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Thesis (Ph.D.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 178-185.

Thesis (M.Sc.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 162-182.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: p. 115-121.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

This dissertation focuses on the development of biomaterials that could be used to enhance the regeneration of severed peripheral nerves. These materials were designed to be electroactive, biodegradable, and biocompatible. To render the materials electroactive the author chose to incorporate conducting polymer (CP) units into the materials. Because CPs are inherently non-degradable, the key challenge was to create a CP-based material that was also biodegradable. Two strategies were explored to generate a biodegradable CP-based material. The first strategy centered around the incorporation of both electroactive and biodegradable subunits into a copolymer system. In the context of this approach, two bis(methoxyquaterthiophene)-co-adipic acid polyester (QAPE) analogues were successfully synthesized, one through polycondensation (giving undoped QAPE) and the second through oxidative polymerization (giving doped QAPE-2). QAPE was found to be electroactive by cyclic voltammetry, bioerodible, and cytocompatible with Schwann cells. QAPE was doped with ferric perchlorate, although only a low doping percentage was realized (~8%). Oxidative polymerization of a bis(bithiophene) adipate permitted the direct synthesis of doped QAPE-2, which was found to have a higher doping level (~24%). The second strategy pursued with the goal of generating an electroactive biodegradable material involved covalently immobilizing low molecular weight polythiophene chains onto the surface of crosslinked hyaluronic acid (HA) films. HA films are not only biodegradable and biocompatible, but they also provide mechanical integrity to bilayer systems. Dicyclocarbodiimide coupling of carboxylic acids to HA alcohol groups was used to functionalize HA films. The HA-polythiophene composite is still in the early stages of development. However, to date, thiophene has been successfully immobilized at the surface of HA films with a high degree of substitution. The author has also shown that thiophene polymerization can be achieved at the surface of these functionalized films and that the extent of polymer immobilization appears to be affected by the presence of immobilized thiophene. The results reported in this dissertation lead the author to suggest that it is possible to generate biodegradable electroactive materials. Further, she believes that with additional optimization these materials may prove beneficial for the regeneration of peripheral nerves and possibly other tissues that respond favorably to electrical stimulation. / text

In this thesis, fabrication of polymer solar cells through different device designs is presented and the resulted solar cell performance is discussed. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are chosen as the photoactive layer materials as this material combination has been widely used and well investigated. The known properties of P3HT and PCBM make systematical studies and modeling for the effect of device designs on the performance of polymer solar cells possible although this is beyond the scope of this thesis. First, ITO electrodes were fabricated by sputtering and used as the transparent electrode for polymer solar cells. Properties of ITO film fabricated by different sputtering conditions were compared. Radio frequency (RF) sputtered ITO was found to exhibit the best transparency overall. This condition was further applied to the fabrication of ITO electrode for polymer solar cells with light trapping structures. Low temperature processed silicon oxide (SiOx) / titanium oxide (TiOx) periodic structures were fabricated by sol-gel method. Optical transmittance of the bottom electrode was altered by the presence of the reflective coating and thus the absorption in the photoactive layer was affected. By varying the number of layer pairs and thickness of each layer in the reflective coating, improvement of polymer solar cell performance was found by inserting reflective coating for optimized conditions. Finally, semi-transparent polymer solar cells with inverted structure were demonstrated using conductive polymer as the anode. The process in device preparation was vacuum-free and thus could be potentially useful in large-scale roll-to-roll fabrication. / published_or_final_version / Physics / Master / Master of Philosophy

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