Chemistry Commons^™

Interface And Morphology Engineering In Solution-Processed Electronic And Optoelectronic Devices, Sanjib Das

Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation focuses on interface and morphology engineering in polymer- and small molecule-based organic solar cells. High-performance devices were fabricated, and the device performance was correlated with nanoscale structures using various electrical, spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques, providing guidelines for high-efficiency cell design.

The second part focuses on perovskite solar cells (PSCs), an emerging photovoltaic technology with skyrocketing rise in power conversion efficiency (PCE) and currently showing comparable PCEs with those of existing thin film photovoltaic technologies such as CIGS and CdTe. Fabrication of large-area PSCs without compromising reproducibility and device PCE requires formation of dense, …

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 …

Novel Thermoplastic Elastomers Based On Benzofulvene: Synthesis And Mechanical Properties, Weiyu Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) are of great importance both academically and technologically. Currently TPEs are the predominated form of styrene-diene copolymers. However, these styrenic TPEs have serious limitations in applications, especially at higher temperature, because of their low upper service temperature (UST). The work described in this dissertation aimed to developing thermoplastic elastomers with a higher UST and lower cost.

In order to develop TPEs with a higher UST, we employed benzofulvene, an anionically polymerizable monomer in hydrocarbon solvent at room temperature, as the glassy block and copolymerized it with isoprene to prepare polybenzofulvene-polyisoprene-polybenzofulvene (FIF) triblock copolymers. Among all triblock copolymers …

Development And Demonstration Of Critical Components Of Aluminum Based Energy Storage Devices Using The Chloroaluminate Ionic Liquids, Mengqi Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation considers the development of porous carbon materials as the substrates for Al deposition/dissolution in an Al based ionic liquid flow battery (ILFB) and demonstration of an Al based hybrid supercapacitor. The Aluminum chloride/ 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride chloroaluminate ionic liquid is utilized as the electrolyte for these Al based energy storage devices. The ILFB has less capital cost than the all-vanadium redox flow battery because of the inexpensive AlCl₃. The feasibility to equip a tank of solid aluminum chloride in an ILFB system aiming to improve energy density is investigated. A critical range of temperature data (50-130 celsius …