<p>This project involves the fabrication and testing of microporous, polymer membranes designed to remove minute amounts of toxic air pollutants such as formaldehyde from air streams. The hypothesis to be tested is that active, the silver contained within the porous polymer membranes results in high formaldehyde retention.</p><p>Monolayers consist of different sizes of sPS particles are assembled first on the silicon wafers by spin coating method and convective assembly method, respectively. Then each kind of monolayer with one dimension of sPS particles is deposited with a nanometer scaled silver thin film with a bench top metal evaporator. The porous membranes are produced by assembly of close-packed colloidal crystals of silver capped polystyrene template particles and subsequent infiltration with polyurethane prepolymer. The prepolymer is cured by UV exposure. The sPS particles are removed from the particle polymer membrane by treatment with organic solvents resulting in the formation of inverse opal structures. Silver does not dissolve in the organic solvents and cannot leave the pores due to the small size of connecting holes in an inverse opal. All the monolayers, cylindrical colloidal crystals and microcapillaries after infiltration of polyurethane had been characterized by optical microscope, and the porous membranes had been characterized by SEM.</p><p>The application of porous membranes with silver caps is to absorb formaldehyde in the air, while in fact the silver caps are oxidized and become Ag2O, which will initiate a gas-phase/solid reaction with formaldehyde. In the future, TiO2 will be applied together with Ag2O, since TiO2 is another good absorbent for formaldehyde</p>

Drawing from the lessons of plant transpiration, this dissertation explores a biomimiced system for fluid transport and thermal regulation. This system utilizes evaporation and benefits from the associated passive pumping with an application of a rooftop solar radiation barrier in mind. By directing the incoming energy towards the phase change of water, lower surface temperatures can be maintained thus reducing heat transfer into the structure by conduction. In order to design and construct such a bio-inspired system, several parameters, i.e., the evaporation surface, the delivery path and the working fluid, must be understood as to how they affect and limit operations. Performance factors such as evaporation rate and suction pressure were monitored for the various design constraints of feeding tube length and diameter, membrane area, and working fluid. Additionally, as a heat flux was imposed on the membrane from above and below, the substrate temperature became important. Over the range of parameters tested, hydrodynamic resistances of the delivery path were shown to affect pumping height but not the evaporation rate. Instead, the evaporation rate was controlled by the substrate temperature. Furthermore, the normalized evaporation rate was found to be inversely related to the evaporation surface area. Under contaminated working fluid conditions, particles deposited in the membrane caused decreases in evaporation rates. When applied to a simulated roof situation, the evaporation system was successful at maintaining considerably lower surface temperatures than other conventional and unconventional roof albedos, which, in turn, would reduce heat flux into the interior by conduction. Lastly, in estimating the water consumption, on a typical August day in Austin, TX, the system could use up to 2 gallons/m² while providing enhanced cooling. When the system's resources were compared to being purposed in other ways, they were arguably better utilized in providing evaporative cooling. / text

This project involves the fabrication and testing of microporous, polymer membranes designed to remove minute amounts of toxic air pollutants such as formaldehyde from air streams. The hypothesis to be tested is that active, the silver contained within the porous polymer membranes results in high formaldehyde retention. Monolayers consist of different sizes of sPS particles are assembled first on the silicon wafers by spin coating method and convective assembly method, respectively. Then each kind of monolayer with one dimension of sPS particles is deposited with a nanometer scaled silver thin film with a bench top metal evaporator. The porous membranes are produced by assembly of close-packed colloidal crystals of silver capped polystyrene template particles and subsequent infiltration with polyurethane prepolymer. The prepolymer is cured by UV exposure. The sPS particles are removed from the particle polymer membrane by treatment with organic solvents resulting in the formation of inverse opal structures. Silver does not dissolve in the organic solvents and cannot leave the pores due to the small size of connecting holes in an inverse opal. All the monolayers, cylindrical colloidal crystals and microcapillaries after infiltration of polyurethane had been characterized by optical microscope, and the porous membranes had been characterized by SEM. The application of porous membranes with silver caps is to absorb formaldehyde in the air, while in fact the silver caps are oxidized and become Ag2O, which will initiate a gas-phase/solid reaction with formaldehyde. In the future, TiO2 will be applied together with Ag2O, since TiO2 is another good absorbent for formaldehyde

Submitted by Lucienne Costa (lucienneferreira@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-03-23T18:34:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DANIEL CESAR DE MACEDO CAVALCANTE – TESE (PPGEP) 2017.pdf: 5981753 bytes, checksum: 7cb1bc84364b7e8874a0a5bd64ac28f9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-23T18:34:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DANIEL CESAR DE MACEDO CAVALCANTE – TESE (PPGEP) 2017.pdf: 5981753 bytes, checksum: 7cb1bc84364b7e8874a0a5bd64ac28f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-24 / Capes / Os hidrociclones convencionais são equipamentos versáteis, devido a elevada capacidade de processamento, baixo custo de manutenção. Vários são os estudos que visam alterar a estrutura típica do hidrociclone convencional de modo alterar seu desempenho e objetivo. Assim surgiu os hidrociclones filtrantes no qual se diferencia do hidrociclone convencional pela substituição da parede cônica ou cilíndrica por uma membrana porosa. Durante o funcionamento desse separador, além das correntes tradicionalmente observadas (alimentação, underflow e overflow), há uma corrente líquida proveniente do processo de filtração, normalmente denominado filtrado. O presente trabalho propõe estudar hidrociclones filtrantes baseados no trabalho de Façanha (2012), a partir do estudo numérico do processo de separação água/partícula sólida realizado com auxílio do “software” comercial ANSYS CFX® Release 15.0. O modelo matemático usado considera escoamento tridimensional, turbulento, estacionário, baseado na abordagem Euleriana-Euleriana e modelo de turbulência SST “Shear Stress Transport”. Foram avaliados estudos da dinâmica do escoamento, Efeito da porosidade, efeito da permeabilidade e efeito da matriz porosa. Os resultados demonstram que a vazão do filtrado é menor em relação as outras saídas, altera o escoamento no interior do hidrociclone filtrante tanto em relação a porosidade, permeabilidade e efeito da posição do meio filtrante. O aumento da porosidade e permeabilidade alterou a distribuição de pressão, razão do líquido e eficiência total no interior do hidrociclo cilíndrico filtrante. / Conventional hydrocyclones are versatile equipment due to high processing capacity and low maintenance costs. Several studies are aimed at changing the typical structure of conventional hydrocyclone in order to alter its performance and purpose. In this way the hydrocyclones filtering in which it differs from the conventional hydrocyclone by the replacement of the conical or cylindrical wall by a porous membrane. During the operation of this separator, in addition to the traditionally observed currents (feed, underflow and overflow), there is a liquid stream coming from the filtration process, usually called filtrate. The present work proposes to study filtering hydrocyclones based on the work of Façanha (2012), based on the numerical study of the water / solid particle separation process performed with the commercial software ANSYS CFX® Release 15.0. The mathematical model used considers three-dimensional, turbulent, stationary flow, based on the Eulerian-Eulerian approach and SST turbulence model "Shear Stress Transport". Studies of flow dynamics, porosity effect, permeability effect and porous matrix effect were evaluated. The results show that the flow rate of the filtrate is lower in relation to the other outlets, it changes the flow inside the filter hydrocyclone in relation to the porosity, permeability and effect of the position of the filter medium. The increase in porosity and permeability altered the pressure distribution, liquid ratio and total efficiency inside the filter cylindrical hydrocyclones.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第19686号 / 工博第4141号 / 新制||工||1639(附属図書館) / 32722 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科航空宇宙工学専攻 / (主査)教授 稲室 隆二, 教授 青木 一生講師杉元 宏 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Paper-fluidic devices are a popular platform for point-of-care diagnostics due to their low cost, ease of use, and equipment-free detection of target molecules. The most common example is the lateral flow assay, in which samples are added to a paper membrane and a colorimetric indicator provides a binary signal indicating whether the molecule of interest is present. A novel lateral flow assay was developed to detect a protein biomarker for early stage cervical cancer. Cervical cancer can be cured if detected and treated at an early stage, but approximately 90% of cervical cancer deaths occur in low and middle-income countries due to lack of accessible testing. Methods for detecting the biomarker, valosin-containing protein (VCP), were optimized using enzymatic and gold nanoparticle dot blots, then lateral flow assays were developed and validated using purified VCP and cervical cancer HeLa cells. Future validation with patient tissue samples will permit translation of this device to testing clinics in low-resource areas. Despite advantages for use in resource limited settings, lateral flow assays are limited by their inability to perform more complex or multi-step processes, such as nucleic acid amplification or enzymatic signal enhancement. Thermally actuated wax valves are one mechanism that provides complete control over fluid obstruction and release. To better understand how wax valves can be used in fully automated, self-contained lateral flow assays, different sizes and geometries of valves were tested to investigate their effects on actuation time, flow rate, and flow pattern. Another limitation in the understanding of lateral flow assays is the lack of experimental data describing the microscale flow within the pores of the paper membrane that drives the biophysical reactions in the assay. Mathematical models can be designed to explain macroscopic phenomena, but so far, no literature has compared microfluidic models to microfluidic data. To quantify microfluidic properties within lateral flow assays, fluorescent nanoparticles were imaged flowing through different areas of the membrane and their velocity was quantified using micro-particle image velocimetry (µPIV). Scanning electron microscope images were used to verify that this experimental model was reasonable for describing microfluidic properties of the lateral flow assay. Altogether, this document investigates how developing lateral flow assays for cervical cancer detection can save lives by improving the accessibility of an early diagnosis, and how more robust lateral flow assay characterization can expand their applicability to a broad range of detection processes.

Les matériaux à structure tridimensionnelle laissent entrevoir de nombreuses applications prometteuses dans le domaine de l'ingénierie tissulaire et de la médecine régénérative en fournissant un micro-environnement approprié pour l'incorporation de cellules ou de facteurs de croissance afin de régénérer des tissus ou organes endommagés. Dans ce contexte, une membrane a été élaborée à partir d'un mélange de poly (ε-caprolactone) PCL / chitosan CHT à partir d'une technique d'inversion de phase permettant un apport localisé de non solvent. La technique permet d'obtenir une double morphologie poreuse : (i) des macrovides en surface (gros pores) facilement accessibles pour l'invasion et la viabilité des cellules; (ii) un réseau macroporeux interconnecté (petits pores) pour transférer les nutriments, l'oxygène, le facteur de croissance à travers le matériau. Les propriétés physico-chimiques (taille des pores, chimie de surface et biodégradabilité) des matériaux ont été caractérisées. Il est montré comment il est possible d'ajuster les propriétés de la membrane en modifiant le rapport PCL / CHT. Des cultures de cellules souches mésenchymateuses humaines (CSMh) ont été réalisées sur la membrane. La viabilité et la prolifération cellulaires ont été étudiées par des essais de test au MTT et de taux d'absorption d'oxygène. Les expériences démontrent que la membrane est biocompatible et peut être colonisée par les cellules. La microscopie confocale montre que les cellules sont capables de pénétrer à l'intérieur des macrovides de la membrane. La prolifération cellulaire de CSM dans ce matériau pourrait être utile pour augmenter la longévité d'autres cellules primaires en modifiant les CSM pour produire des facteurs de croissance. Pour tester le comportement dynamique des cellules sur la membrane, un dispositif d'organe sur puce a été développé avec des cellules endothéliales ombilicales humaines ensemencées sur la membrane. Les résistances hydrauliques de la barrière cellulaire sur la membrane ont été quantifiées en temps réel pour une pression trans-endothéliale (PTE), 20 cm H2O à 37 ° C et avec des cellules vivantes après 1 jour et 3 jours après l'ensemencement. Les résultats suggèrent que ce type d'échafaudages polymères peut être utile à l'avenir comme patch in vivo pour réparer des vaisseaux endommagés. / Over the last decades, three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds are unfolding many promising applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine field by providing suitable microenvironment for the incorporation of cells or growth factors to regenerate damaged tissues or organs. The three-dimensional polymeric porous scaffolds with higher porosities having homogeneous interconnected pore network are highly useful for tissue engineering. In this context, a poly (ε- caprolactone) PCL/chitosan CHT blend membrane with a double porous morphology was developed by modified liquid induced phase inversion technique. The membrane shows: (i) surface macrovoids (big pores) which could be easily accessible for cells invasion and viability; (ii) interconnected microporous (small pores) network to transfer essential nutrients, oxygen, growth factors between the macrovoids and throughout the scaffolds. The physico-chemical properties (pore size, surface chemistry and biodegradability) of the materials have been characterized. This study shows how it is possible to tune the membrane properties by changing the PCL/CHT ratio. Human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSCs) culture was performed on the membranes and the cell viability and proliferation was investigated by MTT assay and oxygen uptake rate experiments. The experiments demonstrate that the membranes are biocompatible and can be colonized by the cells at micron scale. Confocal microscopy images show that the cells are able to adhere and penetrate inside the macrovoids of the membranes. Both cell proliferation and oxygen uptake increase with time especially on membranes with lower chitosan concentration. The presence of chitosan in the blend produces an increase of porosity that affect the entrapment of the cells inside the porous bulk of the membranes. Successful cellular proliferation of hMSCs could be useful to enhance longevity of other primary cells by production of corresponding growth factors. To test the dynamic behavior of cells on the membranes, an organ-on-chip (OOC) device has been developed with human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs) seeded on the membrane. The hydraulic resistance of the cellular barrier on the membrane has been quantified for real time trans-endothelial pressure (TEP) 20 cmH2O at 37 degree C and with living cells after 1 day and 3 day of post seeding. Results suggests this kind of polymeric scaffolds can be useful in future as an in vivo patch to repair disrupted vessels.

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La conjugaison de phase ultrasonore à couplage par l’air basée sur une céramique magnétostrictive et une membrane de filtration poreuse pour la microscopie et la vélocimétrie de micro écoulements a été développée. Dans ce but, dans le cadre de l’acoustique géométrique un système d’équations pour décrire mathématiquement le passage par l’interface entre l’élément actif du système de conjugaison de phase confocale – milieu de propagation a été développé.On a développé et réalisé une technique de codage de phase par m-séquence pour l’enregistrement des faibles signaux conjugués en phase. Cette technique a permis de travailler plus efficacement avec fort bruit et des signaux qui se trouvent sous le niveau de bruit. Aussi cette technique a permis d’améliorer une méthode de vélocimétrie des écoulements gazeux.On a développé et réalisé une technique d’adaptation d’impédance acoustique basée sur la membrane de filtration poreuse imprégnée par de l’huile. Cette technique a permis d’optimiser les conditions de transmission de l’onde à l’interface air–ferrite aux fréquences basse dans bande du MHz.Les applications possibles de l’effet de conjugaison de phase paramétrique à la vélocimétrie des écoulements gazeux et à la microscopie à couplage par l’air ont été présentées. L’application de l’effet de conjugaison de phase permet d’améliorer les performances des méthodes de vélocimétrie et de microscopie ultrasonores à couplage par l’air. Les méthodes élaborées a repoussé les limites d’applications pratiques de l’effet de conjugaison de phase et peuvent être utilisées pour le développement des dispositifs en vélocimétrie, microscopie et tomographie ultrasonore des écoulements gazeux / Air-coupled wave phase conjugation technique, based on magneto-acoustic interaction and porous membrane filters, for microscopy and velocity measurements of gas micro flows is under investigation. For this reason in the frame of ray acoustics the base system of equations for mathematical model of phase conjugate wave passage through the interface active element of con-focal WPC system – medium of propagation is developed. The phase coding technique by pseudonoise M-sequence was used for registration of weak acoustical phase conjugate signals. This method has allowed to work more effectively with strong noisy and being under noise level phase conjugate signals. Also this method has allowed improving a method of gas flow velocimetry.It is developed and realized the technology of acoustical matching on base of thin polycarbonate porous membrane filters impregnated by oil. This technology has allowed optimizing the conditions of wave transmission through the interface air–ferrite in the low megahertz frequency range.Possible applications of phase conjugate waves in air are shown. Results of investigations of air-coupled wave phase conjugation technics can serve for drawing up of new methods ultrasonic velocimetry and microscopy in technical industrial applications. The elaborated methods expand limits of application and can be used for development of devices of ultrasonic microscopy, tomography and velocimetry of gas micro flows

Segmental chain dynamics in polymer blends is a very important topic, not only from a fundamental point of view but also from technological applications. Because of the difficulties in the commercialization of new polymers, industries have turned increasingly towards blending of polymers to optimise their end use (mechanical, rheological) properties. The design of tailor-made materials would be enormously facilitated by the understanding of the blending phenomena at a molecular level. The key question to address is to understand the dynamics of each component of the blend modified by blending? The thesis has systematically studied the effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the chain dynamics, demixing temperature, structural properties and evolution of morphology in a classical miscible polymer blend system (PVDF/PMMA). The thesis comprises of six chapters, Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter that outlines the fundamentals of polymer blends, crystallisation in polymer blends and the basics of dielectric spectroscopy. As one of the rationales of this work is to systematic study whether phase separated in these blends can be used as a tool to develop membrane for water purification. This chapter also gives an overview of the reported studies of ultrafiltration membrane fabrication, factors affecting membrane morphology and flux. In Chapter 2, the materials and methodology used to carry out experiments and the experimental procedures are discussed. Chapter 3 discusses the effect of concentration of PMMA and amine functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the crystallisation induced phase separation using FTIR, XRD, POM and shear rheology. Electron microscopy and selective etching confirmed the localisation of MWNTs in the PVDF phase of the blends. Blends with MWNTs facilitated in heterogeneous nucleation manifesting in an increase in crystallisation temperature. The crystallisation induced phase separation in PVDF/PMMA blends was observed to influence the interconnected network of MWNTs in the blends. Chapter 4 discuss the effect of concentration of PMMA and MWNTs on the miscibility and the segmental relaxations was probed in situ by DSC and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS). The dynamic heterogeneity in the blends as manifested by the presence of an extra relaxation at a higher frequency at or below the crystallisation induced phase separation temperature was also discussed. We found that PVDF/PMMA blend (PVDF ≥ 80 wt%) exhibits three distinct relaxations; αc corresponding to crystalline PVDF, αβ segmental relaxation of PMMA and αm of amorphous miscibility whereas all relaxations overlap and constitute a single broad relaxation in PVDF/PMMA blend (PVDF ≤ 70 wt%). This confirms that there is a certain composition width in this blend wherein three distinct relaxations can be traced. This could due to many reasons like the width of crystal-amorphous interphase in the crystal lamellae, crystal size and morphology is strongly contingent on the concentration of PMMA. Relaxations are not very distinct in presence of MWNTs due to defective spherulites that shift the relaxations towards a higher frequency. Chapter 5 has attempted to tune the microporous morphology of PVDF membranes using crystallisation induced phase separation in PVDF/PMMA blends. As PVDF/PMMA is a melt-miscible blend, the samples were allowed to crystallise and the amorphous PMMA phase, which isolates in the interlamellar or inter-spherulitic regions in the blends, was etched out to generate microporous structures. The pore sizes can be tuned by varying the PMMA concentration in the blends. We observed that 60/40 PVDF/PMMA blends showed larger pores as compared to 90/10 PVDF/PMMA blends. We further modified PVDF membranes by sputtering silver on the surface. The bacterial cell viability was distinctly suppressed (99 %) in silver sputtered membranes. The ICP analysis suggests that slow Ag+ ions release from the sputtered membrane surface assisted in developing antibacterial surface. Our findings open new avenues in designing water filtration membranes and also help in understanding the crystallisation kinetics for tuning pore size in membranes. Chapter 6 summarises the important results of this work. MWNTs act as hetero nucleating agent and specifically interact with PVDF thereby influences the dynamics of PVDF chains. MWNTs can also restrict the amorphous segmental mobility and can influence the intermolecular cooperativity and coupling. The crystallisation induced phase separation in various blends can result in various crystalline morphologies depending on the PVDF concentration. By selectively etching PMMA from the phase-separated blends, microporous morphology can be generated