A little over 20 years ago Drinfeld presented the quantum (or Drinfeld) double construction. This construction takes any Hopf algebra and embeds it in a larger quasi-triangular Hopf algebra, which contains an algebraic solution to the constant Yang–Baxter equation. One such class of algebras consists of the Drinfeld doubles of finite groups, which are currently of interest due to their connections with non-Abelian anyons. The smallest non-commutative Drinfeld double of a finite group algebra is the Drinfeld double of D3 , the dihedral group of order six, which was recently used to construct solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation cor- responding to 2-state and 3-state integrable spin chains with periodic boundary conditions. In this thesis we construct R-matrices from the Drinfeld double of dihedral group algebras, D(Dn) and consider their associated integrable systems. The 3-state spin chain from D(D3) is generalised to include open boundaries and it is also shown that there exists a more general R-matrix for this algebra. For general D(Dn) an R-matrix is constructed as a descendant of the zero-field six-vertex model.

A little over 20 years ago Drinfeld presented the quantum (or Drinfeld) double construction. This construction takes any Hopf algebra and embeds it in a larger quasi-triangular Hopf algebra, which contains an algebraic solution to the constant Yang–Baxter equation. One such class of algebras consists of the Drinfeld doubles of finite groups, which are currently of interest due to their connections with non-Abelian anyons. The smallest non-commutative Drinfeld double of a finite group algebra is the Drinfeld double of D3 , the dihedral group of order six, which was recently used to construct solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation cor- responding to 2-state and 3-state integrable spin chains with periodic boundary conditions. In this thesis we construct R-matrices from the Drinfeld double of dihedral group algebras, D(Dn) and consider their associated integrable systems. The 3-state spin chain from D(D3) is generalised to include open boundaries and it is also shown that there exists a more general R-matrix for this algebra. For general D(Dn) an R-matrix is constructed as a descendant of the zero-field six-vertex model.