The barrier properties and long term strength retention of polymers are of significant importance in a number of applications. Enhanced lifetime food packaging, substrates for OLED based flexible displays and long duration scientific balloons are among them. Higher material requirements in these applications drive the need for an accurate measurement system. Therefore, a new system was engineered with enhanced sensitivity and accuracy. Permeability of polymers is affected by permeant solubility and diffusion. One effort to decrease diffusion rates is via increasing the transport path length. We explore this through dispersion of layered silicates into polymers. Layered silicates with effective aspect ratio of 1000:1 have shown promise in improving the barrier and mechanical properties of polymers. The surface of these inorganic silicates was modified with surfactants to improve the interaction with organic polymers. The micro and nanoscale dispersion of the layered silicates was probed using optical and transmission microscopy as well as x-ray diffraction. Thermal transitions were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry. Mechanical and permeability measurements were correlated to the dispersion and increased density. The essential structure-property relationships were established by comparing semicrystalline and amorphous polymers. Semicrystalline polymers selected were nylon-6 and polyethylene terephthalate. The amorphous polymer was polyethylene terphthalate-glycol. Densification …

Two series monodispersed nanoparticles of hydroxylpropyl cellulose (HPC) and functionalized poly-N-isopropylamide (PNIPAM) particles have been synthesized and used as building blocks for creating three-dimensional networks, with two levels of structural hierarchy. The first level is HPC nanoparticles were made from methacrylated or degradable cross-linker attached HPC. These nanoparticles could be stabilized at room temperature by residual methacrylate or degradable groups are present both within and on the exterior of HPC nanoparticles. Controlled release studies have been performed on the particle and networks .The nearly monodispersed nanoparticles have been synthesized on the basis of a natural polymer of hydropropylcellulose (HPC) with a high molecular weight using the precipitation polymerization method and self-assembly of these particles in water results in bright colors. The HPC nanoparticles can be potential using as crosslinkers to increase the hydrogels mechanical properties, such as high transparency and rapid swelling/de-swelling kinetics. The central idea is to prepare colloidal particles containing C=C bonds and to use them as monomers - vinylparticles, to form stable particle assemblies with various architectures. This is accomplished by mixing an aqueous suspension of hydrogel nanoparticles (PNIPAM-co-allylamine) with the organic solvent (dichloromethane) to grow columnar crystals. The hydrogels with such a unique crystal structure behavior …

In this dissertation, nano-manufacturing of amorphous alloys for electro-catalytic applications is reported and the role of chemistry and active surface area on catalytic behavior is discussed. The catalytic activity of recently developed platinum and palladium-based metallic glasses was studied using cyclic voltammetry and localized electrochemical techniques. The synergistic effect between platinum and palladium was shown for amorphous alloys containing both these elements. The mechanism for superior catalytic behavior was investigated through electronic structure and surface chemical state of the alloys. A correlation between the work function and catalytic performance of the amorphous alloys with widely varying chemistries was established. To address the high cost associated with the noble-metal containing catalysts, the performance of non-noble Ni-P amorphous catalyst was evaluated for electro-catalysis. A facile pulsed electrodeposition approach was used for the nano-manufacturing of these amorphous catalysts. This nano-manufacturing route allowed the synthesis of fully amorphous nano-wires at room temperature for alloys with little or no noble-metal content. A wide range of nano-wires with varying aspect ratios from 25 to 120 was synthesized using commercially obtained anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nano-molds. Cyclic voltammetry and chrono-amperometry demonstrated superior performance in terms of electrocatalytic activity and stability of the metallic glass nano-wires towards electro-oxidation …