Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons^™

Development Of A Synthetic Gene Network To Modulate Gene Expression By Mechanical Forces, Zoltan Kis, Tania Rodin, Asma Zafar, Zhangxing Lai, Grace Freke, Oliver Fleck, Armando Del Rio Hernandez, Leila Towhidi, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Takayuki Homma, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The majority of (mammalian) cells in our body are sensitive to mechanical forces, but little work has been done to develop assays to monitor mechanosensor activity. Furthermore, it is currently impossible to use mechanosensor activity to drive gene expression. To address these needs, we developed the first mammalian mechanosensitive synthetic gene network to monitor endothelial cell shear stress levels and directly modulate expression of an atheroprotective transcription factor by shear stress. The technique is highly modular, easily scalable and allows graded control of gene expression by mechanical stimuli in hard-to-transfect mammalian cells. We call this new approach mechanosyngenetics. To insert …

Portable Camera Aided Simulator (Portcas) For Minimally Invasive Surgical Training, Ka-Chun Sui, Carl Nelson, Mohsen Zahiri, Dmitry Oleynikov

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The present disclosure is directed to a system and method for surgical training with low cost, reusable materials and a highly customizable virtual environment for skill-building. According to various embodiments, a surgical training tool is usable in conjunction with a support structure configured to at least partially constrain the tool movement. Meanwhile, the tool is tracked in real-time with off-tool detectors to generate a tool path driving a virtual rendering of the surgical training tool in an operative environment. The virtual rendering may be visually observable via a display device and may include a customizable and/or selectable operative environment with …

Secondary Pool Boiling Effects, C. Kruse, A. Tsubaki, C. A. Zuhlke, T. P. Anderson, Dennis R. Alexander, George Gogos, Sidy Ndao

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A pool boiling phenomenon referred to as secondary boiling effects is discussed. Based on the experimental trends, a mechanism is proposed that identifies the parameters that lead to this phenomenon. Secondary boiling effects refer to a distinct decrease in the wall superheat temperature near the critical heat flux due to a significant increase in the heat transfer coefficient. Recent pool boiling heat transfer experiments using femtosecond laser processed Inconel, stainless steel, and copper multiscale surfaces consistently displayed secondary boiling effects, which were found to be a result of both temperature drop along the microstructures and nucleation characteristic length scales. The …

Experimental Explanation Of The Formation Mechanism Of Surface Mound-Structures By Femtosecond Laser On Polycrystalline Ni60Nb40, Edwin Peng, A. Tsubaki, Craig A. Zuhlke, Meiyu Wang, Ryan Bell, Michael J. Lucis, Troy P. Anderson, Dennis R. Alexander, George Gogos, Jeffrey E. Shield

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Femtosecond laser surface processing (FLSP) is an emerging technique for creating functionalized surfaces with specialized properties, such as broadband optical absorption or superhydrophobicity/ superhydrophilicity. It has been demonstrated in the past that FLSP can be used to form two distinct classes of mound-like, self-organized micro/nanostructures on the surfaces of various metals. Here, the formation mechanisms of below surface growth (BSG) and above surface growth (ASG) mounds on polycrystalline Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ are studied. Cross-sectional imaging of these mounds by focused ion beam milling and subsequent scanning electron microscopy revealed evidence of the unique formation processes for each class of …

Dose Dependence Of Radiation Damage In Nano-Structured Amorphous Sioc/Crystalline Fe Composite, Qing Su, Lloyd Price, Lin Shao, Michael Nastasi

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Through examination of radiation tolerance properties of amorphous silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) and crystalline Fe composite to averaged damage levels, from approximately 8 to 30 displacements per atom (dpa), we demonstrated that the Fe/SiOC interface and the Fe/amorphous Fe_xSi_yO_z interface act as efficient defect sinks and promote the recombination of vacancies and interstitials. For thick Fe/SiOC multilayers, a clear Fe/SiOC interface remained and no irradiation-induced mixing was observed even after 32 dpa. For thin Fe/SiOC multilayers, an amorphous Fe_xSi_yO_z intermixed layer was observed to form at 8 dpa, but no further …

The Metal/Organic Interface In Cobalt/Vinylidene Fluoride Heterostructures, Keith Foreman, E Echeverria, Mark A. Koten, R. M. Lindsay, N. Hong, Jeffrey E. Shield, Shireen Adenwalla

Shireen Adenwalla Papers

Organic-based electronic devices are rapidly increasing in popularity, making it essential to understand and characterize the interface between organic materials and metallic electrodes. This work reports on the characterization of the interface between thin films of an emerging organic ferroelectric, vinylidene fluoride (VDF) oligomer, and Co, an important high Curie temperature ferromagnet. Using a wide battery of experimental techniques, it is shown that VDF oligomer thin films as thin as 15 nm can halt, or prevent, Co oxidization in atmospheric conditions, a necessary condition for device applications. Selectivity of magnetic properties, such as remanent magnetization, is enabled by the clarification …

An Analysis Of Plasticity In The Rat Respiratory System Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury And The Application Of Nanotechnology To Induce Or Enhance Recovery Of Diaphragm Function, Janelle Lorien Walker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Second cervical segment spinal cord hemisection (C2Hx) results in ipsilateral hemidiaphragm paralysis. However, the intact latent crossed phrenic pathway can restore function spontaneously over time or immediately following drug administration.

WGA bound fluorochromes were administered to identify nuclei associated with diaphragm function in both the acute and chronic C2Hx models. WGA is unique in that it undergoes receptor mediated endocytosis and is transsynaptically transported across select physiologically active synapses. Comparison of labeling in the acutely injured to the chronically injured rat provided an anatomical map of spinal and supraspinal injury induced synaptic plasticity. The plasticity occurs over time in the …

Diagnostics And Degradation Investigations Of Li-Ion Battery Electrodes Using Single Nanowire Electrochemical Cells, Naveen Kumar Reddy Palapati, Naveen Kumar Reddy Palapati

Theses and Dissertations

Portable energy storage devices, which drive advanced technological devices, are improving the productivity and quality of our everyday lives. In order to meet the growing needs for energy storage in transportation applications, the current lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technology requires new electrode materials with performance improvements in multiple aspects: (1) energy and power densities, (2) safety, and (3) performance lifetime. While a number of interesting nanomaterials have been synthesized in recent years with promising performance, accurate capabilities to probe the intrinsic performance of these high-performance materials within a battery environment are lacking. Most studies on electrode nanomaterials have so far used …

Peptide-Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles For Cancer Therapy Applications, Anastasia K. Hauser

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States. Radiation and chemotherapy are conventional treatments, but they result in serious side effects and the probability of tumor recurrence remains high. Therefore, there is an increasing need to enhance the efficacy of conventional treatments. Magnetic nanoparticles have been previously studied for a variety of applications such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, anemia treatment, magnetic cell sorting and magnetically mediated hyperthermia (MMH). In this work, dextran coated iron oxide nanoparticles were developed and functionalized with peptides to target the nanoparticles to either the extracellular matrix …

Synthesis Of Titania Thin Films With Controlled Mesopore Orientation: Nanostructure For Energy Conversion And Storage, Suraj R. Nagpure

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

This dissertation addresses the synthesis mechanism of mesoporous titania thin films with 2D Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) cylindrical nanopores by an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method with Pluronic surfactants P123 and F127 as structure directing agents, and their applications in photovoltaics and lithium ion batteries. To provide orthogonal alignment of the pores, surface modification of substrates with crosslinked surfactant has been used to provide a chemically neutral surface. GISAXS studies show not only that aging at 4°C facilitates ordered mesostructure development, but also that aging at this temperature helps to provide orthogonal orientation of the cylindrical micelles which assemble into an …

Electric Field Controlled Strain Induced Switching Of Magnetization Of Galfenol Nanomagnets In Magneto-Electrically Coupled Multiferroic Stack, Hasnain Ahmad

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to control the bi-stable magnetization states of shape anisotropic single domain nanomagnets has enormous potential for spawning non-volatile and energy-efficient computing and signal processing systems. One of the most energy efficient switching methods is to adopt a system of a 2-phase multiferroic nanomagnet, where a voltage applied on the piezoelectric layer generates a strain in it and the strain is elastically transferred to the magnetostrictive nanomagnet which rotates the magnetization states of the nanomagnet at room temperature via the converse magnet-electric effect. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the magnetization of a Co nanomagnet can be switched between …

Hybrid Straintronics-Spintronics: Energy-Efficient Non-Volatile Devices For Boolean And Non-Boolean Computation, Ayan K. Biswas

Theses and Dissertations

Research in future generation computing is focused on reducing energy dissipation while maintaining the switching speed in a binary operation to continue the current trend of increasing transistor-density according to Moore’s law. Unlike charge-based CMOS technology, spin-based nanomagnetic technology, based on switching bistable magnetization of single domain shape-anisotropic nanomagnets, has the potential to achieve ultralow energy dissipation due to the fact that no charge motion is directly involved in switching. However, switching of magnetization has not been any less dissipative than switching transistors because most magnet switching schemes involve generating a current to produce a magnetic field, or spin transfer …

Dynamic Atomistic Study Of Tunnel Functions In Nanostructured Transitional Metal Oxides, Yifei Yuan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Alpha (α-) MnO₂ is a well know transitional metal oxide possessing one dimensional 2×2 (4.6 × 4.6 Ų) tunnels for accommodation of various ions. Such a characteristic tunneled structure has enabled the wide applications of α-MnO₂ in the fields of ion exchange, molecular sieves, biosensor, catalysis and energy storage. This PhD dissertation focuses on the dynamic study of ion transport functionality of α-MnO₂ at atomic level using an aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy equipped with a special holder with a scanning tunneling microscopy probe.

The wide application of in situ TEM studying the dynamic …

An Assessment Of The Validity Of The Kinetic Model For Liquid-Vapor Phase Change By Examining Cryogenic Propellants, Kishan Bellur

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Evaporation is ubiquitous in nature and occurs even in a microgravity space envi- ronment. Long term space missions require storage of cryogenic propellents and an accurate prediction of phase change rates. Kinetic theory has been used to model and predict evaporation rates for over a century but the reported values of accommodation coefficients are highly inconsistent and no accurate data is available for cryogens. The proposed study involves a combined experimental and computational approach to ex- tract the accommodation coefficients. Neutron imaging is used as the visualization technique due to the difference in attenuation between the cryogen and the metallic …

Slip-Jump Model For Carbon Combustion Synthesis Of Complex Oxide Nanoparticles, A. A. Markov, Mkhitar A. Hobosyan, Karen S. Martirosyan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Carbon Combustion Synthesis of Oxides (CCSO) is a promising method to produce submicron- and nano- sized complex oxides. The CCSO was successfully utilized for producing several complex oxides, a complete theoretical model including the sample porosity, fl ow parameters and reaction energetics is needed to predict the combustion parameters for CCSO. In this work, we studied the ignition temperature and combustion wave axial temperature distribution, activation energy, combustion heat and thermal losses for a typical CCSO synthesis for cylindrical samples of Ni-Zn ferrites with high (>85%) porosity. We developed a two level combustion model of chemically active nano-dispersed mixture, …

New Approach Of Modifying The Anatase To Rutile Transition Temperature In Tio2 Photocatalysts, Ciara Byrne, Rachel Fagan, Steven Hinder, Declan Mccormack, Suresh Pillai

Articles

In pure synthetic titanium dioxide, the anatase to rutile phase transition usually occurs between the temperatures of 600 °C and 700 °C. The phase transition temperature can be altered by various methods, including modifying the precursor or by adding dopant or modifier to the TiO2 sample. In an attempt to investigate the phase transition using aromatic carboxylic acids, the current study examines the impact of increasing concentrations of benzoic acid (1 : 0, 1 : 1, 1 : 4 and 1 : 8 molar ratio TiO2 : benzoic acid) on anatase to rutile transition. The samples were characterised using Raman …

Synthesis And Doping Feasibility Of Composite-Hydroxide-Mediated Approach For The Cu1-Xznxo Nanomaterials, Tauseef Shahid, Muhammad Arfan, Waqas Ahmad, Tayyaba Bibi, Taj Muhammad Khan

Articles

In this article, we report feasibility of composite hydroxide-mediated (CHM) approach for the synthesis and doping of Cu1-xZnxO (x=0%, 3%, 6% and 9%) nanomaterial. The proposed method offers a low cost, low temperature and environmentally friendly approach to preparing doped nanomaterials in a feasible and cost- effective route. Further, we investigate the effect of incorporated Zn +2 on the properties of produced Cu (II) O nanostructures. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirms formation of the single-phase monoclinic Cu (II) O and incorporation of Zn at the Cu-lattice sites. The crystalline structure is improved and the average grain size has increased from …

Iron Phosphide Nanostructures As An Efficient Bifunctional Catalysts For Water Splitting, Nikitaa Ashokan

Masters Theses

"The first part of this thesis work focuses on developing a bifunctional catalyst for electrochemical water splitting encompassing both oxygen and hydrogen evolution. A highly efficient catalyst is necessary to improve kinetics of the sluggish four electron process for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and two-electron process for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Recently, transition metal phosphides have gained increasing interest in this field because of their good electrical conductivity properties as well as better catalytic activity. Many transition-metal phosphides are being considered for this application and iron phosphide (FeP) has proved to be a good HER catalyst. In this work, we …

Tracking Silver, Gold, And Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Through Drinking Water Systems By Single Particle - Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometry, Ariel Renee Donovan

Masters Theses

"Single particle (SP)-ICP-MS methods were developed to characterize and quantify Ti-containing, titanium dioxide, silver, and gold NP concentration, size, size distribution and dissolved metal element concentration in surface water and treated drinking water. The effectiveness of conventional drinking water treatments (including lime softening, alum coagulation, filtration, and disinfection) to remove NPs from surface water was evaluated using six-gang stirrer jar test simulations. Six-gang stirrers were used to simulate drinking water treatments including lime softening, alum coagulation, powdered activated carbon sorption, filtration, and disinfection by free chlorine. Lime softening effectively removed most nanoparticles added. Source and drinking waters from three large …

Synthesis And Photonic Sintering Of Bioresorbable Zinc Nanoparticle Ink For Transient Electronics Manufacturing, Bikram K. Mahajan

Masters Theses

"Zinc is an essential 'trace element' that supports immune systems, and is required for DNA synthesis, cell division, and protein synthesis. Zinc nanoparticles (Zn NP) has antibacterial properties and potential to be used in biodegradable printed electronics devices. The research presented here is about the synthesis of Zn NP and their potential use in transient electronics devices. In Paper 1, a technique of room temperature synthesis of Zn NP is reported using ball milling. Controlled amount of PVP was mixed in the solvent to stabilize the Zn particles and minimize cold welding during milling. The size of the produced Zn …