Thesis (M.S.) in Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences--University of Maine, 2002. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-121).

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on March 8, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Michael J. Petris. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1979.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-148). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M. Sc. (Physics))--Rhodes University, 2003.

Graphene, a single atomic layer of sp²-bonded carbon, has been of significant interest to basic sciences and engineering. Among its unique properties are exceptional mechanical strength, from the strong carbon-carbon bond; high in-plane thermal conductivity; high carrier mobilities, since electrons and holes travel through graphene as mass-less Dirac fermions; and quantum effects (such as the quantum Hall effect), which can be observed at room temperature. In 2009, Li et al., of Professor Ruoff's research group at the University of Texas at Austin, published a seminal paper detailing the production of fairly high quality graphene grown on copper foils using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The potential for scalability of graphene CVD processing is extremely attractive, and this is currently the most promising method for its commercial viability, particularly for transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). Here, graphene-based TCEs are compared with TCEs made with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). A novel technique to reduce the sheet resistance of MWCNT-based TCEs in half is described in detail. Even with these improvements, graphene-based TCEs outperform MWCNT-based TCEs. The decomposition of copper oxides at high temperatures in an oxygen deficient environment is characterized. The ability for the oxygen evolved from the copper foil during this decomposition to react with carbon on the surface of the copper substrate is verified. This phenomenon was used to develop a technique for getting clean pre-graphene growth copper substrates and allowing repeatable graphene nucleation results. A technique for growing large graphene domains inside a copper vapor trapping 'copper enclosure' is described. The quality of the graphene grown inside the copper enclosure is characterized and shown to be of very high quality. This technique can grow graphene domains over 0.5 mm across. Finally, a possible cause of graphene ad-layer growth on the copper surface is suggested. It is proposed that gas diffusing through the copper substrate at high temperature delaminates the graphene from the copper surface in some regions. This then allows carbon containing molecules to diffuse under the graphene and grow new graphene layers. The increased ad-layer growth in the presence of helium supports this. / text

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Nanoparticles/nanocrystals have been recognized by their remarkable and technologically attractive properties which are different from those of bulk materials due to their ultra large surface area and extremely fine nanostructure. Highly sophisticated properties such as optical, magnetic, electronic, catalytic, mechanical, chemical and tribological properties can be obtained by advanced nanostructured coatings, making them desirable for industrial applications. This thesis encompasses the fabrication of nano/micro-structures of cuprous oxide (Cu2O) including nanocrystals, nanowires, nanocrystalline coatings and co-deposition of Cu2O/Cu by electrodeposition. The investigation in this thesis involved a systematic study by using a simple two-electrode system with copper sulphate as the electrolyte at pH 4.0 at room temperature and without the aids of any additive. The substrates under investigation included silicon wafer, stainless steel plate, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and silver wire. By changing the kinds of the substrates, deposition modes, and deposition potentials, different types of nano/micro-structures of Cu2O were yielded. Nanometer-to-micron sized Cu2O single crystals were fabricated on an Au/Pd sputter-coated silicon wafer and stainless steel cathode. Different morphologies of the crystals were studied and their structural characterization was performed. The Cu2O crystals were generally of an octahedral shape. A growth mechanism was proposed to explain the morphologies of the observed nano/micro-structures. The effect of the electrodeposition parameters such as deposition voltage and deposition time, on the size of the crystals and their coverage on the substrates was examined. Highly aligned Cu2O nano/microwires were fabricated on the step edges of the HOPG substrate. With the same deposition potentials, longer deposition time would increase the diameter of the wires. Various crystal morphologies including flower-like and butterfly-like structures, and dendrites and truncated octahedra were observed on the working electrode of HOPG. Some of the morphologies were revealed for the first time by the one-step electrodeposition. To investigate the differences between yield by DC and pulsed electrodeposition respectively, the sizes and coverages of the deposited crystals on the substrate by DC and pulsed electrodeposition were compared. Two completely different forms of Cu2O, namely uniform nanocrystalline coatings and isolated single crystals, were fabricated on Ag microwires by pulsed and DC electrodeposition respectively. The results illustrated a very different effect on crystal nucleation between DC and pulsed electrodeposition, and suggested the possibility of using different voltage waveforms for electrodeposition in order to fabricate coatings with different nano/micro-structures on substrates. Gradual transition in the deposition products from pure Cu2O to pure Cu during electrodeposition with various DC potential was investigated. The percentage of Cu content was studied in depth for a full picture of the relationship between the depositing potentials and the compositions of the deposits. This thesis provides a method to fabricate nanocrystalline Cu2O, Cu and Cu/Cu2O on substrates in a single step without the use of additives. / published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text