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Description
Membranes are a key part of pervaporation processes, which is generally a more

efficient process for selective removal of alcohol from water than distillation. It is

necessary that the membranes have high alcohol permeabilities and selectivities.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have

demonstrated very promising results. Zeolitic imidazolate framework-71 (ZIF-71)

demonstrated promising alcohol

Membranes are a key part of pervaporation processes, which is generally a more

efficient process for selective removal of alcohol from water than distillation. It is

necessary that the membranes have high alcohol permeabilities and selectivities.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have

demonstrated very promising results. Zeolitic imidazolate framework-71 (ZIF-71)

demonstrated promising alcohol separation abilities. In this dissertation, we present

fundamental studies on the synthesis of ZIF-71/PDMS MMMs.

Free-standing ZIF-71/ PDMS membranes with 0, 5, 25 and 40 wt % ZIF-71

loadings were prepared and the pervaporation separation for ethanol and 1-butanol from

water was measured. ZIF-71/PDMS MMMs were formed through addition cure and

condensation cure methods. Addition cure method was not compatible with ZIF-71

resulting in membranes with poor mechanical properties, while the condensation cure

method resulted in membranes with good mechanical properties. The 40 wt % ZIF-71

loading PDMS nanocomposite membranes achieved a maximum ethanol/water selectivity

of 0.81 ± 0.04 selectivity and maximum 1-butnaol/water selectivity of 5.64 ± 0.15.

The effects of synthesis time, temperature, and reactant ratio on ZIF-71 particle

size and the effect of particle size on membrane performance were studied. Temperature

had the greatest effect on ZIF-71 particle size as the synthesis temperature varied from -

20 to 35 ºC. The ZIF-71 synthesized had particle diameters ranging from 150 nm to 1

μm. ZIF-71 particle size is critical in ZIF-71/PDMS composite membrane performance

for alcohol removal from water through pervaporation. The membranes made with

micron sized ZIF-71 particles showed higher alcohol/water selectivity than those with

smaller particles. Both alcohol and water permeability increased when larger sized ZIF-

71 particles were incorporated.

ZIF-71 particles were modified with four ligands through solvent assisted linker

exchange (SALE) method: benzimidazole (BIM), 5-methylbenzimidazole (MBIM), 5,6-

dimethylbenzimidazole (DMBIM) and 4-Phenylimidazole (PI). The morphology of ZIF-

71 were maintained after the modification. ZIF-71/PDMS composite membranes with 25

wt% loading modified ZIF-71 particles were made for alcohol/water separation. Better

particle dispersion in PDMS polymer matrix was observed with the ligand modified ZIFs.

For both ethanol/water and 1-butanol/water separations, the alcohol permeability and

alcohol/water selectivity were lowered after the ZIF-71 ligand exchange reaction.
ContributorsYin, Huidan (Author) / Lind, Mary Laura (Thesis advisor) / Mu, Bin (Committee member) / Nielsen, David (Committee member) / Seo, Don (Committee member) / Lin, Jerry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
The large-scale anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere leads to many unintended consequences, from rising sea levels to ocean acidification. While a clean energy infrastructure is growing, mid-term strategies that are compatible with the current infrastructure should be developed. Carbon capture and storage in fossil-fuel power plants is

The large-scale anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere leads to many unintended consequences, from rising sea levels to ocean acidification. While a clean energy infrastructure is growing, mid-term strategies that are compatible with the current infrastructure should be developed. Carbon capture and storage in fossil-fuel power plants is one way to avoid our current gigaton-scale emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, for this to be possible, separation techniques are necessary to remove the nitrogen from air before combustion or from the flue gas after combustion. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a relatively new class of porous material that show great promise for adsorptive separation processes. Here, potential mechanisms of O2/N2 separation and CO2/N2 separation are explored.

First, a logical categorization of potential adsorptive separation mechanisms in MOFs is outlined by comparing existing data with previously studied materials. Size-selective adsorptive separation is investigated for both gas systems using molecular simulations. A correlation between size-selective equilibrium adsorptive separation capabilities and pore diameter is established in materials with complex pore distributions. A method of generating mobile extra-framework cations which drastically increase adsorptive selectivity toward nitrogen over oxygen via electrostatic interactions is explored through experiments and simulations. Finally, deposition of redox-active ferrocene molecules into systematically generated defects is shown to be an effective method of increasing selectivity towards oxygen.
ContributorsMcIntyre, Sean (Author) / Mu, Bin (Thesis advisor) / Green, Matthew (Committee member) / Lind, Marylaura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Zinc oxide nanowires ( NWs) have broad applications in various fields such as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, piezoelectric nanogenerators, chemical/biological sensors, and heterogeneous catalysis. To meet the requirements for broader applications, the growth of high-quality ZnO NWs and functionalization of ZnO NWs are critical. In this work, specific types of functionalized ZnO

Zinc oxide nanowires ( NWs) have broad applications in various fields such as nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, piezoelectric nanogenerators, chemical/biological sensors, and heterogeneous catalysis. To meet the requirements for broader applications, the growth of high-quality ZnO NWs and functionalization of ZnO NWs are critical. In this work, specific types of functionalized ZnO NWs have been synthesized and correlations between specific structures and properties have been investigated. Deposition of δ-Bi2O3 (narrow band gap) epilayers onto ZnO (wide band gap) NWs improves the absorption efficiency of the visible light spectrum by 70%. Furthermore, the deposited δ-Bi2O3 grows selectively and epitaxially on the {11-20} but not on the {10-10} facets of the ZnO NWs. The selective epitaxial deposition and the interfacial structure were thoroughly investigated. The morphology and structure of the Bi2O3/ZnO nanocomposites can be tuned by controlling the deposition conditions.

Various deposition methods, both physical and chemical, were used to functionalize the ZnO NWs with metal or alloy nanoparticles (NPs) for catalytic transformations of important molecules which are relevant to energy and environment. Cu and PdZn NPs were epitaxially grown on ZnO NWs to make them resistant to sintering at elevated temperatures and thus improved the stability of such catalytic systems for methanol steam reforming (MSR) to produce hydrogen. A series of Pd/ZnO catalysts with different Pd loadings were synthesized and tested for MSR reaction. The CO selectivity was found to be strongly dependent on the size of the Pd: Both PdZn alloy and single Pd atoms yield low CO selectivity while Pd clusters give the highest CO selectivity.

By dispersing single Pd atoms onto ZnO NWs, Pd1/ZnO single-atom catalysts (SACs) was synthesized and their catalytic performance was evaluated for selected catalytic reactions. The experimental results show that the Pd1/ZnO SAC is active for CO oxidation and MSR but is not desirable other reactions. We further synthesized ZnO NWs supported noble metal (M1/ZnO; M=Rh, Pd, Pt, Ir) SACs and studied their catalytic performances for CO oxidation. The catalytic test data shows that all the fabricated noble metal SACs are active for CO oxidation but their activity are significantly different. Structure-performance relationships were investigated.
ContributorsXu, Jia, Ph.D (Author) / Liu, Jingyue (Thesis advisor) / Smith, David (Committee member) / Chan, Candace (Committee member) / Mu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
The accurate and fast determination of organic air pollutants for many applications and studies is critical. Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become an important public health concern, which may induce a lot of health effects such as respiratory irritation, headaches and dizziness. In order to monitor the personal

The accurate and fast determination of organic air pollutants for many applications and studies is critical. Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become an important public health concern, which may induce a lot of health effects such as respiratory irritation, headaches and dizziness. In order to monitor the personal VOCs exposure level at point-of-care, a wearable real time monitor for VOCs detection is necessary. For it to be useful in real world application, it requires low cost, small size and weight, low power consumption, high sensitivity and selectivity.

To meet these requirements, a novel mobile device for personal VOCs exposure monitor has been developed. The key sensing element is a disposable molecularly imprinted polymer based quartz tuning fork resonator. The sensor and fabrication protocol are low cost, reproducible and stable. Characterization on the sensing material and device has been done. Comparisons with gold standards in the field such as GC-MS have been conducted. And the device’s functionality and capability have been validated in field tests, proving that it’s a great tool for VOCs monitoring under different scenarios.
ContributorsDeng, Yue, Ph.D (Author) / Forzani, Erica S (Thesis advisor) / Lind, Mary L (Committee member) / Mu, Bin (Committee member) / LaBelle, Jeffery (Committee member) / Emady, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Corrosion is one of the key failure modes for stainless steel (SS) piping assets handling water resources managed by utility companies. During downtime, the costs start to incur as the field engineer procures its replacement parts. The parts may or may not be in stock depending on how old, complex,

Corrosion is one of the key failure modes for stainless steel (SS) piping assets handling water resources managed by utility companies. During downtime, the costs start to incur as the field engineer procures its replacement parts. The parts may or may not be in stock depending on how old, complex, and common the part model is. As a result, water utility companies and its resilience to operate amid part failure are a strong function of the supply chain for replacement piping. Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has been widely recognized for its ability to (a) deliver small production scales, (b) address complex part geometries, (c) offer large elemental metal and alloy selections, (d) provide superior material properties. The key motive is to harvest the short lead time of metal AM to explore its use for replacement parts for legacy piping assets in utility-scale water management facilities. In this paper, the goal was to demonstrate 3D printing of stainless steel (SS) 316L parts using selective laser melting (SLM) technology. The corrosion resistance of 3D printed SS 316L was investigated using (a) Chronoamperometry (b) Cyclic Potentiodynamic Polarization (CPP) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and its improved resistance from wrought (conventional) part was also studied. Then the weldability of 3D printed SS 316L to wrought SS 316L was illustrated and finally, the mechanical strength of the weld and the effect of corrosion on weld strength was investigated using uniaxial tensile testing. The results show that 3D printed part compared to the wrought part has a) lower mass loss before and after corrosion, (b) higher pitting potential, and (c) higher charge transfer resistance. The tensile testing of welded dog bone specimens indicates that the 3D printed parts despite being less ductile were observed to have higher weld strength compared to the wrought part. On this basis, metal AM holds great value to be explored further for replacement piping parts owing to their better corrosion resistance and mechanical performance.
ContributorsSampath, Venkata Krishnan (Author) / Azeredo, Bruno (Thesis advisor) / Torres, Cesar (Committee member) / Mu, Bin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021