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Articles 1231 - 1260 of 3581

Full-Text Articles in Materials Chemistry

Photocatalytic Activity: Experimental Features To Report In Heterogeneous Photocatalysis, Md. Ariful Hoque, Marcelo I. Guzman Oct 2018

Photocatalytic Activity: Experimental Features To Report In Heterogeneous Photocatalysis, Md. Ariful Hoque, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a prominent area of research with major applications in solar energy conversion, air pollution mitigation, and removal of contaminants from water. A large number of scientific papers related to the photocatalysis field and its environmental applications are published in different journals specializing in materials and nanomaterials. However, many problems exist in the conception of papers by authors unfamiliar with standard characterization methods of photocatalysts as well as with the procedures needed to determine photocatalytic activities based on the determination of “apparent quantum efficiencies” within a wavelength interval or “apparent quantum yields” in the case of using monochromatic …


Isolation Of Rna From A Mixture And Its Detection By Utilizing A Microgel-Based Optical Device, Molla R. Islam, Shakiba Azimi, Faranak Teimoory, Glen Loppnow, Michael J. Serpe Sep 2018

Isolation Of Rna From A Mixture And Its Detection By Utilizing A Microgel-Based Optical Device, Molla R. Islam, Shakiba Azimi, Faranak Teimoory, Glen Loppnow, Michael J. Serpe

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In this investigation, we show that RNA can be separated from a solution containing DNA and RNA and the isolated RNA can be detected using poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N-(3-aminopropyl) methacrylamide hydrochloride) microgel-based optical devices (etalons). The isolation of RNA was accomplished by using hairpin-functionalized magnetic beads (MMPDNA) and differential melting, based on the fact that the DNA–RNA hybrid duplex is stronger (i.e., high melting temperature) than the DNA–DNA duplex (i.e., low melting temperature). By performing concurrent etalon sensing and fluorescent studies, we found that the MMPDNA combined with differential melting was capable of selectively separating RNA from DNA. This selective separation and …


Assembling Of Niox/Mwcnts-Gc Anodic Nanocatalyst For Water Electrolysis Applications, Yaser M. Asal Mr., Islam M. Al-Akraa Dr, Saher D. Khamis Eng Sep 2018

Assembling Of Niox/Mwcnts-Gc Anodic Nanocatalyst For Water Electrolysis Applications, Yaser M. Asal Mr., Islam M. Al-Akraa Dr, Saher D. Khamis Eng

Chemical Engineering

Glassy carbon (GC) electrode is intended to be modified with nickel oxide (NiOx) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in the anodic reaction of water electrolysis. NiOx deposition time is optimized and a 5 min was enough to attain the maximum activity. A further modification of the catalyst with MWCNTs could greatly enhance its stability during continuous electrolysis. As an outcome, an energy amount of 21.7 kWh/KgO2 is minimized. Several electrochemical and materials characterization setups will be utilized to test the catalyst activity and to know its geometry and structure.


Iron Oxide Nanomagnets In Polymer Matrices – Synthesis And Characterization, Shenjie Qiu Sep 2018

Iron Oxide Nanomagnets In Polymer Matrices – Synthesis And Characterization, Shenjie Qiu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Magneto-responsive polymer-iron oxide materials have been fabricated by coating various polymers on iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The stability of magneto-responsive polymer-iron oxide materials relies on the selection of appropriate coating anchors, such as catechols and silanes. This dissertation describes two robust polymer coating systems on iron oxide NPs. One system focuses on thermo-responsive nitrated catechol-N-isopropylacrylamide polymers with binding enhancement factors (EnF) of ~40 and ~20 towards iron oxide NPs and a boronic acid compared to the polymers without the nitro group. The second system involves coating of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) on iron oxide NPs via a silane anchor …


Nmr Characterizations Of Candidate Battery Electrolytes, Stephen A. Munoz Sep 2018

Nmr Characterizations Of Candidate Battery Electrolytes, Stephen A. Munoz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Enormous strides have been made in next-generation power sources to build a more sustainable society. Energy storage has become a limiting factor in our progress, and there are huge environmental and financial incentives to find the next step forward in battery technology. This work discusses NMR methods for characterizing materials for use in battery application, with a special focus on relaxometry and diffusometry. Examples are provided of various recent investigations involving novel candidate electrolyte materials with different collaborators. Works discussed in this thesis include: the characterization of a new disruptive solid polymer electrolyte technology, investigations of the dynamics of super …


Assemblies And Properties Of Asymmetric Supercapacitors Based On Wo3/Carbon Cloth, Wen-Ke Shao, Lei Zhao, Chao Liu, Yan-Ying Dong, Yuan-Jie Zhu, Qiu-Fan Wang Aug 2018

Assemblies And Properties Of Asymmetric Supercapacitors Based On Wo3/Carbon Cloth, Wen-Ke Shao, Lei Zhao, Chao Liu, Yan-Ying Dong, Yuan-Jie Zhu, Qiu-Fan Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The demand for a new generation of flexible, portable, and high-capacity power sources increases rapidly with the development of advanced wearable electronic devices. One dimensional (1D) nanowires structures have been demonstrated as one of the most ideal electrode materials in energy storage systems due to their advantages in both micorstructures and their high surface areas. Here we report a simple process for large-scale fabrication of self-standing composite film electrodes composed of WO3 nanorods on carbon cloth. In order to improve the energy density of supercapacitor, we assembled an asymmetric supercapacitor using WO3 nanorods and activated carbon cloth as …


Modifications And Electrochemical Properties Of Graphite Fluoride, Liang Zhang, Hong-Mei Zhang, Wei-Hua Wan, Jun-Hua Wei Aug 2018

Modifications And Electrochemical Properties Of Graphite Fluoride, Liang Zhang, Hong-Mei Zhang, Wei-Hua Wan, Jun-Hua Wei

Journal of Electrochemistry

The commercial fluorinated graphite (CFx) was used as the raw material, which was modified by the reduction of hydrazine hydrate (N2H4·H2O). The effects of hydrazine hydrate contents on the electrochemical properties of fluorinated graphite were systematically studied. The crystal phases and electrochemical properties of the modified fluorinated graphite were analyzed by XRD, SEM, EDS, XPS, EIS techniques and constant current discharge measurement. The results showed that the voltage hysteresis response of Lithium-fluorocarbon battery prepared by the modified fluorinated graphite was obviously improved, while the amount of hydrazine hydrate had an important influence …


An Aqueous All-Metal Oxide Asymmetric Supercapacitor With High Gravimetric And Volumetric Energy Densities, Xin Jing, Xu Zhang, Wei Wang, Jun-Wei Lang Aug 2018

An Aqueous All-Metal Oxide Asymmetric Supercapacitor With High Gravimetric And Volumetric Energy Densities, Xin Jing, Xu Zhang, Wei Wang, Jun-Wei Lang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Only with both high gravimetric and high volumetric energy densities, can supercapacitors find more extensive applications.In this paper, by making good use of the interesting nanostructures and the high packing densities of RuO2 (nanoshpheres,1.69 g·cm-3) and Co-Ni oxide (nanoflakes, 2.14 g·cm-3), the RuO2//KOH//Co-Ni oxide all-metal oxide asymmetric supercapacitors with high performance were successfully fabricated, which led to the maximum specific capacitance of 217.5 F·g-1 (412.3 F·cm-3) and specific energy density of 61.8 Wh·kg-1 (121 Wh·L-1) in a cell voltage between 0 and 1.5 V in KOH electrolyte. …


Highly Crystalline Nickel Borate Nanorods As Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts, Xi Xu, Juan Liu, Hua-Zong Wu, Wen-Jie Jiang Aug 2018

Highly Crystalline Nickel Borate Nanorods As Oxygen Evolution Reaction Electrocatalysts, Xi Xu, Juan Liu, Hua-Zong Wu, Wen-Jie Jiang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Hydrogen energy, a kind of clean and renewable energy, is considered to be the solution to the problems of energy crisis and environmental deterioration. Electrochemical water splitting is an efficient and promising technology for the production of high-purity hydrogen. However, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode of water electrolyzer limits the efficiency of water splitting due to the high overpotential. Therefore, the challenges still remain for the exploration of highly active, stable and low-cost catalysts with superior activity for OER. Herein, nickel borate nanorods with high crystallinity were prepared via high-temperature calcination. The as-obtained nickel borate nanorods with 2 …


Acetylcholinesterase Biosensor Platform Based On Bp2000 For The Detection Of Carbaryl, Ming-Han Zhang, Jun-Qiao Jiang, Jun-Jie Ge, Wei Xing Aug 2018

Acetylcholinesterase Biosensor Platform Based On Bp2000 For The Detection Of Carbaryl, Ming-Han Zhang, Jun-Qiao Jiang, Jun-Jie Ge, Wei Xing

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the purpose of providing a new method for carbaryl (a pesticide) detection, on the basis of the principle that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity can be restrained by carbaryl, an AChE biosensor platform based on BP2000 (as a fixation) was constructed by dropping method. As a result, it revealed that AChE immobilized on BP2000 maintained its catalytic activity for acetylcholine (ATCl), and due to the introduction of the BP2000 material, the effective electrochemical surface area of the modified electrode was enlarged. In addition, the electrochemical oxidation at the modified electrode occurred at low potential (0.630 V) accompanied by proton transmission. The …


Hybrid Battery-Capacitor System Based On Liti5O12 Anode And Ptpan Cathode, Xiu-Li Su, Xiao-Li Dong, Yao Liu, Yong-Gang Wang, Ai-Shui Yu Aug 2018

Hybrid Battery-Capacitor System Based On Liti5O12 Anode And Ptpan Cathode, Xiu-Li Su, Xiao-Li Dong, Yao Liu, Yong-Gang Wang, Ai-Shui Yu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Owing to its high safe, high rate and long life characteristics, lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12) anode material has attracted extensive attention in recent years, and many efforts are being made to develop the Li4Ti5O12 based high performance hybrid supercapacitors and Li-ion batteries. Herein, we prepared the organic cathode material polytriphenylamine (PTPAn) through chemical oxidation and polymerization of triphenylamine (TPAn), and investigated its charge storage mechanism and electrode kinetics withthe typical electrochemical methods in an organic electrolyte. It was demonstrated that the PTPAn exhibited the reversible capacity of 85 mA·g-1 …


Complex Coordination Silver Electrocrystallization Mechanism On Glassy Carbon Electrode Surface, Shuai-Shuai Huang, Cheng Liu, Lei Jin, Fang-Zu Yang, Zhong-Qun Tian, Shao-Min. Zhou Aug 2018

Complex Coordination Silver Electrocrystallization Mechanism On Glassy Carbon Electrode Surface, Shuai-Shuai Huang, Cheng Liu, Lei Jin, Fang-Zu Yang, Zhong-Qun Tian, Shao-Min. Zhou

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cyclic voltammetry and potential step methods were successfully used to study the electrochemical crystallization mechanism of silver deposition on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in the practical cyanide-free silver plating electrolyte containing composite complexing agents. Scharifker-Hill (SH) theory was used to fitting the experimental data. The results showed that the electrodeposition of silver is a diffusion controlled irreversible electrode process according to three-dimensional instantaneous nucleation mechanism. When the step potential shifted from -750 mV to -825 mV, the peak deposition current Im was increased, while the induced nucleation time tm shortened. The calculated kinetic parameters showed that the diffusion coefficient (D) …


Preparations Of Nano-Manganite Loaded Titanium Electocatalytic Membrane Electrode For Phenolic Wastewater Treatment, Le Li, Hong Wang, Rong-Hua Ma, Hong-Sen Hui, Xiao-Ping Liang, Jian-Xin Li Aug 2018

Preparations Of Nano-Manganite Loaded Titanium Electocatalytic Membrane Electrode For Phenolic Wastewater Treatment, Le Li, Hong Wang, Rong-Hua Ma, Hong-Sen Hui, Xiao-Ping Liang, Jian-Xin Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

Nano-manganese oxide loaded on titanium electrocatalytic membrane electrodes (nano-MnOx/Ti) were synthesized bysol-gel method using porous Ti membrane as a substrate and the manganese acetate as a raw material without releasing NOx. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were employed to characterize crystal form, valence state and surface morphology of nano-MnOx, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronoamperometry (CA) were used to investigate the electrochemical properties of nano-MnOx electrode. The results indicated that the MnOx catalysts consisted of γ-MnO2 and Mn2 …


Electrochemical Performances Of Neodymium Doped Lead Dioxide Composite Anode, Hong-Hui Wang, Ming-Jie Ma, Jie Feng, Huang-Ya Kang, Wen-Jie Huang Aug 2018

Electrochemical Performances Of Neodymium Doped Lead Dioxide Composite Anode, Hong-Hui Wang, Ming-Jie Ma, Jie Feng, Huang-Ya Kang, Wen-Jie Huang

Journal of Electrochemistry

Neodymium (Nd) doped titanium (Ti)-based lead dioxide (PbO2) composite anode was prepared by electrodeposition. The surface morphologies and crystal structures of the as-prepared anodes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, respectively. The electrochemical performances of PbO2-Nd anode were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammetry. Additionally, the electrocatalytic activity and durability of PbO2-Nd anode were investigated through the degradation of simulative refractory organic wastewater of phenol. The results showed that Nd doping made the PbO2 anode surface structure dense and uniform with smaller …


Preparation And Characterization Of Self-Supporting Flexible Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fabric Electrodes, Bo Yang, Zhi-Hang Jin, Ya-Ping Zhao, Zai-Sheng Cai Aug 2018

Preparation And Characterization Of Self-Supporting Flexible Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Fabric Electrodes, Bo Yang, Zhi-Hang Jin, Ya-Ping Zhao, Zai-Sheng Cai

Journal of Electrochemistry

With the wide applications of intelligent wearable devices in various fields, developing a new generation of flexible energy storage devices has become a major challenge for the current technology. As a wide application of wearable flexible substrate, cotton fabric has the advantages over low price, non-toxic and environmental friendly, but the poor conductivity becomes a major problem limiting its development. As a nitrogen-containing conducting polymer, polypyrrole is traditionally used as electrode materials, but poor mechanical performance and cycle stability severely limit its application in electrode materials. In this article, a self-supporting flexible nitrogen-doped carbon fabric electrode was prepared by in …


Electrochemical Preparation And Photo-Electro Catalytic Properties Of Flexible Znni/Al-Ldhs/Carbon Fibers Composite, Jing-Jing Tian, Tao Chen, Xing-Chen Bao, Meng-Xu Gao, Ye-Xiao Yu, Si-Yao Peng, Guan-Ping Jin Aug 2018

Electrochemical Preparation And Photo-Electro Catalytic Properties Of Flexible Znni/Al-Ldhs/Carbon Fibers Composite, Jing-Jing Tian, Tao Chen, Xing-Chen Bao, Meng-Xu Gao, Ye-Xiao Yu, Si-Yao Peng, Guan-Ping Jin

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, a promising flexible composite consisting of zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) layered double hydroxide coated carbon fibers (ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs) was prepared by electrochemical method with convenient recovery and separation. The structures, morphologies, and photo-electro catalytic properties of ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The excellent photo-electro bifunctional catalytic properties were obtained with the ZnNi/Al-LDHs/CFs composite as compared to that of Zn/Al-LDHs/CFs (photo catalyst) or Ni/Al-LDHs/CFs (electrocatalyst) alone, which could be used in the electro-catalytic oxidations of methanol and …


Influences Of Na-Mn Ratio On Electrochemical Performances And Intercalation-Deintercalation Processes Of Sodium Ion In NaXMno2, Yong-Chun Xie, Cheng Wang, Fang Jiang, Yang Yang, Jing Su, Yun-Fei Long, Yan-Xuan Wen Aug 2018

Influences Of Na-Mn Ratio On Electrochemical Performances And Intercalation-Deintercalation Processes Of Sodium Ion In NaXMno2, Yong-Chun Xie, Cheng Wang, Fang Jiang, Yang Yang, Jing Su, Yun-Fei Long, Yan-Xuan Wen

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, NaxMnO2 was synthesized by a solid-state reaction. The influences of Na:Mn ratio on the structure, morphology and electrochemical performance, and sodium ion intercalation/deintercalation processes were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge-discharge test. The prepared NaxMnO2 was mainly composed of Na0.7MnO2 and Na0.91MnO2, and the content of Na0.91MnO2 increased with the increase of Na:Mn ratio. However, the activation energy values of surface membrane diffusion, interfacial electrochemical reaction and …


Platinum@Hexaniobate Nanopeapods: Sensitized Composite Architectures For Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Under Visible Light Irradiation, Clare Davis-Wheeler Chin Aug 2018

Platinum@Hexaniobate Nanopeapods: Sensitized Composite Architectures For Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Under Visible Light Irradiation, Clare Davis-Wheeler Chin

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen fuel is one of the most important areas of research in the field of renewable energy development and production. Hydrogen gas can be generated by fuel cells, water electrolyzers, and heterogeneous nanoscale catalysts. It can be burned to directly release chemical energy or condensed for storage and transport, providing fuel for combustion devices or storing excess energy generated by renewable sources such as wind turbines and concentrated solar power assemblies. While platinum is the most active catalyst for hydrogen reduction, its high cost significantly deters its utilization in advanced photocatalytic materials. One approach to mitigating this expense is optimizing …


Fabrication Of Mnox/Mwcnts-Gc Nanocatalyst For Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Yaser M. Asal Mr, Islam M. Al-Akraa Dr, Amr M. Arafa Eng. Aug 2018

Fabrication Of Mnox/Mwcnts-Gc Nanocatalyst For Oxygen Evolution Reaction, Yaser M. Asal Mr, Islam M. Al-Akraa Dr, Amr M. Arafa Eng.

Chemical Engineering

Manganese oxide (MnOx) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are intended to modify the GC electrode for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Optimization of MnOx loading is carried out and the deposition of 55 cycles was sufficient to obtain the highest activity toward OER. The stability of the catalyst is enhanced by the addition of MWCNTs. As a result, an amount of 22 kWh/Kg of O2 of energy is saved. Several techniques including cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy will be combined to track the catalyst activity and to determine its …


Examining The Effects Of Amino And Thiolate Ligands On The Reactivity And Selectivity Of Palladium On Carbon In Hydrogenation Reactions, Eric Liu, Christina Li Aug 2018

Examining The Effects Of Amino And Thiolate Ligands On The Reactivity And Selectivity Of Palladium On Carbon In Hydrogenation Reactions, Eric Liu, Christina Li

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Heterogeneous catalysts are used widely by chemical and energy industries because they show high reactivity but often suffer from lack of selectivity. On the other hand, ligands are commonly used in homogeneous catalysts to control the reactivity and selectivity; however, the effects of the ligands on the steric and electronic properties of heterogeneous catalysts are less understood. We examine the effects of four different ligands: 1-adamantanethiol, 1-adamantylamine, 1-dodecanethiol, and 1-dodecylamine, for the commercial hydrogenation catalyst palladium on carbon. Hydrogenation reactions are used as a screening tool to see the behavior that the different catalysts exhibit in the presence of unsaturated …


Synthesis And Characterization Of Block Copolymers For Shear Force Responsive Materials And Sugar Conjugated Fluorescent Probes, Jacob Ryan Blankenship Aug 2018

Synthesis And Characterization Of Block Copolymers For Shear Force Responsive Materials And Sugar Conjugated Fluorescent Probes, Jacob Ryan Blankenship

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Herein, I present my work towards two goals: shear force-responsive materials and sugarconjugated fluorescent probes for bacterial identification applications. The first work is on the development of stimuli-responsive polymers that allow for precise control over the release of encapsulated material. Stimuli-responsive polymers are becoming increasingly important in drug delivery and other applications. However there have been few reports on shear force-responsive micellar systems. I show the synthesis, and characterization by 1H and 13C NMR of four macro-chain transfer agents (macro-CTAs), one of which has not been previously reported. The resulting macro-CTAs were used in polymerization of vinyl acetate …


Piezoresponse, Mechanical, And Electrical Characteristics Of Synthetic Spider Silk Nanofibers, Nader Shehata, Ishac Kandas, Ibrahim Hassounah, Patrik Sobolčiak, Igor Krupa, Miroslav Mrlik, Anton Popelka, Jesse Steadman, Randolph V. Lewis Aug 2018

Piezoresponse, Mechanical, And Electrical Characteristics Of Synthetic Spider Silk Nanofibers, Nader Shehata, Ishac Kandas, Ibrahim Hassounah, Patrik Sobolčiak, Igor Krupa, Miroslav Mrlik, Anton Popelka, Jesse Steadman, Randolph V. Lewis

Biology Faculty Publications

This work presents electrospun nanofibers from synthetic spider silk protein, and their application as both a mechanical vibration and humidity sensor. Spider silk solution was synthesized from minor ampullate silk protein (MaSp) and then electrospun into nanofibers with a mean diameter of less than 100 nm. Then, mechanical vibrations were detected through piezoelectric characteristics analysis using a piezo force microscope and a dynamic mechanical analyzer with a voltage probe. The piezoelectric coefficient (d33) was determined to be 3.62 pC/N. During humidity sensing, both mechanical and electric resistance properties of spider silk nanofibers were evaluated at varying high-level …


Removal Of Acid Yellow 25 From Aqueous Solution By Chitin Prepared From Waste Snow Crab Legs, Chin-Chuan Wei, Inoka K. Pathiraja, Emily Fabry, Kyle Schafer, Nick Schimp, Tuo-Ping Hu, Lawrence P. Norcio Jul 2018

Removal Of Acid Yellow 25 From Aqueous Solution By Chitin Prepared From Waste Snow Crab Legs, Chin-Chuan Wei, Inoka K. Pathiraja, Emily Fabry, Kyle Schafer, Nick Schimp, Tuo-Ping Hu, Lawrence P. Norcio

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Acid Yellow 25 (AY25) is used in the textile industry for dyeing of natural and synthetic fibers, and is also used as a coloring agent in paints, inks, plastics, and leathers. Effluents from such industries are major sources of water pollution. Hence, it is important to find simple, efficient, and inexpensive ways to remove these dyes from wastewater. Here, we determined the suitability of chitin extracted from waste crab legs as an adsorbent for removing AY25 dye. The adsorption kinetics was modeled using pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, and intraparticle diffusion equations to determine the rate controlling step. Results showed that …


Development Of Mof@Polymer Composite Materials Through Bottom-Up Self-Assembly Techniques, Roberto Christian Arbulu Jul 2018

Development Of Mof@Polymer Composite Materials Through Bottom-Up Self-Assembly Techniques, Roberto Christian Arbulu

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

MOF-based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are a promising new class of MOF/polymer composite materials. Currently, fabrication of MMMs is based on top-down methods with limited control over MOF positioning, integration, or morphology. This work focuses on the growth of well-defined one-dimensional (1-D) MOF nanostructures within the pores of a nanoporous polymer template, either commercially available or through the self-assembly of block co-polymers having tailor-designed surface functionalities. Studies were conducted using zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) and polycarbonate track etched (PCTE) membranes, which demonstrated the feasibility of the outlined approach, and revealed the formation of distinct super- and nanostructures with controlled morphologies …


Molecular Assembly Of Monolayer-Protected Gold Nanoparticles And Their Chemical, Thermal, And Ultrasonic Stabilities, Steven Ray Isaacs Jul 2018

Molecular Assembly Of Monolayer-Protected Gold Nanoparticles And Their Chemical, Thermal, And Ultrasonic Stabilities, Steven Ray Isaacs

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Gold monolayer-protected nanoclusters (MPCs) with average diameters of 1-5 nm protected by alkane- and arenethiolates were synthesized. Mixed-monolayer protected nanoparticles (MMPCs) were prepared by functionalizing hexanethiolate-protected MPCs with either 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA-MMPC), 11-mercaptoundecanol (MUO-MMPC), or 4-aminothiophenol (ATP-MMPC) using ligand place exchange. Presentation of various chemical reagents such as nucleophile, acid, or base and change in physical environment through ultrasonic and thermal irradiation resulted in changes to particles and their physical properties. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to measure maximum temperature of the derivated thermogravimetric peaks (Tmax,DTG) as a means of comparing temperature dependence of mass loss. The absorption spectrum within …


Thermosetting Polymers Via Azide Alkyne Cycloaddition, Richard H. Cooke Iii Jul 2018

Thermosetting Polymers Via Azide Alkyne Cycloaddition, Richard H. Cooke Iii

Dissertations

This dissertation exploits properties inherent to azide-alkyne cycloaddition and applies practical solutions to difficult problems. Chapter II addresses structure-property relationships in glassy azido-alkyne matrices by varying the identity of the central linkage within tetrapropargyl bis-aniline-type crosslinkers, and by the addition or omission of Cu(I) catalyst. This systematic study showed that an ether or methylene linkage yielded lower melting tetrapropargyl crosslinkers that were soluble in, and produced homogeneous, networks when cured with, a standard azido resin, di(3-azido-2-hydroxypropyl) ether of bisphenol-A; in contrast, a sulfone linkage yielded a relatively insoluble crosslinker and poorly dispersed, heterogeneous networks when reacted with the same …


The Effect Of Semiconductor Materials On Solar Cell Efficiency, Shivam Vohra Jun 2018

The Effect Of Semiconductor Materials On Solar Cell Efficiency, Shivam Vohra

The International Student Science Fair 2018

The purpose of this project was to increase the efficiency of solar cells through the use of quantum dots and nanoparticles. These substances would increase the efficiency of the semiconductor. The research hypothesis stated that if lead iodide was applied to the semiconductor, then the average voltage, amperage, power, and efficiency of the solar cells would increase. The procedure for this project involved creating a lead iodide and titanium dioxide mixture with dimethylformamide, ethanol, acetylacetone, and Triton X-100 in an autoclave. Then, two milliliters of each solution were applied to cadmium selenide quantum dots to make four different solutions. Each …


Feco2o4 As An Anode Material For Lithium Ion Batteries, Chelsea Wong Jun 2018

Feco2o4 As An Anode Material For Lithium Ion Batteries, Chelsea Wong

The International Student Science Fair 2018

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are commonly found in many portable electronic appliances due to their ability to be rechargeable. Currently, commercial anodes in Li-ion batteries (graphite) have a theoretical capacity of around 372 mAh/g, while FeCo2O4 that will be investigated as the anode material has a theoretical capacity of 901.985mAh/g, more than double of the current commercial anode’s capacity. Earlier work done by Sharma et al also showed that FeCo2O4 has a very promising initial capacity of 827mAh/g. As such, the engineering goal is to produce a battery that will have a higher capacity than the current commercial Li-ion batteries …


An Entirely New Molecular Glue For Mof Using Unusual Structural Transformation Of A Coordination Polymer, Sukwoo Jung, Hangyeol Kim, Junseok Ahn Jun 2018

An Entirely New Molecular Glue For Mof Using Unusual Structural Transformation Of A Coordination Polymer, Sukwoo Jung, Hangyeol Kim, Junseok Ahn

The International Student Science Fair 2018

In this research, an entirely new molecular glue is reported. This ‘coordination polymer glue’ is synthesized from zinc metal and BDC-NPE(2,5-bis{4-[1-(4-nitrophenyl)ethylamino]butoxy}terephthalic acid). Molecular glue transforms from 1D coordination polymer to a 3D cross-linked framework, resulting in a phase change of solution to solid. The carboxylate group of this glue makes the preformed MOF bind to its framework. Therefore, when the solution of molecular glue is mixed with preformed MOF powder and heated, homogeneous and thin MOF film – MOF/ZnNPE film – is fabricated. The film is irrelevant to the kind of its substrate, and its thermal stability was enhanced in …


Recent Progress For Fe-N-C Electrocatalysts In Alkaline Fuel Cells, Xin Deng, Heng-Quan Chen, Ye Hu, Qing-Gang He Jun 2018

Recent Progress For Fe-N-C Electrocatalysts In Alkaline Fuel Cells, Xin Deng, Heng-Quan Chen, Ye Hu, Qing-Gang He

Journal of Electrochemistry

Fuel cells are highly recommended nowadays due to their intrinsic advantages such as high energy conversion efficiency, nearly no pollution, and convenient operation. With the development of anion exchange membrane, alkaline fuel cells have gone through a renaissance thanks to their superiorities such as faster reaction kinetics, wider choices for both fuels and electrocatalysts. It is essential to find an appropriate electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to improve the performance of alkaline fuel cells. Further commercialization of the widely used Pt-based materials has suffered from disadvantages such as scarcity and high cost. As alternatives to largely investigated Pt-based materials, …