The aim of this research is to develop a fundamental understanding of the dominant defect species and the relevant defect equilibrium conditions for bismuth-containing perovskites to help guide the development of these materials for emerging applications. This is of paramount importance for many demanding applications, because ultimately the defect equilibria...
Atomically-thin graphene sheets have unprecedented characteristics for biosensing applications. These characteristics include mechanical flexibility and strength, optical transparency, electrical sensitivity and biocompatibility. The primary theme of this dissertation is the characterization and application of graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) in biologically-relevant physiological environments.Understanding the interface that forms between an electrolyte and...
This dissertation presents novel, field-activated smart material systems for the actuation and control of autonomous robots. Smart materials, a type of material whose properties can be changed with an external stimuli, represent a promising direction to expand upon existing robotic control and actuation methods, particularly in the sub-fields of soft...
Soft magnetic composites, consisting of fine metallic particles in a non-magnetic, insulating matrix, have great potential for integrated inductor and antenna applications. The dielectric and magnetic properties of soft magnetic composites can be tailored by the choice of matrix as well as particle composition, size, and concentration for reduction in...
Air-cathode fabrication is currently a key factor that hinders the scaling up of microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. A new type of cathode material that contains porous polyethylene (PE) sheet and a blended activated carbon (AC) and highly conductive carbon back (CB) layer was developed for the first time. The...
Electrospinning and electrospray are both nano-scale material fabrication techniques, based on related phenomena of electrically charged fluid spray from a droplet of liquid. Material is dissolved in liquid, then a spray is generated by applying a high voltage, creating an electric field, between the fluid dispensing capillary and a grounded...
As microelectronic parts trend smaller so do their solder joints. The surface finish on a copper pad is expected to become a significant part of the total solder joint volume and therefore affect mechanical properties of the smaller solder joints. Two sample geometries and four different surface finishes for tin-silver-copper...
Magnetic materials can be used in modern soft robotics as a method for external stimulus actuation and motion control. By combining aspects of biology and mechanics, devices are fabricated to create a structure capable of complex movement. Applications that these devices are subject to can be broken down into four...
The goal of this research was to explore if an inkjet 3D printing technology, known as Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), could be used to fabricate magnetic polymer nanocomposites with systematically varied volume fractions of magnetic nanoparticles. Soft magnetic nanoparticles were chosen because of their applications in communications technologies and other...