Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Nanoscience
- Creators: Phelan, Patrick
Description
The rapid progress of solution-phase synthesis has led colloidal nanocrystals one of the most versatile nanoscale materials, provided opportunities to tailor material's properties, and boosted related technological innovations. Colloidal nanocrystal-based materials have been demonstrated success in a variety of applications, such as LEDs, electronics, solar cells and thermoelectrics. In each of these applications, the thermal transport property plays a big role. An undesirable temperature rise due to inefficient heat dissipation could lead to deleterious effects on devices' performance and lifetime. Hence, the first project is focused on investigating the thermal transport in colloidal nanocrystal solids. This study answers the question that how the molecular structure of nanocrystals affect the thermal transport, and provides insights for future device designs. In particular, PbS nanocrystals is used as a monitoring system, and the core diameter, ligand length and ligand binding group are systematically varied to study the corresponding effect on thermal transport.
Next, a fundamental study is presented on the phase stability and solid-liquid transformation of metallic (In, Sn and Bi) colloidal nanocrystals. Although the phase change of nanoparticles has been a long-standing research topic, the melting behavior of colloidal nanocrytstals is largely unexplored. In addition, this study is of practical importance to nanocrystal-based applications that operate at elevated temperatures. Embedding colloidal nanocrystals into thermally-stable polymer matrices allows preserving nanocrystal size throughout melt-freeze cycles, and therefore enabling observation of stable melting features. Size-dependent melting temperature, melting enthalpy and melting entropy have all been measured and discussed.
In the next two chapters, focus has been switched to developing colloidal nanocrystal-based phase change composites for thermal energy storage applications. In Chapter 4, a polymer matrix phase change nanocomposite has been created. In this composite, the melting temperature and energy density could be independently controlled by tuning nanocrystal diameter and volume fractions. In Chapter 5, a solution-phase synthesis on metal matrix-metal nanocrytal composite is presented. This approach enables excellent morphological control over nanocrystals and demonstrated a phase change composite with a thermal conductivity 2 - 3 orders of magnitude greater than typical phase change materials, such as organics and molten salts.
Next, a fundamental study is presented on the phase stability and solid-liquid transformation of metallic (In, Sn and Bi) colloidal nanocrystals. Although the phase change of nanoparticles has been a long-standing research topic, the melting behavior of colloidal nanocrytstals is largely unexplored. In addition, this study is of practical importance to nanocrystal-based applications that operate at elevated temperatures. Embedding colloidal nanocrystals into thermally-stable polymer matrices allows preserving nanocrystal size throughout melt-freeze cycles, and therefore enabling observation of stable melting features. Size-dependent melting temperature, melting enthalpy and melting entropy have all been measured and discussed.
In the next two chapters, focus has been switched to developing colloidal nanocrystal-based phase change composites for thermal energy storage applications. In Chapter 4, a polymer matrix phase change nanocomposite has been created. In this composite, the melting temperature and energy density could be independently controlled by tuning nanocrystal diameter and volume fractions. In Chapter 5, a solution-phase synthesis on metal matrix-metal nanocrytal composite is presented. This approach enables excellent morphological control over nanocrystals and demonstrated a phase change composite with a thermal conductivity 2 - 3 orders of magnitude greater than typical phase change materials, such as organics and molten salts.
ContributorsLiu, Minglu (Author) / Wang, Robert Y (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Committee member) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The objective of this dissertation is to study the optical and radiative properties of inhomogeneous metallic structures. In the ongoing search for new materials with tunable optical characteristics, porous metals and nanowires provides an extensive design space to engineer its optical response based on the morphology-dependent phenomena.This dissertation firstly discusses the use of aluminum nanopillar array on a quartz substrate as spectrally selective optical filter with narrowband transmission for thermophotovoltaic systems. The narrow-band transmission enhancement is attributed to the magnetic polariton resonance between neighboring aluminum nanopillars. Tuning of the resonance wavelengths for selective filters was achieved by changing the nanopillar geometry. It concludes by showing improved efficiency of Gallium-Antimonide thermophotovoltaic system by coupling the designed filter with the cell.
Next, isotropic nanoporous gold films are investigated for applications in energy conversion and three-dimensional laser printing. The fabricated nanoporous gold samples are characterized by scanning electron microscopy, and the spectral hemispherical reflectance is measured with an integrating sphere. The effective isotropic optical constants of nanoporous gold with varying pore volume fraction are modeled using the Bruggeman effective medium theory.
Nanoporous gold are metastable and to understand its temperature dependent optical properties, a lab-scale fiber-based optical spectrometer setup is developed to characterize the in-situ specular reflectance of nanoporous gold thin films at temperatures ranging from 25 to 500 oC. The in-situ and the ex-situ measurements suggest that the
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specular, diffuse, and hemispherical reflectance varies as a function of temperature due to the morphology (ligament diameter) change observed.
The dissertation continues with modeling and measurements of the radiative properties of porous powders. The study shows the enhanced absorption by mixing porous copper to copper powder. This is important from the viewpoint of scalability to get end products such as sheets and tubes with the requirement of high absorptance that can be produced through three-dimensional printing.
Finally, the dissertation concludes with recommendations on the methods to fabricate the suggested optical filters to improve thermophotovoltaic system efficiencies. The results presented in this dissertation will facilitate not only the manufacturing of materials but also the promising applications in solar thermal energy and optical systems.
ContributorsRamesh, Rajagopalan (Author) / Wang, Liping (Thesis advisor) / Azeredo, Bruno (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022