Chemistry Commons^™

Probing Trapped Extracellular Vesicles By Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy, Lauren Kaufman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by nearly all cell types within the human body and have been found to play important biological roles including cell-to-cell communication, apoptosis and tissue repair. Lacking cellular machinery, these nano-sized vesicles carry functional proteins and nucleic acids from their parent cells, providing insight into biomarkers present in healthy, cancerous and diseased cells. EVs may be isolated from biofluids such as from blood or urine. Their detection and characterization holds extreme potential in developing less invasive disease detection and treatment methods.

In this work, we propose use of lithographic techniques to fabricate platforms to allow for …

The Corrosion Of Carbon Steel Under Deep Geologic Nuclear Waste Disposal Conditions, Shannon L.W. Hill

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The proposed disposal scenario for high-level nuclear waste (spent fuel) in Canada is emplacement within a sealed, deep geological repository (DGR) located in either granitic rock or sedimentary clay. Disposal is based on a multi-barrier approach, with the primary barrier being a sealed container which could be either dual-walled with a copper shell over an inner carbon steel vessel for granitic rock or a single thick-walled steel container for sedimentary clay. This study focuses on the corrosion behaviour of A516 Gr70 carbon steel as well as the corrosion products formed in a variety of groundwater compositions and concentrations expected within …

In Situ High-Pressure Study Of Metal-Organic Frameworks And Their Performance For Co2 Storage Probed By Vibrational Spectroscopy, Yue Hu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an important class of porous materials, owing to their potential applications in a variety of areas, including gas storage, molecular separations, catalysis, sensors and so on. Most importantly, their extraordinary surface areas, tunable pore properties and potential for industrial scale production have made MOFs a promising material for clean energy applications, such as CO₂ storage. The chemical and mechanical stabilities of MOFs play a crucial role in their CO₂ storage performance, which require extreme loading pressures that are far beyond ambient pressure at times. Application of high external pressure (e.g., in gigapascal range) on …