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Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Physics
Thermal Degradation Of Erythritol, Sudheendra Gamoji
Thermal Degradation Of Erythritol, Sudheendra Gamoji
Physics
The Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC) is a double walled Aluminum pot with a resistive heater directly connected to a solar panel whose goal is to create and disseminate cheap solar cookers in rural areas that primarily rely on biomass for cooking. Phase Change Materials (PCMs) like Erythritol, a sugar substitute, take a tremendous amount of energy to melt, and when they solidify they release the energy. Through the use of PCMs, the ISECs will produce enough heat to cook food even after the sun sets. However, PCMs like Erythritol degrade over repeated heat exposure, so the purpose of this …
Pressure Driven Desalination Utilizing Nanomaterials, Fangyou Xie
Pressure Driven Desalination Utilizing Nanomaterials, Fangyou Xie
Master's Theses
Nanomaterials such as graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes, have demonstrated excellent properties for membrane desalination, including decrease of maintenance, increase of flux rate, simple solution casting, and impressive chemical inertness. Here, two projects are studied to investigate nanocarbon based membrane desalination. The first project is to prepare hybrid membranes with amyloid fibrils intercalated with graphene oxide sheets. The addition of protein amyloid fibrils expands the interlayer spacing between graphene oxide nanosheets and introduces additional functional groups in the diffusion pathways, resulting in increase of flux rate and rejection rate for the organic dyes. Amyloid fibrils also provide structural assistance to …
A Lego® Brewster Angle Microscope For Quantitative Monolayer Film Analysis, Nicholas Benz
A Lego® Brewster Angle Microscope For Quantitative Monolayer Film Analysis, Nicholas Benz
Physics
In order to study single-molecule thick films and their phase behavior we built a Brewster Angle Microscope (BAM). BAM’s are inherently expensive due to their accuracy and precision. We built a fully functional BAM using Lego® Mindstorm® kits for the fraction of the price of a commercial BAM. And by utilizing the 10µm patented Lego® tolerance, comparable accuracy was attained. The BAM was mounted to a Langmuir-trough and will be used for laboratory experiments for optics and physical chemistry along with research on lung surfactant and on liquid crystals.
Improving Hybrid Solar Cells: Overcoming Charge Extraction Issues In Bulk Mixtures Of Polythiophenes And Zinc Oxide Nanostructures, Grant T. Olson
Improving Hybrid Solar Cells: Overcoming Charge Extraction Issues In Bulk Mixtures Of Polythiophenes And Zinc Oxide Nanostructures, Grant T. Olson
Master's Theses
Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have received a great deal of focus in recent years as a possible alternative to expensive silicon based solar technology. Current challenges for organic photovoltaics are centered around improving their lifetimes and increasing their power conversion efficiencies. One approach to improving the lifetime of such devices has been the inclusion of inorganic metal oxide layers, but interaction between the metal oxides and common conjugated polymers is not favorable. Here we present two methods by which the interactions between polythiophenes and nanostructured ZnO can be made to be more favorable. Using the first method, direct side on attachment …
Experimenting With Polymer Blend Solar Cells And Active Layer Thickness, Ryan Blumenthal
Experimenting With Polymer Blend Solar Cells And Active Layer Thickness, Ryan Blumenthal
Physics
Bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics utilize the electrical characteristics of semi-conductive polymers. These solution processable materials are beneficial because of their low material cost, light weight, and simple fabrication requirements. Our devices employ multiple photoactive polymers, P3HT and PCPDTBT, to absorb photons over a wide spectral range. We optimized various device characteristics including thickness and thermal anneal usage to reach a power conversion efficiency of 3.0% in AM1.5 sunlight. Device performance degrades over time due to atmospheric water and oxygen, prompting us to investigate device packaging to extend cell lifetime for additional testing.
Density Functional Theory And The Calculation Of Tcmg2O4 Spinel Lattice Parameters, Jon Karlo Macias
Density Functional Theory And The Calculation Of Tcmg2O4 Spinel Lattice Parameters, Jon Karlo Macias
Physics
The cohesive energy, lattice constant and bulk modulus of two simple HCP crystal structures of magnesium and technetium were calculated using the vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP) which is based on density functional theory (DFT). The same properties were determined for TcMg2O4 spinel. The theoretical results of the lattice constant of the pure crystals were compared to experimental results and found to be in excellent agreement with a difference of less than 2%. The results for the lattice constant of the TcMg2O4 spinel were found to be in excellent agreement as well with …