Mechanical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

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    Explorations of Carbon-Nanotube-Graphene-Oxide Inks: Printability, Radio-Frequency and Sensor Applications, and Reliability
    (2022) Zhao, Beihan; Das, Siddhartha SD; Dasgupta, Abhijit AD; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Carbon-Nanotube (CNT) is a novel functional material with outstanding electrical and mechanical properties, with excellent potential for various kinds of industrial applications. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing of CNT-based materials or inks has been studied extensively, and it is vital to have a thorough understanding of the fluid mechanics and colloidal science of CNT-based inks for ensuring optimum printability and the desired functionality of such CNT-based materials.In this dissertation, a custom-developed syringe-printable CNT-GO ink (GO: Graphene Oxide) is introduced and the fluid mechanics and colloidal science of this ink as well as the different devices (e.g., temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and RF antenna) fabricated with this ink are studied. The following topics are discussed in this dissertation: (1) the application and printability (in terms of the appropriate fluid mechanics and colloidal science) of CNT-based inks; (2) development of temperature sensors with CNT-GO inks; (3) development of humidity sensors with CNT-GO inks; (4) development of RF patch antenna with CNT-GO inks; and (5) evaporation-driven size-dependent nano-microparticulate three-dimensional deposits (CNTs serve as one type of nanoparticle examined in this part of the study). In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, a literature review is conducted on the application of CNT-based inks and the fluid mechanics and colloidal science issues dictating the printability and performance of such CNT-based inks. The problem statement and overall research plan are also introduced in this chapter. In Chapter 2, the development of our custom CNT-GO ink is introduced. Detailed material selection and the mechanism of shape-dependent arrest of coffee-stain effect, which ensured that the printable ink led to uniform deposition, are discussed in this chapter. Temperature sensor prototypes printed with the CNT-GO inks are also presented in Chapter 2. From Chapter 3 to Chapter 5, the performances of our CNT-GO based flexible temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and patch antenna prototypes are discussed. The ink printability on flexible thin PET films is studied, and a straightforward ‘peel-and-stick’ approach to use the CNT-trace (or patch)-bearing PET films on surfaces of widely varying wettabilities and curvatures as different prototypes is introduced. Excellent temperature and humidity sensitivity of our CNT-GO based sensors are presented in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, and the potential of this CNT-GO material for fabrication of ultra-wideband (UWB) patch antennas is discussed in Chapter 5. Furthermore, the stability and reliability of these printed CNT-GO-based prototypes are also explored. In previous Chapters, the printed CNT-GO patterns were cured by evaporation-mediated deposition on flat substrates (i.e., 2D deposition spanning in x and y directions). This motivated the extension of the physics to the 3rd dimension and probing of particle deposition on a 3D substrate and particle deposition in all x, y, and z directions. Therefore, in Chapter 6, we perform an experiment to demonstrate this kind of possibility using three kinds of micro-nanoparticle-laden water-based droplets (i.e. coffee particles, silver nanoparticles, and CNTs). These droplets were first deposited at the bottom of an un-cured PDMS film; these droplets were lighter than the PDMS and hence, they rose to the top of the PDMS where they could have either attained a Neuman like state or simply remained as an undeformed spherical drop with the top of the drop breaching the air-liquid-PDMS interface. The calculations based on air-water, water-PDMS, and air-PDMS surface tension values confirmed that the Neuman like state was not possible, and the droplets were likely to retain their undeformed shapes as they breached the air-PDMS interface. The timescale differences between the fast PDMS curing and the slower droplet evaporation, led to the formation of spherical shape cavities inside the PDMS after completion of the curing, and allowed evaporation-driven deposition to occur in all x, y, and z directions inside the cavity, with the exact nature of the deposition being dictated by the sizes of the particles (as confirmed by the experiments conducted with coffee particles, silver nanoparticles, and CNTs). Finally, in Chapter 7, the major contributions of this dissertation and proposed future studies related to this dissertation work are listed.
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    Synthesis and integration of one-dimensional nanostructures for chemical gas sensing applications
    (2007-04-30) Parthangal, Prahalad Madhavan; Zachariah, Michael R; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The need for improved measurement technology for the detection and monitoring of gases has increased tremendously for maintenance of domestic and industrial health and safety, environmental surveys, national security, food-processing, medical diagnostics and various other industrial applications. Among the several varieties of gas sensors available in the market, solid-state sensors are the most popular owing to their excellent sensitivity, ruggedness, versatility and low cost. Semiconducting metal oxides such as tin oxide (SnO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and tungsten oxide (WO3) are routinely employed as active materials in these sensors. Since their performance is directly linked to the exposed surface area of the sensing material, one-dimensional nanostructures possessing very high surface to volume ratios are attractive candidates for designing the next generation of sensors. Such nano-sensors also enable miniaturization thereby reducing power consumption. The key to achieve success in one-dimensional nanotechnologies lies in assembly. While synthesis techniques and capabilities continue to expand rapidly, progress in controlled assembly has been sluggish due to numerous technical challenges. In this doctoral thesis work, synthesis and characterization of various one-dimensional nanostructures including nanotubes of SnO2, and nanowires of WO3 and ZnO, as well as their direct integration into miniature sensor platforms called microhotplates have been demonstrated. The key highlights of this research include devising elegant strategies for growing metal oxide nanotubes using carbon nanotubes as templates, substantially reducing process temperatures to enable growth of WO3 nanowires on microhotplates, and successfully fabricating a ZnO nanowire array based sensor using a hybrid nanowire-nanoparticle assembly approach. In every process, the gas-sensing properties of one-dimensional nanostructures were observed to be far superior in comparison with thin films of the same material. Essentially, we have formulated simple processes for improving current thin film sensors as well as a means of incorporating nanostructures directly into miniature sensing devices. Apart from gas sensing applications, the approaches described in this work are suitable for designing future nanoelectronic devices such as gas-ionization, capacitive and calorimetric sensors, miniature sensor arrays for electronic nose applications, field emitters, as well as photonic devices such as nanoscale LEDs and lasers.