Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:05:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 WesleyCO_DISSERT.pdf: 6721230 bytes, checksum: 88cae54372de377ee09da74089205341 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-10 / In last decades, the importance of including the contents of the Nature of Science (NOS) in Science Education has been emphasized. Several studies have focused on investigating the conceptions of NOS, supported by students and teachers, as well as design, implement and evaluate proposals that aim to provide a reflection on this theme in the educational context. Considering the complexity of such content, studies indicate the need for explicit and contextualized approaches and the History of Science (HS) is one of the possible paths to this inclusion. We started from the premise that, through a historical study, that aims to discuss the meaning and the basis of our "beliefs", we can know the process of building on what we "believe" and better understand its meaning. This thesis is part of this perspective, proposing to explore the History of the Vacuum, a themed high didactic potential still little used, in order to collaborate with the teaching content of NOS. We present actions on different fronts that originated three products in the context of this research. On the first front, we insert the research and production of instructional materials (three historical texts) to subsidize people interested in the implementation of HPS for educational context through this material. The relevance of this front is justified by the existence of gaps with regard to the production of such material for the context of teacher training. However, we consider that the preparation of instructional material of good quality and accessible does not guarantee that these resources will be used, if they will not be accompanied by discussions in teacher training, on how to use them, contexts and obstacles to be faced. The second part presented refers to the organization and implementation of a workshop for undergraduate students in physics and physics teachers, considering the instrumentalization of these individuals to the preparation and use of teaching strategies to approach aspects of NOS through episodes of History of the Vacuum, as well as the preparation of the text orientation for people interested in implementing the instructional material for secondary education. This guidance text contemplates the difficulties anticipated by the literature of the area and the main challenges faced by the participants about the didactic transposition of HPS for the educational context they were noted during the workshop. The relevance of this second front, in particular, is justified by the existence of gaps with regard to the inclusion of the theme of NOS and the HPS teacher training / Nas ?ltimas d?cadas, a import?ncia de incluir conte?dos de Natureza da Ci?ncia (NdC) no ensino de ci?ncias tem sido enfatizada. Diversos trabalhos tem se preocupado em investigar as concep??es sobre NdC sustentadas por alunos e professores, bem como em elaborar, implementar e avaliar propostas cujos objetivos se relacionam a propiciar espa?os de reflex?o sobre essa tem?tica no contexto educacional. Dada a complexidade desses conte?dos, estudos apontam a necessidade de abordagens explicitas e contextualizadas dos mesmos, sendo a Hist?ria da Ci?ncia (HC) um dos poss?veis caminhos para essa inser??o. Partiu-se da premissa de que, por meio de um estudo hist?rico, que visa discutir o significado e a base de nossas cren?as , pode-se conhecer o processo de constru??o do que acreditamos e entender melhor o seu significado. A presente disserta??o se insere nessa perspectiva, propondo, com o objetivo de colaborar com o ensino de conte?dos de NdC, explorar a Hist?ria do V?cuo, tem?tica de alto potencial did?tico ainda pouco utilizado. Apresentaram-se a??es em diferentes frentes que originaram tr?s produtos no ?mbito do presente trabalho. Na primeira frente, inseriu-se a pesquisa e a produ??o de materiais instrucionais (tr?s textos hist?ricos) para subsidiar interessados na transposi??o da HFC para o contexto educacional a partir do referido material. A relev?ncia dessa frente, em particular, se justifica pela exist?ncia de lacunas no que diz respeito ? produ??o desse tipo de material para o contexto de forma??o de professores. Considerou-se, no entanto, que a elabora??o de material instrucional acess?vel e de boa qualidade n?o ? garantia de que esses recursos venham a ser empregados se n?o forem acompanhados de discuss?es, na forma??o dos professores, sobre como utiliz?-los, contextos e obst?culos a serem enfrentados. Partindo desse pressuposto, a segunda vertente apresentada diz respeito ? organiza??o e implementa??o de uma oficina para licenciandos e professores de F?sica, tendo em vista a instrumentaliza??o desses indiv?duos para a elabora??o e uso de estrat?gias did?ticas para abordagem de aspectos de NdC por meio de epis?dios da Hist?ria do V?cuo, bem como a elabora??o do texto de orienta??o aos interessados em transpor o material instrucional para o Ensino M?dio. Esse texto de orienta??o contempla as dificuldades previstas pela literatura da ?rea (FORATO, 2009) e os principais desafios enfrentados pelos participantes acerca da transposi??o did?tica da HFC para o contexto educacional, que foram notados durante a oficina. A relev?ncia dessa segunda frente, em particular, se justifica pela exist?ncia de lacunas no que diz respeito ? inser??o da tem?tica NdC e da pr?pria HFC na forma??o de professores

Binary oxides constitute an outstanding class of functional materials with potential applications in many fields such as catalysis, gas sensing, field emission, solar cells, photodetection, etc. Due to the difference in their physical/chemical properties, different oxides have been explored for different applications. For examples, SnO2, Cr2O3 and ZnO are being explored for gas sensing due to their high adsorption capacity for volatile gases, ZnO, Cu2O etc. are being explored in solar cells because of high adsorption coefficient in UV/visible region and so on. Various techniques are available for synthesis of binary oxides and tuning their properties. Most of the physical or chemical synthesis techniques are expensive, need high cost instruments and produces hazardous chemical waste. We need a simple, cost effective and ecofriendly techniques for the synthesis of binary oxides. In present work, a simple and facile thermal oxidation strategy has been employed for the synthesis of various binary oxides (Cu2O, GeO2 and ZnO). For example, CuO nanorods are obtained when Cu is heated around ~ 500 oC, which then heated in Ar atmosphere to obtain a film of porous Cu2O. Similarly, GeO2 with different morphologies and green-luminescent ZnO are obtained by controlling the reaction parameters. These oxides have then been explored for various applications including white light phosphors, catalysis for the degradation of dyes and non-contact thermometry. Overall, we present a thermal oxidation strategy for the synthesis of various binary oxides and explore potential applications in various fields.

Photoelectrodes and photovoltaic devices have been prepared via multiple thin film deposition methods. Aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD), electrodeposition (ED), chemical bath deposition (CBD) and doctor blade technique (DB) have been used to deposit binary and ternary metal oxide films on FTO glass substrates. The prepared thin films were characterised by a combination of SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), powder X-ray diffraction, mechanical strength tests and photochemical measurements. Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films prepared by AACVD were determined to have good mechanical strength . with a photocurrent of 7.6 μA cm-2 at 0 V and an onset potential of about 0.10 V. This contrasted with the dark current density of 0.3 μA cm-2 at 0 V. These NiO samples have very high porosity with crystalline columns evidenced by SEM. In comparison with the AACVD methodology, NiO films prepared using a combination of ED and DB show good mechanical strength but a higher photocurrent of 24 μA cm-2 at 0 V and an onset potential of about 0.10 V with a significantly greater dark current density of 7 μA cm-2 at 0 V. The characteristic features shown in the SEM are smaller pores compared to the AACVD method. Copper (II) oxide (CuO) and copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) films were fabricated by AACVD by varying the annealing temperature between 100-325°C in air using a fixed annealing time of 30 min. It was shown by photocurrent density (J-V) measurements that CuO produced at 325 °C was most stable and provided the highest photocurrent of 173 μA cm-2 at 0 V with an onset potential of about 0.23 V. The alignment of zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-rods and nano-tubes fabricated by CBD have been shown to be strongly affected by the seed layer on the FTO substrate. SEM images showed that AACVD provided the best seed layer for aligning the growth of the nano-rods perpendicular to the surface. Nano-rods were successfully altered into nano-tubes using a potassium chloride bath etching method. NiO prepared by both AACVD and the combined ED/DB method were sensitized to absorb more of the solar spectrum using AACVD to deposit CuO over the NiO. A large increase in the photocurrent was observed for the p-type photoelectrode. These p-type photoelectrode showed a photocurrent density of approximately 100 μA cm-2 at 0 V and an onset potential of 0.3 V. This photocathode was then used as a base to produce a solid state p-type solar cell. For the construction of the solid state solar cells several n-type semiconductors were used, these were ZnO, WO3 and BiVO4. WO3 and BiVO4 were successfully produced with BiVO4 proving to be the optimum choice. This cell was then studied more in depth and optimised by controlling the thickness of each layer and annealing temperatures. The best solid state solar cell produced had a Jsc of 0.541 μA cm-2 (541 nA) and a Voc of 0.14 V, TX146 made up of NiO 20 min, CuFe2O4 50 min, CuO 10 min, BiVO4 27 min, using AACVD and then annealed for 30 min at 600°C.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:41:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MariaJFCpdf.pdf: 4931245 bytes, checksum: 45a7ea893d17f478c73adf56787579aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-12-22 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The present work reports the study of nanoporous structures, aiming at their use in research directed to the current demand of the petroleum industry to value heavy oil. Initially, two ways were chosen for the synthesis of porous structures from the molecular sieves of type Si-MCM-41. In the first way, the structure MCM-41 is precursory for heteroatom substitutes of silicon, generating catalyst of the type Al-MCM-41 from two different methods of incorporation of the metal. This variation of the incorporation method of Aluminum in the structure of Si-MCM-41 was carried out through the conventional procedure, where the aluminum source was incorporated to the gel of synthesis, and the procedure post-synthesis, where the Aluminum source was incorporated in catalyst after the synthesis of Si-MCM-41. In the second way, the MCM-41 acts as a support for growth of nanocrystals of zeolite embedded in their mesoporous, resulting in hybrid MCM-41/ZSM-5 catalyst. A comparative analysis was carried through characterizations by XRD, FTIR, measures of acidity through n-butylamine adsorption for TGA, SEM-XRF and N2 adsorption. Also crystalline aluminosilicate with zeolitic structure MFI of type ZSM-5 was synthesized without using organic templates. Methodologies to the preparation of these materials are related by literature using conventionally reactants that supply oxides of necessary silicon and aluminum, as well as a template agent, and in some cases co-template. The search for new routes of preparation for the ZSM-5 aimed at, above all, the optimization of the same as for the time and the temperature of synthesis, and mainly the elimination of the use of organic templates, that are material of high cost and generally very toxic. The current study is based on the use of the H2O and Na+ cations playing the role of structural template and charge compensation in the structure. Characterizations by XRD, FTIR, SEM-XRF and N2 adsorption were also conducted for this material in order to compare the samples of ZSM-5 synthesized in the absence of template and those used industrially and synthesized using structuring / O presente trabalho relata o estudo de estruturas nanoporosas, visando o uso em pesquisas que atendam a atual demanda da ind?stria do petr?leo, de valorizar ?leos pesados. Inicialmente, optou-se por duas vertentes para a s?ntese de estruturas porosas a partir da peneira molecular do tipo Si-MCM-41. Na primeira vertente, a estrutura MCM-41 ? precursora para hetero?tomos substituintes do sil?cio, gerando catalisadores do tipo Al-MCM-41 a partir de dois diferentes m?todos de incorpora??o do metal. Essa varia??o do m?todo de incorpora??o do Alum?nio na estrutura do Si-MCM-41 se deu atrav?s do procedimento convencional, no qual a fonte de alum?nio foi incorporada ao gel de s?ntese e do procedimento p?s-s?ntese, no qual a fonte de Alum?nio foi incorporada ao catalisador ap?s a s?ntese do Si-MCM-41. Na segunda vertente, o MCM-41 age como suporte para o crescimento de nanocristais de ze?lita embutidos nos seus mesoporos, resultando no catalisador h?brido MCM-41/ZSM-5. Uma an?lise comparativa foi realizada atrav?s de caracteriza??es por XRD, FTIR, medidas de acidez atrav?s de dessor??o de n-butilamina por TGA, SEM-XRF e Adsor??o de N2. Tamb?m foi sintetizado um aluminossilicato cristalino com estrutura zeol?tica MFI do tipo ZSM-5, na aus?ncia total de direcionador org?nico. Metodologias relacionadas ? prepara??o desses materiais s?o relatadas pela literatura utilizando-se convencionalmente reagentes que forne?am os ?xidos de sil?cio e de alum?nio necess?rios, bem como um agente direcionador, e em alguns casos at? co-direcionadores. A busca por novas rotas de prepara??o para a ZSM-5 visou, sobretudo, a otimiza??o da mesma no que se refere ao tempo e ? temperatura de s?ntese, e principalmente a elimina??o do uso dos direcionadores org?nicos, que s?o materiais de alto custo e geralmente muito t?xicos. O atual estudo se baseia na utiliza??o da H2O e dos c?tions Na+ desempenhando o papel de direcionamento estrutural e compensa??o de cargas na estrutura. Caracteriza??es por XRD, FTIR, SEM-XRF e Adsor??o de N2 tamb?m foram realizadas para esse material, a fim de comparar as amostras de ZSM-5 sintetizadas na aus?ncia do direcionador e aquelas utilizadas industrialmente e sintetizadas utilizando estruturantes

Soil organic matter (OM) is a complex mixture of compounds, mainly derived from plants and microbes at various states of decay. It is part of the global carbon cycle and is important for maintaining soil quality. OM protection is mainly attributed to its association with minerals. However, clay minerals preferentially sorb specific OM structures, and clay sorption sites become saturated as OM concentrations increase. Therefore, it is important to examine how OM structures influence their association with soil minerals, and to characterize other protection mechanisms. Several techniques, which provide complementary information, were combined to investigate OM composition: Biomarker (lignin phenol, cutin-OH acid, and lipid) analysis, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; and an emerging method, solution-state 1H NMR spectroscopy. OM composition of sand-, silt-, clay-size, and light fractions of Canadian soils were compared. It was found that microbial-derived and aliphatic structures accumulated in clay-size fractions, and lignin phenols in silt-size fractions may be protected from further oxidation. Therefore, OM protection through association with minerals may be structure-specific. OM in soils amended with maize leaves, stems, and roots from a biodegradation study were also examined. Over time, lignin phenol composition, and oxidation; and aliphatic structure contribution changed less in soils amended with leaves compared to soils amended with stems and roots. Compared to soils amended with leaves and stems, amendment with roots may have promoted the more efficient formation of microbial-derived OM. Therefore, plant chemistry influenced soil OM turnover. Synthetic OM-clay complexes and soil mineral fractions were used to investigate lignin protection from chemical oxidation. Coating with dodecanoic acid protected lignin from chemical oxidation, and overlying vegetation determined the relative resistance of lignin phenols in clay-size fractions from chemical oxidation. Therefore, additional protection from chemical oxidation may be attributed to OM composition and interactions between OM structures sorbed to clay minerals. Overall, these studies suggest that while association with minerals is important, OM turnover is also influenced by vegetation, and protection through association with clay minerals was modified by OM structure composition. As well, OM-OM interaction is a potential mechanism that protects soil OM from degradation.

Soil organic matter (OM) is a complex mixture of compounds, mainly derived from plants and microbes at various states of decay. It is part of the global carbon cycle and is important for maintaining soil quality. OM protection is mainly attributed to its association with minerals. However, clay minerals preferentially sorb specific OM structures, and clay sorption sites become saturated as OM concentrations increase. Therefore, it is important to examine how OM structures influence their association with soil minerals, and to characterize other protection mechanisms. Several techniques, which provide complementary information, were combined to investigate OM composition: Biomarker (lignin phenol, cutin-OH acid, and lipid) analysis, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; and an emerging method, solution-state 1H NMR spectroscopy. OM composition of sand-, silt-, clay-size, and light fractions of Canadian soils were compared. It was found that microbial-derived and aliphatic structures accumulated in clay-size fractions, and lignin phenols in silt-size fractions may be protected from further oxidation. Therefore, OM protection through association with minerals may be structure-specific. OM in soils amended with maize leaves, stems, and roots from a biodegradation study were also examined. Over time, lignin phenol composition, and oxidation; and aliphatic structure contribution changed less in soils amended with leaves compared to soils amended with stems and roots. Compared to soils amended with leaves and stems, amendment with roots may have promoted the more efficient formation of microbial-derived OM. Therefore, plant chemistry influenced soil OM turnover. Synthetic OM-clay complexes and soil mineral fractions were used to investigate lignin protection from chemical oxidation. Coating with dodecanoic acid protected lignin from chemical oxidation, and overlying vegetation determined the relative resistance of lignin phenols in clay-size fractions from chemical oxidation. Therefore, additional protection from chemical oxidation may be attributed to OM composition and interactions between OM structures sorbed to clay minerals. Overall, these studies suggest that while association with minerals is important, OM turnover is also influenced by vegetation, and protection through association with clay minerals was modified by OM structure composition. As well, OM-OM interaction is a potential mechanism that protects soil OM from degradation.