Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2751
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Item ELECTROLYTE AND INTERPHASE DESIGN FOR HIGH-ENERGY AND LONG-LIFE LITHIUM/SULFURIZED POLYACRYLONITRILE (Li/SPAN) BATTERIES(2024) Phan, An Le Bao; Wang, Chunsheng; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Lithium/sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (Li/SPAN) recently emerged as a promising battery chemistry with theoretical energy density beyond traditional lithium-ion batteries, attributed to the high specific capacities of Li and SPAN. Compared to traditional sulfur-based cathodes, SPAN demonstrated superior sulfur activity/utilization and no polysulfide dissolution issue. Compared to batteries based on layered oxide cathodes, Li/SPAN shows two significant advantages: (1) high theoretical energy density (> 1000 Wh kg-1, compared to around 750 Wh kg-1 of Li/LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2) and (2) transition-metal-free nature, which eliminates the shortcomings associated with transition metals, such as high cost, low abundance, uneven distribution on the earth and potential toxicity. The success of Li/SPAN chemistry with those two critical advantages would not only relief the range and cost anxiety persistently associated with electric vehicle (EV) applications, but also have great implications for the general energy storage market. However, current Li/SPAN batteries still fall far behind their true potential in terms of both energy density and cycle life. This dissertation aims to provide new insights into bridging the theory-practice gap of Li/SPAN batteries by appropriate interphase and comprehensive electrolyte designs. First, the effect of Li/SPAN cell design on energy density and cycle life was discussed using relevant in-house developed models. The concept of “sensitivity factor” was established and used to quantitatively analyze the influence of input parameters. It was found that the electrolyte, rather than SPAN and Li electrodes, represents the bottleneck in Li/SPAN development, which explains our motivation to focus on electrolyte study. Another remarkable finding is that although not well-perceived, electrolyte density has a great impact on Li/SPAN cell-level energy density. Second, design principles to achieve good electrode-electrolyte compatibility were explored. Novel approaches to promote the formation of more protective, inorganic-rich interphases (SEI or CEI) were proposed and validated with proper experiments, including electrochemical tests, material characterizations (such as SEM, XPS, NMR, IR, Raman), and their correlations. Finally, based on the principles discussed in previous chapters, we developed a new electrolyte that simultaneously offers good electrochemical performance (Li CE > 99.4%, Li-SPAN full-cells > 200 cycles), decent ionic conductivity (1.3 mS cm-1), low density (1.04 g mL-1), good processability (higher vapor pressure than conventional carbonates, b.p. > 140 °C), and good safety. Outlook and perspective will also be presented. Beyond Li/SPAN, we believe that our findings regarding cell design as well as electrolyte solvation structure, interphases chemistry, and their implications on electrochemical performance are also meaningful for the development of other high-energy battery chemistries.Item DETERMINING ELONGATION AT BREAK OF CABLE INSULATIONS USING CONDITION MONITORING PARAMETERS(2022) Gharazi, Salimeh; Al-Sheikhly, Mohamad; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Many United States nuclear power plants are seeking to renew life licenses to extend the operational life of the plant to an additional 20 or 40 years. Degradation of insulation and jacket of cables, which are originally designed for 40 years in the second round of operation, is a critical issue which can impair the safe and reliable function of cables and ultimately the plant. The main criterion for assessing the end of life of these insulations is defined when the elongation at break reaches 50% of its original value. However, measuring the elongation at break is done by tensile tests, which are destructive and need large samples; the feasibility of these tests is significantly limited on installed cables at nuclear power plants. A new model was developed to relate the changes in the activation energy corresponding to EAB in terms of the changes in the activation energies corresponding to non-destructive condition monitoring, NDE-CM, parameters. The coefficients of the model are obtained by normalizing the calculated activation energy of each CM parameter’s changes with the activation energy of EAB changes. Therefore, it is possible to estimate EAB values, in the present developed equations, from the substitution of activation energy corresponding to EAB changes with the correlated activation energy of the non-destructive condition monitoring parameters. Cable Polymer Aging database, C-PAD, which is provided by Electric Power Research Institute, and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, along with experimental results done in the University of Maryland, UMD, laboratory was used as the database. While taking advantage of C-PAD database which contains condition monitoring parameters of insulation cables such as Elongation at break, Modulus and Density provided by many U.S. and international research institutes, extensive aging experimental results on two cables, each with two grades provided us with not only a database but also a better understanding of the aging mechanism. The published experimental results of cable insulations are used to validate the model. A good fit between the experimental and modeled results confirms the validity of the model.Item Electrically Induced Gelation, Rupture, and Adhesion of Polymeric Materials(2017) Gargava, Ankit; Raghavan, Srinivasa R; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There has been considerable interest in developing stimuli-responsive soft materials for applications in drug delivery, biosensing, and tissue engineering. A variety of stimuli have been studied so far, including temperature, pH, light, and magnetic fields. In this dissertation, we explore the use of electric fields as a stimulus for either creating new soft materials or for rupturing existing ones. Our materials are based typically on biocompatible polymers such as the polysaccharides alginate, chitosan, and agarose. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of electric fields over other stimuli. First, we describe the use of electric fields to form transparent and robust alginate gels around an initial mold made of agarose. Moreover, we can melt away the agarose by heat, leaving us with hollow alginate tubes. In our technique, a tubular agarose mold with dissolved calcium chloride (CaCl2) is placed in a solution of sodium alginate. A voltage of ~ 10 V is then applied, with the mold as the anode and the container as the cathode. As the Ca2+ ions migrate from the mold towards the cathode, they contact the alginate chains at the mold surface. In turn, the Ca2+ crosslinks the alginate chains into a gel, and the gel grows outward with time. The technique can be used to grow multiple layers of alginate, each with a different content, and it is also safe for encapsulation of biological species. Complex tubular structures with multiple branches and specific patterns can be created. Next, we report that electric fields can be used to rupture particles formed by ionic complexation. The particles under study are typically in the microscale (~ 200 µm radius) and are either uniformly crosslinked microbeads (e.g., alginate/Cu2+) or microcapsules formed by complexation of oppositely charged polymers (alginate and chitosan). When these particles are placed in aqueous solution and subjected to an electric field of about 10 V/cm (applied remotely, i.e., electrodes not in contact), the particles rupture within about 5 min. A possible mechanism for the electric-field-induced disruption is discussed. We also use the above particles to create electrically actuatable valves, where the flow of a liquid occurs only when the particle blocking the flow is disrupted by the field. In our final study, we show that polyelectrolyte gels and beads can be rapidly induced to adhere by an electric field. We typically work with crosslinked acrylate hydrogels made with cationic co-monomers, and anionic beads made by contacting alginate with Ca2+. When the cationic gel (connected to an anode) is contacted for just a few seconds with the anionic bead (connected to a cathode) under a voltage of ~ 10 V, the two form a strong adhesive bond. When the polarity of the electrodes is reversed, the phenomenon is reversed, i.e., the gel and bead can be easily detached. We suggest that the adhesion is due to electrophoretic migration of polyelectrolyte chains, resulting in the formation of polyion complexes. Applications of this reversible adhesion are discussed for the pick-up and drop-off of soft cargo, and for the sorting of beads.Item REACTION NETWORK ANALYSIS FOR THIN FILM DEPOSITION PROCESSES(2016) Ramakrishnasubramanian, Krishnaprasath; Adomaitis, Raymond; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Understanding the growth of thin films produced by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) has been one of the most important challenge for surface chemists over the last two to three decades. There has been a lack of complete understanding of the surface chemistry behind these systems due to the dearth of experimental reaction kinetics data available. The data that do exist are generally derived through quantum computations. Thus, it becomes ever so important to develop a deposition model which not only predicts the bulk film chemistry but also explains its self-limiting nature and growth surface stability without the use of reaction rate data. The reaction network analysis tools developed in this thesis are based on a reaction factorization approach that aims to decouple the reaction rates by accounting for the chemical species surface balance dynamic equations. This process eliminates the redundant dynamic modes and identifies conserved modes as reaction invariants. The analysis of these invariants is carried out using a Species-Reaction (S-R) graph approach which also serves to simplify the representation of the complex reaction network. The S-R graph is self explanatory and consistent for all systems. The invariants can be easily extracted from the S-R graph by following a set of straightforward rules and this is demonstrated for the CVD of gallium nitride and the ALD of gallium arsenide. We propose that understanding invariants through these S-R graphs not only provides us with the physical significance of conserved modes but also give us a better insight into the deposition mechanism.Item ENGINEERING HIERARCHICAL MESO-/MICROPOROUS LAMELLAR ZEOLITES WITH VARIABLE TEXTURAL AND CATALYTIC PROPERTIES(2016) EMDADI, LALEH; Liu, Dongxia; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Meso-/microporous zeolites combine the charactersitics of well-defined micropores of zeolite with efficient mass transfer consequences of mesopores to increase the efficiency of the catalysts in reactions involving bulky molecules. Different methods such as demetallation and templating have been explored for the synthesis of meso-/microporous zeolites. However, they all have limitations in production of meso-/microporous zeolites with tunable textural and catalytic properties using few synthesis steps. To address this challenge, a simple one-step dual template synthesis approach has been developed in this work to engineer lamellar meso-/microporous zeolites structures with tunable textural and catalytic properties. First, one-step dual template synthesis of meso-/microporous mordenite framework inverted (MFI) zeolite structures was investigated. Tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) and diquaternary ammonium surfactant ([C22H45-N+(CH3)2-C6H12-N+(CH3)2-C6H13]Br2, C22-6-6) were used as templates to produce micropores and mesopores, respectively. The variation in concentration ratios of dual templates and hydrothermal synthesis conditions resulted in production of multi-lamellar MFI and the hybrid lamellar-bulk MFI (HLBM) zeolite structures. The relationship between the morphology, porosity, acidity, and catalytic properties of these catalysts was systematically studied. Then, the validity of the proposed synthesis approach for production of other types of zeolites composites was examined by creating a meso-/microporous bulk polymorph A (BEA)-lamellar MFI (BBLM) composite. The resulted composite samples showed higher catalytic stability compared to their single component zeolites. The studies demonstrated the high potential of the one-step dual template synthesis procedure for engineering the textural and catalytic properties of the synthesized zeolites.Item VIRUS ENABLED 3D NANO-ARRAY ELECTRODES FOR INTEGRATED LI/NA-ION MICROBATTERIES(2013) Liu, Yihang; Wang, Chunsheng; Chemical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Multilayers of functional materials (carbon/electrode/nickel) were hierarchically architectured over tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) templates that were genetically modified to self-assemble in a vertical manner on current-collectors for battery applications. The spaces formed between individual rods effectively accommodated the volume expansion and contraction of electrodes during charge/discharge, while surface carbon coating engineered over these nanorods further enhance the electronic conductivity. The microbattery based on self aligned nanoforests with precise arrangement of various auxiliary material layers including a central nanometric metal core as direct electronic pathway to current collector, can deliver high energy density and stable cycling stability. C/LiFePO4/Ni/TMV nanoforest cathodes for Li-ion batteries and C/Sn/Ni/TMV nanoforest anodes for Na-ion batteries were assembled using physical sputtering deposition. Both 3D nanoforest electrodes show exceptional cycling stability and rate capability.