Hematite synthesized by low pressure oxygen plasma has been shown previously to exhibit promising characteristics as a photo-anode for a photoelectrochemical water splitting cell. It is cheap, stable and has a 2.1 eV bandgap and exhibits a...
Energy independence requires that the nation reduce its dependence on foreign oil imports. This can be achieved through electrification of transportation vehicles if proper battery technology can be developed. In addition, the renewable energy...
The future of renewable energy technologies involves overcoming difficulties
with the creation of new materials. The use of nanotechnology has allowed for
inexpensive materials to achieve very interesting physical and electronic properties....
More than 50% of the total energy produced is typically rejected in the form of waste heat from various processes. The grand challenge is that most of this waste heat is released at temperatures much lower than 1000 C, which makes it difficult to...
Solar energy--Technological innovations; Electric current rectifiers
Solar energy offers a large potential as a source of energy and in light of financial
and ethical reasons, people are looking to harvest it for their energy needs. The
conversion of solar energy to electricity is performed by solar cells. There...
In this dissertation, standardized methods for measuring electron emission (EE) from nanostructured materials are established. Design of an emitter array platform, synthesis and nanomanipulation of different types of are successfully conducted....
Iron oxide, Fe2O3, is a promising material for water splitting reaction using solar
energy due to its stability and optimal bandgap of 2 eV. Even the recent efforts, however,
using Fe2O3 thin film materials reported low efficiencies due to poor...
Bi-stable buckled MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) diaphragms have a myriad of uses in the MEMS field for their large out-of-plane deflections. Buckling is a phenomenon brought upon by a compressive stress. Diaphragms are large aspect ratio,...
Cardiac mapping has become an important area of research for understanding the mechanisms responsible for cardiac arrhythmias and the associated diseases. Current technologies for measuring electrical potentials on the surface of the heart are...
This thesis describes 1) the kinetics of vapor phase place exchange reactions on films of gold monolayer protected clusters (Au MPCs) to alter the functionality of the Au MPCs, 2) applications of the reaction for altering chemiresistive sensing...
Recent advances in high throughput methodologies offer researchers the ability to understand complex systems via high dimensional and multi-relational data. One example is the realm of molecular biology where disparate data (such as gene sequence,...
Current high-throughput gene expression experiments have a straightforward design of examining
the gene expression of one group or condition relative to that of another. The data is typically
analyzed as if they represent strictly intracellular...
Most of the structures in submillimeter-scale engineering are created from thin films, making them essentially two-dimensional (2D). Significant work has been done to fabricate 3D structures using self-folding, a deterministic form of...
Rising environmental concerns due to our rising population ad energy demand along with our excessive dependence on fossil fuels has created an urgent need to find clean, renewable and carbon free source of energy. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water...
In the present study, we report the synthesis of thermally stable mesoporous gallium oxide and novel gallium-niobium mixed oxides employing Evaporation Induced Self-Assembly (EISA), Self-Assembly Hydrothermal-Assisted (SAHA) and Self-Assembly...
The application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has captivated the curiosity of today's experts due to the escalating potential in the field of electronic detection of biomolecules. Their extreme environmental sensitivity and small size make them ideal...
Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) are the two leading causes of blindness in the world today. Despite enormous efforts and advances in clinical treatment of eye diseases, there is no established method or cure of...
This dissertation describes (1) size-dependent electrochemical oxidation/stripping of gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs), (2) alloying of copper with gold nanoparticles at underpotential deposition potentials, (3) electrochemical characterization...
DNA microarrays--Statistical methods; Gene expression--Statistical methods
Data derived from gene expression microarrays are frequently used to identify candidate genes which can characterize and distinguish between two biological phenotypes. A key step in this process is the selection of an appropriate test statistic to...
In this work, micro fabrication techniques are explored not only to simplify the production of complex lab on-a-chip devices (LOC), but also micro fabrication will be utilized to create intelligent design features that will enhance an...
