Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Understanding Corrosion Protection And Failure Through Model Polymers In Thin Films, Joshua Smith Hanna

Dissertations

When developing a model polymeric system to facilitate in the detection of molecular and microscopic events that preface macroscopic corrosive failure; a better understanding of how polymers can indicate corrosion was accomplished. Initially, the thought that molecular chain scission as a necessity for corrosion to occur had to be tested. Through the utilization of high molecular weight thermoplastic (HMWTP) model polymers, it was found that corrosion protection did not correlate to the quantity of weak bonds within an epoxy-amine polymer matrix. Therefore more sensitive methods of detecting corrosion had to be developed since changes within the polymer matrix did not …

Synthesis And Luminescence Properties Of Core-Shell Structured (Lanthanum(1-X)Europium(X))(2)Zirconium Heptoxid[At]Yttrium Orthoborate Spherical Nanoparticles, Suresh Babu Alaparthi

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Many rare earth compounds have photoluminescent characteristics for various important applications. In this study, europium doped La2Zr2O7 nanoparticles were first synthesized morphology-controllably by using a molten-salt synthesis method. These nanoparticles were used as the core for coating with YBO3 shell. We then explored the effect of different experimental processing parameters, such as annealing temperatures, reaction times and different ratios of salt mixtures on the structure and morphology of these nanoparticles. The overall core size and shell thickness can be controlled by varying the reactant concentration both the core and shell material. These core@shell nanoparticles were then characterized mainly using power …

Polymer Surface Engineering Via Thiol-Mediated Reactions, Ryan Matthew Hensarling

Dissertations

Synthesis of polymer brushes to decorate a surface with desired functionality typically involves surface-initiated polymerization (SIP) of functional, but non-reactive monomers. This approach suffers major drawbacks associated with synthesizing sufficiently thick polymer brushes containing surface-attached polymer chains of high molecular weight at high grafting density (i.e. cost, synthetic effort and functional group intolerance during polymerization). The research herein seeks to circumvent these limitations by the decoration of surfaces with polymer chains bearing specific pendent functional groups amenable to post-polymerization modification (PPM). In particular, this dissertation leverages PPM via a specific class of click reactions – thiol-click – that 1) enables …

Refractive Index Chemical Sensing With Noble Metal Nanoparticles, Phillip Blake

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chemical sensing is a key component in modern society, especially in engineering applications. Because of their widespread impact, improvements to chemical sensors are a significant area of research. One class of sensors, plasmonic sensors, is being heavily researched because of their ability to detect low levels of analyte in near real time without destroying the analyte. This work studies a new class of plasmonic sensor that utilizes diffractive coupling to improve sensor performance. Specifically, this work outlines the first study of diffractive coupling sensors with typical nanoparticle shapes. Sensitivity of this new class of sensor is directly compared to typical …

A Novel Microfluidic Enrichment Technique For Carbonylated Proteins, Bryant C. Hollins

Doctoral Dissertations

Proteins are the building blocks of cells in living organisms, and are composed of amino acids. The expression of proteins is regulated by the processes of transcription and translation. Proteins undergo post-translational modifications in order to dictate their role physiologically within a cell.

Not all post-translational modifications are beneficial for the protein or the cell. One type of post-translational modification, called carbonylation, irreversibly places a carbonyl group onto an amino acid residue, most commonly proline, lysine, arginine, and threonine. This modification can have severe consequences physiologically, including loss of solubility, loss of function, and protein aggregation.

Carbonylated proteins have commonly …

Semiconductor Nanocrystals: From Quantum Dots To Quantum Disks, Zheng Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The bottom-up colloidal synthesis opened up the possibility of finely tuning and tailoring the semiconductor nanocrystals. Numerous recipes were developed for the preparation of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, especially the traditional quantum dots. However, due to the lack of thorough understanding to those systems, the synthesis chemistry is still on the empirical level. CdS quantum dots synthesis in non-coordinating solvent were taken as a model system to investigate its molecular mechanism and formation process, ODE was identified as the reducing agent for the preparation of CdS nanocrystals, non-injection and low-temperature synthesis methods developed. In this model system, we not only proved …

Synthesis, Modification, And Characterization Of Spherical Sba-15 Ordered Mesoporous Silica And Evaluation In High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Alexander P. Giaquinto

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Cross-Linked Pdms Expansion Due To Submersion In Liquid And Supercritical Co2, Teng Yang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Characterization of micro/nano-copper particles impregnated Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) submersed in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) was studied. The purpose of this investigation was to advance micro-corrosion sensor technology utilizing PDMS and micro-metal particle composite as the sensing element currently under-development. One of the key challenges encountered was the removal of the native oxides inherently existing on the metal particles. Numerous techniques were experimented with to counter this problem at the UA Engineered Micro/Nano Systems Laboratory (EMNSL), with swell-based protocols being identified as the most promising solution. In terms of compatibility to Micro-electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication, CO2 is often used in the release …