The purpose of this research is to understand how the process parameters surrounding the Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) process affect the properties of the deposition. The powder used in this research is pre-alloyed titanium powder (Ti-6Al-4V),...
This research was performed to establish the feasibility of using Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) technology to deposit nickel powder to a nickel substrate. The substrate is electrodeposited pure nickel, and the material to be deposited is Metco...
Coal-fired power plants--Environmental aspects--United States; Mercury wastes--Environmental aspects--United States
This dissertation tests whether or not mercury emissions from electric power plants are not a significant contributor to mercury measurements in rainfall and argues that the current United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...
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...
Microfabricated planar solar cells with an active solar collection area of 0.04cm2 were fabricated on n-type silicon wafers to test the viability of sputtered amorphous thin film photovoltaics for potential use in amorphous multijunction cells or...
This dissertation demonstrates an elegant method, known as 'micro-origami' or strain architecture to design and fabricate three-dimensional MEMS structures which are assembled using actuation of a metal-oxide bilayer with conventional planar...
The discovery of carbon nanotubes and subsequently graphene has led to an interest in carbon materials as sensing elements due to their unique properties. Graphene is a 2-dimensional material that has a large surface area that can be exposed to...
This dissertation describes galvanic exchange of silver (Ag) nanostructures with PdCl42- in 1) various PdCl42- concentrations, 2) the presence of 0.1 M cetyitrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and 3) the presence of 0.1 M potassium bromide (KBr). It...
Protective coatings; Microelectromechanical systems
PARYLENE (poly-para-xylylene) is mostly used as a conformal protective polymer pin-hole free coating material to uniformly protect any component configuration on diverse substrates. This thesis describes in detail how the unique properties of...
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...
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...
Electroactive polymers (EAPs), including conducting polymers (CPs) such as polyaniline (PAn), and hydrogels are exciting areas of research in disciplines such as biomedical engineering, with the goal of creating low-cost, lightweight, non-toxic...
The research in this dissertation describes a simple electrochemical approach for fabricating nanoscale (metal/metal) or molecular (metal/polymer or self assembled monolayer (SAM)/metal) junctions. The fabrication involves metal deposition on one...
In July 1995, National Science Foundation Award # 9551869 funded the development of a new inter-disciplinary microfabrication course under the primary leadership of Dr. Kevin Walsh at the University of Louisville. Along with this award, the...
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...
Crystalline beta-Ga2O3 nanowires with two distinct morphologies have been synthesized through simple physical evaporation of Te doped GaAs powder in argon atmosphere. The structure of the nanowires was characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX, and raman...
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a serious concern for the world's population. It is one of the leading causes of death and is also a huge economic burden. The biochemical mechanisms responsible for ALD are incompletely understood, therefore there...
Human exposure to mercury has been shown to cause a number of adverse health outcomes, predominantly neurological effects. The developing fetus is most susceptible, and even low levels of exposure have been shown to produce nervous system deficits....
A potential source of fine grained suspended sediments in a stream system is the
upper hillslopes of the drainage. Quantifying the sediment produced and transported to a
stream from these hillslopes is challenging because of the complex nature of...