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open access

The Abraham Solvation Model Used for Prediction of Solvent-Solute Interactions and New Methods for Updating Parameters

Description: The Abraham solvation model (ABSM) is an experimentally derived predictive model used to help predict various solute properties. This work covers various uses for the ABSM including predicting molar enthalpies of vaporization, predicting solvent coefficients for two new solvents (2,2,5,5-tetramethyloxolane and diethyl carbonate), predicting values for multiple new ionic liquids (ILs). This work also introduces a novel method for updating IL ABSM parameters by updating cation- and anion-specific… more
Date: May 2021
Creator: Churchill, Brittani N.
open access

Atomic Layer Deposition of Boron Oxide and Boron Nitride for Ultrashallow Doping and Capping Applications

Description: The deposition of boron oxide (B₂O₃) films on silicon substrates is of significant interest in microelectronics for ultrashallow doping applications. However, thickness control and conformality of such films has been an issue in high aspect ratio 3D structures which have long replaced traditional planar transistor architectures. B₂O₃ films are also unstable in atmosphere, requiring a suitable capping barrier for passivation. The growth of continuous, stoichiometric B₂O₃ and boron nitride (BN) f… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Pilli, Aparna
open access

Computational Study of C−H/C−C Activation and Functionalization with Nitrene, Carbene and Related Complexes

Description: This dissertation involves inorganic/organometallic catalysis models, in particular the functionalization of carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon bonds. Computational methods have been utilized to better understand the factors affecting the kinetics and thermodynamics of C−H and C−C bond activation/functionalization in this dissertation. Chapter 2 investigates methane C−H activation with a diiminopyridine nitride/nitridyl complex of 3d transition metals and main group elements via three competing … more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Sun, Zhicheng
open access

Application of Novel Microporous Polyolefin Silica-Based Substrate in Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry (PS-MS)

Description: This study addressed five key applications of paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS): (i) comparative analysis of the microporous substrate with the cellulose-based substrate in drug detection; (ii) detection of more than 190 fentanyl analogs with their fragmentation pattern can be implemented in the future reference for quicker, accurate and sensitive determination; (iii) exploring sweat in a fingerprint to be considered an alternate method to recognize non-invasive markers of metabolites, lip… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Weligamage De Silva, Imesha
open access

Mass Spectrometry Guided Development of a Controlled Release Nanotransfersome Transdermal Drug Delivery System

Description: Poor medical adherence attributed to patient compliance has impacted the medical community, at times, in a deleterious fashion. To combat this, the medical community has attempted to provide therapeutics in the form of absorption enhancing techniques. To improve the absorption rate techniques such as drug encapsulation using proteins, liposomes, or nanotransfersomes have been developed using mass spectrometry. These techniques, have aided in the enhanced absorption of analytes with low bioavail… more
Date: December 2020
Creator: Kiselak, Thomas Dieter

Novel Metal-Containing Nanoparticle Composites for Cancer Therapy and Imaging

Description: With all the improvements in cancer treatments, multidrug resistance is still the major challenge in treating cancer. Cells can develop multidrug resistance (MDR) during or after treatment, which will render the cancer cells resistant not only to the chemotherapy drug being used but also to many other structurally- and mechanically-different chemotherapeutics. In the first project, the main focus was on development of drug resistant cell lines by selection with taxol. Gene changes in the L1T2 c… more
Date: August 2020
Creator: Nasiri, Nooshin Mirza
open access

Computational Study of Intermolecular Interactions in Complex Chemical Systems

Description: This work discusses applications of computational simulations to a wide variety of chemical systems, to investigate intermolecular interactions to develop force field parameters and gain new insights into chemical reactivity and structure stability. First, we cover the characterization of hydrogen-bonding interactions in pyrazine tetracarboxamide complexes employing quantum topological analyses. Second we describe the use of quantum mechanical energy decomposition analysis (EDA) and non-covalen… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Vazquez Montelongo, Erik Antonio
open access

Atomic Layer Deposition of H-BN(0001) on Transition Metal Substrates, and In Situ XPS Study of Carbonate Removal from Lithium Garnet Surfaces

Description: The direct epitaxial growth of multilayer BN by atomic layer deposition is of critical significance forfo two-dimensional device applications. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) demonstrate layer-by-layer BN epitaxy on two different substrates. One substrate was a monolayer of RuO2(110) formed on a Ru(0001) substrate, the other was an atomically clean Ni(111) single crystal. Growth was accomplished atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycles of BCl3/NH… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Jones, Jessica C.
open access

Donor-Acceptor Systems: Photochemistry and Energy Harvesting Applications

Description: Donor-acceptor systems have unique properties that make them ideal candidates for solar energy harvesting through mimicry of natural photosynthesis. This dissertation is focused on unraveling those unique properties in various types of donor-acceptor systems. The systems investigated are categorized as closely linked, push-pull, supramolecular, and multi-unit. As part of the study, photosynthetic analogues based on BF2-chelated dipyrromethene (BODIPY), porphyrin, phthalocyanine, truxene, ferroc… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Thomas, Michael Brandon

Photophysical Properties of Binuclear and Trinuclear Monovalent Coinage Metal Complexes for Applications in Molecular Devices

Description: Monovalent coinage metal complexes have been of significant interest due to their rich photophysical properties. This dissertation focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of gold, silver, and copper phosphors. Chapter 2 investigates new physical and photophysical properties of a gold diphosphine dimer in the solid state. Thermally activated luminescence switching between two structural states is discussed. Chapter 3 includes the photochemistry of closed shell group 11 transitio… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Harris, Lauren Michelle
open access

Study the pKa of C–H Bonds and Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Process by Transition Metal Complexes via Computational Methods

Description: Computational techniques, mostly density functional theory (DFT), were applied to study metal-based catalytic processes for energy conversion reactions. In the first and second projects, the main focus was on activation of the light alkanes such as methane, which have thermodynamically strong and kinetically inert C–H bonds plus very low acidity/basicity. Two Mo-oxo complexes with the different redox non-innocent supporting ligands, diamide-diimine and ethylene-dithiolate, were modeled. These M… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Nazemi, Azadeh
open access

Activation of Small Molecules by Transition Metal Complexes via Computational Methods

Description: The first study project is based on modeling Earth abundant 3d transition-metal methoxide complexes with potentially redox-noninnocent ligands for methane C–H bond activation to form methanol (LnM-OMe + CH4 → LnM–Me + CH3OH). Three types of complex consisting of tridentate pincer terpyridine-like ligands, and different first-row transition metals (M = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu) were modeled to elucidate the reaction mechanism as well as the effect of the metal identity on the thermodyna… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Najafian, Ahmad

Synthesis and Studies of Wide-Band Capturing BODIPY-Fullerene Based Donor-Acceptor Systems

Description: Artificial photosynthesis is the process, which mimics the natural photosynthesis process in order to convert solar energy to chemical energy. This process can be separated into four parts, which are antenna system, reaction center, water oxidation center, and proton reduction center. If we only focus on the ‘antenna system and reaction center' modules, expanding the absorption band in antenna system and generating long-lived charge separated state in reaction center are two fantastic strategie… more
Date: May 2020
Creator: Shao, Shuai

Copper Wire-Bonding Reliability: Mechanism and Prevention of Galvanic Aluminum Bond Pad Corrosion in Acidic Chloride Environments

Description: With the reliability requirements of automobile microelectronics pushing towards near 0 ppb levels of failure control, halide induced corrosion issues in wire bonded devices have to be tightly controlled to achieve such a high reliability goal. With real-time corrosion monitoring, for the first time we demonstrated that the explosive H2 evolution coupled with the oxygen reduction reaction, occurring at the critical Al/Cu interfaces, is the key driving force for the observed aggressive corrosion… more
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Date: May 2020
Creator: Asokan, Muthappan

Computational Development of Trimetallic Cyclotrimers for Gas-Filtration Applications through Non-Covalent Interactions

Description: Photophysical properties of an array of various polyaromatic hydrocarbons were benchmarked with B3LYP, M06 and B97D methods coupled with Pople and CEP-31G(d) basis sets. Results from the benchmark show the importance of diffuse basis sets when modeling the electronic properties of highly conjugated systems and provide qualitative reliable accuracy with certain levels of theory. B97D and M06 are applied to modeling pyrene adducts governed by non-covalent interactions in both gaseous and condense… more
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Date: December 2019
Creator: Williams, Christopher M.
open access

Semiconducting Aromatic Boron Carbide Films for Neutron Detection and Photovoltaic Applications

Description: Semiconducting aromatic-boron carbide composite/alloyed films formed by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition from carborane and aromatic precursors have been demonstrated to be excellent detectors for thermal neutrons because of the large 10B cross section. The electronic properties of these films derived from XPS show that the properties of boron carbide can be tuned by co-deposition of aromatic compounds and carborane. Aromatic doping results in narrower indirect band gaps (1.1 - 1.7 eV … more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Oyelade, Adeola O
open access

Synthesis and Characterization of β-Functionalized π-Extended Porphyrins

Description: Porphyrins with extended π-electronic networks are promising candidates for a wide range of applications from medicine to nanotechnology owing to their unique optical and electronic properties. This dissertation is focused on synthesis, characterization and application of β-functionalized π-extended porphyrins. This dissertation is comprised of seven chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on the importance and objective of this work. Chapter 2 gives brief introduction to porphyrins and π-extended porphyri… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Hu, Yi
open access

Spectral, Electrochemical, Electron Transfer, and Photoelectrochemical Studies of Tetrapyrrole Derived Supramolecular Systems

Description: Energy- and electron-transfer processes in molecular and supramolecular donor-acceptor systems are of current interest in order to develop light-energy harvesting systems through designing covalently linked donor-acceptor systems or utilizing self-assembled donor-acceptor systems. The research presented in this dissertation deals with the electrochemical, anion binding, and photochemical studies of various oxoporphyrinogen (OxPs), porphyrin, corrole, and phenothiazine systems. The first chapter… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Webre, Whitney Ann

Ligand Effects in Gold(I) Acyclic Diaminocarbene Complexes and Their Influence on Regio- and Enantioselectivity of Homogeneous Gold(I) Catalysis

Description: This dissertation focuses on the computational investigation of gold(I) acyclic diaminocarbene (ADC) complexes and their application in homogeneous gold(I) catalysis. Chapter 2 is an in-depth computational investigation of the σ- and π-bonding interactions that make up the gold-carbene bond. Due to the inherent conformation flexibility of ADC ligands, distortions of the carbene plane can arise that disrupt orbital overlap between the lone pairs on the adjacent nitrogen atoms and the empty p-orb… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Ellison, Matthew Christopher
open access

Synthesis, Characterization, and Reactivity of Prochiral Ruthenium Clusters and Bimetallic Rhenium Complexes with an Unsymmetrical Diphosphine and Hard-Soft Donor Ligands

Description: The reaction of [BrRe(CO)₄]₂ with 2-(diphenylphosphino)pyridine (PN) and 6-(diphenylphosphino)-2-formylpyridine (PON) was investigated. The reactions were regiospecific and exclusively produced the phosphorus-coordinated products, BrRe(CO)₄(κᵖ-PN) and BrRe(CO)₄(κᴾ-PON). The kinetics for the chelate ring closure (κᴾ→ κᴾᴺ) in BrRe(CO)₄(κᴾ-PN) were confirmed to occur by dissociative CO loss. The reaction of [BrRe(CO)₄]₂ with 2-(diphenylphosphino)pyridine (PN) was modeled computationally by DFT cal… more
Date: August 2019
Creator: Mayberry, Darrell D.

Application-Focused Investigation of Monovalent Metal Complexes for Nanoparticle Synthesis

Description: Over the last 20 years, there has occurred an increase in the number, scope, and impact of nanomaterials projects. By leveraging the Surface Plasmon Resonance of metallic nanoparticles for labelling, sensing, and treatment, researchers have demonstrated the versatile utility of these nanomaterials in medicine. The literature provides evidence of use of simple, well-known chemistry for nanomaterials synthesis when the focus is new applications of nanomaterials. A case in point, is the synthes… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Kamras, Brian Leon

Method Development for Corrosion Testing of Carbon Steel and Ni-based Alloy Coatings Exposed to Gas Hydrate Formation Environments

Description: Gas hydrate formation and corrosion can cause serious safety and flow assurance problems in subsea environments. One aspect that has been given less attention is the corrosion behavior of materials in gas hydrate formation environment (GHFE). This work introduces a new technique/method for corrosion testing of materials exposed to low temperatures GHFEs. This technique allows pH monitoring, and control of test conditions like temperature. In this work, GHFE is defined as an environment that inc… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Ozigagu, Christopher E.

Electrochemical Deposition of Metal Organic-Modified-Ceramic Nanoparticles to Improve Corrosion and Mechanical Properties

Description: Corrosion is an unstoppable process that occurs spontaneously in many areas of industry, specially, oil and gas industries. Therefore, the need of developing protective coating to lower the cost of corrosion is very consistent. Among different methods, electrodeposition has been a popular method since it offer many advantages such as low cost, ability to control the surface and thickness of the coating, ability to perform at low temperature and pressure, and very convenience. Ceramic nanopartic… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: Ngo, Ngan Kim
open access

Exploration of Transition Metal-Containing Catalytic Cycles via Computational Methods

Description: Styrene production by a (FlDAB)PdII(TFA)(η2-C2H4) complex was modeled using density functional theory (DFT). Benzene C-H activation by this complex was studied via five mechanisms: oxidative addition/reductive elimination, sigma-bond metathesis, concerted metalation deprotonation (CMD), CMD activation of ethylene, and benzene substitution of ethylene followed by CMD of the ligated benzene. Calculations provided evidence that conversion of benzene and ethylene to styrene was initiated by the fif… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Ceylan, Yavuz Selim
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