytic Water Splitting, Kenneth Kwame Kpogo

Wayne State University Dissertations

The development of affordable water splitting catalysts from Earth-abundant transition metal ions such as Co and Mn is of immense scientific interest. Aiming to develop an efficient water splitting catalyst, a Co(II) complex featuring an asymmetric, pentadentate quinolyl-bispyridine ligand with a phenylenediamine backbone was synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic, spectrometric, and X-ray analysis. The Co ion was selected because of its ability to undergo redox conversions from 3d5 CoIV through 3d8 CoI thereby making it a suitable catalyst that can withstand harsh structural and electronic changes during catalysis. The electrocatalytic water reduction activity of the catalyst at neutral pH gave …

Study Of Periodical Flow Heat Transfer In An Internal Combustion Engine, Xi Luo

Wayne State University Dissertations

In-cylinder heat transfer is one of the most critical physical behaviors which has a direct influence on engine out emission and thermal efficiency for IC engine. In-cylinder wall temperature has to be precisely controlled to achieve high efficiency and low emission. However, this cannot be done without knowing gas-to-wall heat flux. This study reports on the development of a technique suitable for engine in-cylinder surface temperature measurement, as the traditional method is “hard to reach.” A laser induced phosphorescence technique was used to study in-cylinder wall temperature effects on engine out unburned hydrocarbons during the engine transitional period (warm up). …

Novel Design And Synthesis Of Transition Metal Hydroxides And Oxides For Energy Storage Device Applications, Peifeng Li

Wayne State University Theses

Supercapacitors (SCs) and Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are two types of important electrical energy storage devices with high power density and high energy density respectively. However, to satisfy the increasing demand of high-performance energy storage devices, the energy density of SCs and power/energy densities of LIBs have to be further improved. The exploration, research, and development of electrode materials with high-performance for applications in SCs and LIBs are still needed to meet the ever-increasing demand on energy and power densities. Herein, the amorphous Ni-Co-Mo ternary hydroxides nanoflakes for SCs and oxides nanoflakes for LIBs with ultrathin stature, abundant open spaces, and …

Essays On Oil Price Volatility And Irreversible Investment, Daniel Joseph Pastor

Wayne State University Dissertations

In chapter 1, we provide an extensive and systematic evaluation of the relative

forecasting performance of several models for the volatility of daily spot

crude oil prices. Empirical research over the past decades has uncovered

significant gains in forecasting performance of Markov Switching GARCH

models over GARCH models for the volatility of financial assets and crude

oil futures. We find that, for spot oil price returns, non-switching models

perform better in the short run, whereas switching models tend to do better

at longer horizons.

In chapter 2, I investigate the impact of volatility on firms' irreversible investment decisions using real …

Nano-Structured Electrocatalysts For High Performance Lithium Sulfur Batteries, Negar Mosavati

Wayne State University Dissertations

Ni nanoparticles has been investigated as a carbon-free cathode material for dissolved polysulfide Li-S battery. A series of Ni nanoparticles with nominal particle size of 20, 40, and 100 nm have been used as electrocatalysts, and the effect of particle size on Li-S battery performance has been investigated. In addition, graphene has been chosen as a support to anchor the Ni nanoparticles, and the synergetic effect of carbon material and Ni nanoparticles on Li-S battery electrochemical performance has been studied. The results indicated there is a strong particle size effect. Ni/graphene electrode exhibits a capacity of 753 mAh g-1 sulfur …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Properties Of Peroxo-Based Oxygen-Rich Compounds For Potential Use As Greener High Energy Density Materials, Nipuni-Dhanesha Horadugoda Gamage

Wayne State University Dissertations

One main aspect of high energy density material (HEDM) design is to obtain greener alternatives for HEDMs that produce toxic byproducts. Primary explosives lead azide, lead styphnate, and mercury fulminate contain heavy metals that cause heavy metal poisoning. Leaching of the widely used tertiary explosive NH4ClO4 into groundwater has resulted in human exposure to ClO4– ions, which cause disruptions of thyroid related metabolic pathways and even thyroid cancer. Many research efforts to find replacements have gained little success. Thus, there is a need for greener HEDMs. Peroxo-based oxygen-rich compounds are proposed as a potential new class of greener HEDMs due …

New Approaches To Chalcogenide Materials For Thermoelectrics: Lead Telluride-Based Nanostructures And Facile Synthesis Of Tetrahedrite And Doped Derivatives, Derak Justin James

Wayne State University Dissertations

The overall purpose of this work is to address several of the roadblocks to use of thermoelectric materials for generation of electricity, namely inefficient processing of materials and low performance, commonly rated by the figure of merit, ZT=T2/tot. The ZT includes  as the Seebeck coefficient,  as electrical resistivity, T as the average temperature, and tot as total thermal conductivity. tot is the sum of electronic charge carrier (C) and lattice (L) contributions to thermal conductivity. Attempts to increase ZT in the literature to values >1 have focused on decreasing the thermal conductivity via nanostructuring or optimizing the electrical …

Voltage Management Of Distribution Networks With High Penetration Of Distributed Photovoltaic Generation Sources, Saeed Alyami

Wayne State University Dissertations

Installation of photovoltaic (PV) units could lead to great challenges to the existing electrical systems. Issues such as voltage rise, protection coordination, islanding detection, harmonics, increased or changed short-circuit levels, etc., need to be carefully addressed before we can see a wide adoption of this environmentally friendly technology. Voltage rise or overvoltage issues are of particular importance to be addressed for deploying more PV systems to distribution networks. This dissertation proposes a comprehensive solution to deal with the voltage violations in distribution networks, from controlling PV power outputs and electricity consumption of smart appliances in real time to optimal placement …

Novel Design And Synthesis Of Structured Iron Oxides For Battery Applications, Jian Zhu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the dominant powder source for personal computers and portable electronics. LIBs also play important roles in larger-scale applications, including electric drive vehicles (EVs, HEVs) and grid-energy storage. To meet the increasing demand for energy storage, it is very urgent and crucial to develop next-generation LIBs using alternative electrode materials. For example, carbon is still exclusively used as anode materials in current LIBs. However, the theoretical capacity of graphite (372 mA h g–1 based on LiC6) has almost been achieved, and it becomes one of the bottlenecks to further increase the energy density of LIBs based …

A Decision Modeling For Phasor Measurement Unit Location Selection In Smart Grid Systems, Seung Yup Lee

Wayne State University Theses

As a key technology for enhancing the smart grid system, Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) provides synchronized phasor measurements of voltages and currents of wide-area electric power grid. With various benefits from its application, one of the critical issues in utilizing PMUs is the optimal site selection of units.

The main aim of this research is to develop a decision support system, which can be used in resource allocation task for smart grid system analysis. As an effort to suggest a robust decision model and standardize the decision modeling process, a harmonized modeling framework, which considers operational circumstances of component, is …

The Energy Trilogy: An Integrated Sustainability Model To Bridge Wastewater Treatment Plant Energy And Emissions Gaps, A. Adhim A. Altalibi

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

An estimated 4% of national energy consumption is used for drinking water and wastewater services. Despite the awareness and optimization initiatives for energy conservation, energy consumption is on the rise owing to population and urbanization expansion and to commercial and industrial business advancement. The principal concern is since energy consumption grows, the higher will be the energy production demand, leading to an increase in CO2 footprints and the contribution to global warming potential.

This research is in the area of energy-water nexus, focusing on wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) energy trilogy - the group of three related entities, which includes …

Development Of Silicon-Based Anodes And In-Situ Characterization Techniques For Lithium Ion Batteries, Jinho Yang

Wayne State University Dissertations

Development of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with higher capacity has been booming worldwide, as growing concerns about environmental issues and increasing petroleum costs. The demands for the LIBs include high energy and power densities, and better cyclic stability in order to meet a wide range of applications, such as portable devices and electric vehicles. Silicon has recently been explored as a promising anode material due to its low discharge potential (<0.4 V) and high specific capacity (4200 mAh g^-1). The capacity of silicon potentially exceeds more than 10 times of the conventional graphite anode (372 mAh g^-1). However, the silicon anode experiences huge volume …

Study Of Tin-Based Electrodes And Ionic Liquid Electrolytes For Energy Storage Materials, Mahbuba Ara

Wayne State University Dissertations

Due to rapid increase in energy demand, modern society necessitates to develop high power, light-weight, and more economical energy storage systems. Rechargeable Li-ion batteries and Li-oxygen batteries have become the most promising energy devices in terms of energy and power densities. Diverse research on these battery components is being carried out by researchers worldwide to improve power density to meet the future requirements. The possible routes to improving power density of Li-ion as well as Li-oxygen batteries is to use nanostructured, hybrid electrode materials since they can significantly enhance kinetics of electrochemical reactions; and ion-conducting, low volatile electrolytes since they …

Novel Nanocomposite Material For Supercapacitor Applications, Wissam Fawaz

Wayne State University Theses

With the rapid development of electric-based transportation and introduction of various hybrids, plug-in and full electric vehicles, there is an urgent need to develop a high power energy storage system to complement the high energy density batteries, to extend the range and life of HEVs and EVs. In this work, we have developed and optimized a unique composite material that can serve as electrode materials for high power supercapacitor for various applications. The material is prepared form high surface area graphene-like carbon made from exfoliated graphite flakes through thermal shock process. The expanded graphite then is mixed with functionalized stacked …

Energy Efficiency Analysis And Optimization For Mobile Platforms, Grace Metri

Wayne State University Dissertations

The introduction of mobile devices changed the landscape of computing. Gradually, these devices are replacing traditional personal computer (PCs) to become the devices of choice for entertainment, connectivity, and productivity. There are currently at least 45.5 million people in the United States who own a mobile device, and that number is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2015.

Users of mobile devices expect and mandate that their mobile devices have maximized performance while consuming minimal possible power. However, due to the battery size constraints, the amount of energy stored in these devices is limited and is only growing by …

Synthesis And In-Situ Charactorization Of Energy Storage Material, Lixin Wang

Wayne State University Dissertations

Graphene has been widely studied in electrochemical energy storage devices, such as Li-ion batteries, Li-air batteries and supercapacitors, due to its high conductivity, high surface area, mechanical and electrochemical stability. However, the fact that graphene (and other carbon based materials) can only store charges on exposed surface, which severely limits the capacitance. On the other hand, it is well-known transition metal oxides have much higher inherent capacitance than graphene. However, transition metal oxides also have their limitations. Most significantly, the low conductivity confines the efficient storing and releasing process which makes the practical capacitance of the bulk transition metal oxides …

Mission Aware Energy Saving Strategies For Army Ground Vehicles, Macam Dattathreya

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fuel energy is a basic necessity for this planet and the modern technology to perform many activities on earth. On the other hand, quadrupled automotive vehicle usage by the commercial industry and military has increased fuel consumption. Military readiness of Army ground vehicles is very important for a country to protect its people and resources. Fuel energy is a major requirement for Army ground vehicles. According to a report, a department of defense has spent nearly $13.6 billion on fuel and electricity to conduct ground missions. On the contrary, energy availability on this plant is slowly decreasing. Therefore, saving energy …

Ionization In Diesel Combustion For On-Board Diagnostics And Engine Control, Tamer Hassan Badawy

Wayne State University Dissertations

Diesel engines have been known for their high thermal efficiency and specific power output, but there is concern about engine-out NOx and particulate matter emissions. To meet the current emission standards, advanced diesel engines are fitted with electronically controlled fuel injection systems and sophisticated and expensive after-treatment devices. Further improvements are still needed to meet future goals in better fuel economy and the more stringent emission standards. In order to meet these goals, there is a need for the control of the combustion process to reduce engine-out emissions in real-time and reduce the demand on the after-treatment devices. This requires …

Green Diesel Production Via Catalytic Hydrogenation/Decarboxylation Of Triglycerides And Fatty Acids Of Vegetable Oil And Brown Grease, Elvan Sari

Wayne State University Dissertations

Increase in the petroleum prices, projected increases in the world’s energy demand and environmental awareness have shifted the research interest to the alternative fuel technologies. In particular, green diesel, vegetable oil/animal fat/waste oil and grease derived hydrocarbons in diesel boiling range, has become an attractive alternative to biodiesel— a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters, particularly due to its superior fuel properties that are similar to petroleum diesel. Hence, green diesel can be used as a drop-in fuel in the current diesel engines. The current technology for production of green diesel– hydrodeoxygenation of triglycerides and fatty acids over conventional hydrotreating …

Essays On The Effects Of Oil Price Shocks On The U.S. Stock Returns, Zeina Nashaat Alsalman

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research investigates the effect of changes in oil prices and oil price volatility on the U.S. stock returns. The first essay tests whether the sign and the size of oil price shocks matter for the U.S. stock returns. The results suggest a linear model provides a good approximation to the response of real stock returns to real oil price innovations. However, this is not the case when the model is specified in terms of the nominal price of crude oil.Using a modified structural VAR to accommodate GARCH-in-Mean errors, the second essay studies the direct effects of oil price uncertainty …

Nano-Silicon/Graphene Composite Anodes For Enhanced Performance Lithium Ion Batteries, Rhet Joseph Caballes De Guzman

Wayne State University Dissertations

The ever evolving technological applications such as with portable electronics and electric vehicles have led to increasing energy demands that have proven the existing commercial LIB capacity insufficient. Recently, the most promising anode material to substitute the traditional graphite is Si. As an anode Si has low discharge potential and theoretical the highest known theoretical capacity (>10 fold of graphite). However, due to the increased accommodated Li+ during charge-discharge reactions, silicon's volume varies up to 400%, causing pulverization and loss of electrical contact.

This dissertation focuses on a systematic approach in developing effective means to utilize Si for improved …

Catalytic Effects Of Period Iv Transition Metal In The Oxidation Of Biodiesel, Bradley Clark

Wayne State University Theses

CATALYTIC EFFECTS OF PERIOD IV TRANSITION METALS IN THE OXIDATION OF BIODIESEL

BRADLEY R CLARK

December 2011

Advisors: Dr. Steve Salley, Dr. Simon Ng, Dr. Naiem Henien

Major: Alternative Energy Technology

Degree: Masters of Science

Transition metals have the ability to catalyze free radical autoxidation of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (i.e., biodiesel). The catalytic effects of the eight period IV transition metals: V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co Ni, Cu and Zn in soybean oil and cottonseed oil-based biodiesel are investigated. All metals produced a reduction of the induction period of biodiesel, although there are considerable differences in their catalytic …

Multi-Component Ab2 Metal Hydride Alloys For Nickel Metal Hydride Battery Applications, Jean Nei

Wayne State University Dissertations

Compared to the mish metal-based AB₅ MH alloy commonly used in Ni/MH batteries, the transition metal-based AB₂ MH alloy not only reduces the rare earth dependency, it also has higher specific energy. In order to further improve the performance of AB₂ MH alloy, it's crucial to full understand its multi-phase nature, which includes the main C14/C15 Laves phases and the secondary non-Laves phases.

In order to optimize the gaseous phase and electrochemical advantages of both the C14 and C15 Laves phases, a study was established to recognize the factors that affect the C14/C15 phase abundance. Average electron …

Timing Of Residential Electric Loads To Reduce Air Emissions From Power Generation, Michelle Marinich Rogers

Wayne State University Theses

Over the course of a day, power utilities must respond to changing demand by dispatching or shedding output from different generators. Each generator is associated with a unique profile of air emissions, based on the type of fuel consumed, installed pollution controls, and the generator's efficiency. The aim of this study is to determine whether shifting electric demand to times when cleaner generation sources are available would result in overall emissions reduction.

Dynamic wholesale pricing in the electric power market, specifically the Locational Marginal Price (LMP), provides a means to estimate the marginal generator fuel type. This knowledge was used …

Linear And Non-Linear Deformations Of A Wind Turbine Blade Considering Warping And All Aeroelastic Load Couplings, Fouad Mohammad Mohammad

Wayne State University Dissertations

The structural dynamics behavior of the blade of a horizontal axis wind turbine that reacts to the different components of the aerodynamic loading were studied by many researchers using different approaches and assumptions. In the present research, the author considered all the extensional, torsional and flexural loadings acting on the blade with their couplings, variable airfoil cross sections with warping effects, shear deflection, rotary inertia and with or without blade's pretwist for both the linear small deformation case and the nonlinear large deformation case. To the best knowledge of the author the simultaneous inclusion of all these factors has not …

Biofuels Production From Hydrotreating Of Vegetable Oil Using Supported Noble Metals, And Transition Metal Carbide And Nitride, Huali Wang

Wayne State University Dissertations

The focus of this research is to prepare non-sulfided hydrotreating catalysts, supported noble metal and transition metal carbide/ nitride, and evaluate their hydrocracking activities and selectivities by using soybean oil as the feedstock. For comparison study, catalytic cracking of soybean oil over a commercialized ZSM-5 was investigated. However, steady state could not be reached because significant amounts of tar and coke were generated during the reaction though a high yield (21%) of jet fuel was obtained from the process. Compared to the catalytic cracking process, less tar and coke were formed during the hydrocracking process and stable continuous flow reaction …