The purpose of this research is to provide a simple fabrication method for zinc oxide and antimony sulfide based thin film solar cells. Both a ZnO nanorod electron conducting structure and a stibnite absorber show promise in a solar cell. Initial attempts at using only ZnO and Sb2S3, however, resulted...
High purity isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is utilized in silicon wafer manufacturing in cleaning and drying processes. With the ever-decreasing die size, there is an increased need for even higher purity chemicals. This process was designed to further purify a 250,000 lbs/month stream high purity isopropyl alcohol stream for use in...
The OSU-Benton County Green Stormwater Infrastructure Research (OGSIR) Facility was created to test various methods of stormwater treatment. At this facility, runoff from the Benton County Development Department property is captured and pumped into a bioswale. This bioswale is comprised of layers of rock, gravel, sand, and soil, and is...
Arsenic in its inorganic form is naturally present in groundwater. Continued exposure to arsenic contaminated water can result in long lasting health complications, ranging from cognitive development issues to cancer. One method which may be convertible to a field test is the use of PEG functionalized gold nanoparticles which aggregate...
Tracking footwear wear patterns is vital to the footwear industry. In the game of tennis, there are several court surfaces that produce unique wear patterns on footwear that are constantly changing according to the following factors: level of competition, level of experience, coordination, age, height, weight, and more. By tracking...
Extending rheological characterization methods to very small length scales is of interest. AC susceptometry using magnetic nanoparticle probes has been proposed for measurement of frequency-dependent rheological properties at the nanoscale. As this technique has been primarily used for ideally Newtonian fluids, this research aimed to extend this technique to viscoelastic...
Platinum and palladium surfaces are utilized as catalytic surfaces in the chemical industry. Understanding how hydrogen atoms interact with the metal surfaces will allow for further advancement in this area. Specifically, the interaction of hydrogen on the surface and subsurface of these metals was investigated using density functional theory calculations...
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are crystalline compounds formed from reacting a metal ion with an organic ligand. They represent a promising new avenue in materials science for gas separations and storage. Certain MOFs, in particular Mg-MOF-74, have shown a strong affinity for the capture of CO2. This project investigated a known...
Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has potential applications as a low-cost catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Defects on MoS2, such as edge sites and sulfur vacancies, are known to be the major active sites for HER. Controlling the formation of these defects allows for the enhancement in reactivity of MoS2...
One of the principal drivers of climate change is the concentration of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere. A large portion of this CO2 ends up in the waters off the continental coasts where it transforms into biomass. The major sink for this matter is the ocean sediments...