No description available.

No description available.

There is an increasing interest in exploring the use of conductive polymers for protecting metals from corrosion. The corrosion resistance of steel coated with the conductive polymer polypheneylenevinylene (PPV) is studied. The corrodant used is deaerated 1% w/w NaCl(aq). / The PPV coating is deposited by a homemade spinning coater. The effect of substrate microstructure and surface treatment on PPV coating morphology is investigated. The morphology and surface roughness of the coating are measured by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The PPV coating thickness and substrate surface roughness are measured by profilometer. / Open Circuit Potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), linear potentiodynamic voltammetry (Tafel) and optical microscopy were used to characterize the structure and properties of the coatings. The correlation between the coating thickness, the surface treatment of the steel substrate prior to coating, and the corrosion behaviour of PPV coated steel was investigated. / Under the condition of our studies, the level of pH in the solution used for corrosion testing has the strongest effect on the corrosion behaviour of PPV coated steel.

No description available.

No description available.

The world’s increased energy storage demand, as well as the environmental concerns related to the combustion of fossil fuels, has triggered a transition to intermittent renewable energy sources as well as to electrical and hybrid vehicles. Current day rechargeable batteries are, due to the invention and development of lithium ion batteries, technologically well positioned to answer to some of these demands. Conventional batteries, however, utilize inorganic materials of limited supply that require large amounts of energy during refining and processing. The materials also add a significant cost to the final product, making the rechargeable batteries less attractive for large scale applications. During the last decade, significant efforts have been made to find suitable organic matter based electrode materials that can replace the inorganic materials. One class of organic materials that can be used for electrical energy storage, or be included as components in organic matter based energy storage systems, is conducting polymers. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the possibilities and limitations of using the conducting polymer polypyrrole in energy storage applications. The polymer was synthesized onto cellulose extracted from the Cladophora sp. algae, and the result was a flexible composite material. Symmetrical energy storage devices constructed with the composite material were shown to exhibit a pseudocapacitive behavior. The resistance in the cells was investigated and was found to scale linearly with the separator thickness. Cells could be cycled for 4,000 cycles without significant capacitance loss and cells that were overcharged to 1.8 V cell potential, were found to be protected by a resistive potential drop. Devices were constructed as proof-of-concept and were used to power a remote control and a digital thermometer. The self-discharge in polypyrrole was studied extensively. It was found that oxygen was responsible for the oxidation of the reduced electrode, while the positive electrode self-discharged due to a faradaic reaction. Through spectroscopy and the temperature dependence of the self-discharge, it was suggested that the self-discharge of oxidized polypyrrole is linked to the degradation at high potentials, commonly referred to as overoxidation.

This thesis discusses results on the development of three-dimensional (3D) Ni-based electrocatalytic layers for hydrogen production by water electrolysis in an acidic medium. This is of relevance to the development of polymer-electrolyte-membrane (PEM) hydrogen generators, which are promising hydrogen production systems suitable for both residential and industrial applications. / It was demonstrated that patterning of a glassy carbon electrode substrate with a 3D polyaniline (PANI) matrix is a convenient way of increasing the electrocatalytically active surface area of electrodeposited Ni, and hence its apparent electrocatalytic activity. The optimized PANI/Ni electrocatalyst layer showed a significantly higher activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) then a commercially available Ni-plate surface (control surface). / It was also demonstrated that it is possible to produce a Ni-based HER electrocatalyst layer by synthesizing Ni nanoparticles and supporting them on Vulcan carbon. This electrocatalyst also offered a significantly higher electrocatalytic activity in the HER then the control surface, but lower then the optimized PANI/Ni electrocatalyst. / The electrocatalytic activity of the optimized PANI/Ni layer was also compared to the activity of a 3D catalyst produced by electro-coating a porous reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) substrate with Ni. This electrocatalyst showed the highest HER electrocatalytic activity among the investigated layers when tested under potentiodynamic polarization conditions. However, under the potentiostatic conditions, the optimized PANI/Ni layer showed the highest electrocatalytic activity. / The mechanisms and kinetics of the HER on the produced electrocatalysts was also investigated, as well as the electrocatalyst layers' surface morphology and crystalline structure.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Dept. of Chemistry, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "December, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-100). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed March 12, 2010). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.