This diploma thesis is focused on the construction of the electrochemical cells for the lead determination using electrochemical generation of volatile compounds connected with the atomic absorption spectrometry as a detection technique. Three different electrochemical cells were constructed: membrane electrochemical cell (MEC), non-membrane electrochemical cell 1 (BEC1) and non-membrane electrochemical cell 2 (BEC2). Experimental conditions were optimized in continuous flow mode with cells BEC1 and BEC2. The optimization include flow rate of carrier gas, composition and concentration of the electrolytic solution, atomization temperature, generation current and voltage applied to the electrode material. A 1.0 mm diameter cadmium wire was used as cathode material and the anode material was composed of platinum wire of 0.5 mm in diameter. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the calibration was constructed and basic characteristics of proposed method were determined for the BEC1 and BEC2 cells: limit of detection, limit of quantification, repeatability, sensitivity, linear dynamic range and correlation factor of linear dynamic range. The cell MEC was found to be unsuitable for the lead determination by the electrochemical generation of volatile compounds. Using the BEC1 cell, the experimental...

This diploma thesis is aimed at the use of mobile analyzer Gas Detector Array GDA 2 by Fire Brigade Units of the Czech Republic. The goal of the theoretical part was to get acquainted with this instrument and with the possibilities of its use, to describe the principle of analytical methods used in this analyzer. The experimental part was aimed on the analyses of toxic gases and vapors in the air and on the comparison of obtained result. Final part of diploma thesis evaluates the contribution of mobile analyzer GDA 2 for rapid identification of unknown toxic compounds by Fire Brigade Units of the Czech Republic.

Lead-acid accumulators are the oldest and most common type of secondary cells. There are still some problems to solve. Grid corrosion in sulphuric acid is one of them, which reduced lifetime of lead-acid accumulators. The first part of work is focusing on a general theoretic description of lead – acid accumulators. Following is a description of the workstation and method of measuring. The final part of the text is measuring on an experimental cell.

Hybrid electric vehicles use lead acid batteries operating under partial charge. Battery life of these batteries is dependent on the speed of development of lead sulphate (PbSO4) to the negative electrodes. Different admixtures are affected battery life. This work deals with the influence of titanium dioxide on the negative active material in lead battery. Mainly devoted to the influence of the applied pressure.

This Thesis deals with the construction of an electrochemical cell with two types of integrated composite electrodes based on carbon films. Using these electrodes, the voltammetric behavior of environmental pollutant triclosan (5-chlor-2-(2,4- dichlorophenoxy)phenol) was studied. For the construction of composite electrodes, graphite and glassy carbon were used as conductive microparticles. Several types of polymers served as the nonconductive binder. For the measurements, combinations of graphite with polystyrene and graphite with polycarbonate were selected as optimum materials. From the dependence of peak heights on solution composition, a mixture of a buffer of pH 7 and methanol (1:9, V/V) was selected as the optimum medium. In this medium, concentration dependences were measured; calculated triclosan detection limit were 0,49 µmol dm-3 for carbon polystyrene composite electrode and 0,25 µmol dm-3 for carbon polycarbonate composite electrode, respectively. The possibility of further increasing the sensitivity of the determination by the accumulation step was studied. Accumulation of triclosan on carbon polystyrene composite electrode was observed, but the increase in response was connected with the loss of repeatability. Accumulation of triclosan on carbon polycarbonate composite electrode was...

Industrial power generation is an ever-changing practice. After the steam turbine was invented energy production developed with accelerated tempo. Coal replaced wood, oil replaced coal and after natural gas started being used as an energy source, no one could even imagine better and cleaner energy technologies. But in the 21st century renewable energy started its development. The western world decided to develop green, environmentally friendlier technologies with a strong desire to become independent form oil and gas exporters. Hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology are two of the most promising fields of energy study. The European Union and the USA regularly invest a lot of money for research in this area and rapidly develop an energy economy that is free from CO2 emissions. In this scientific report, the situation of hydrogen energy systems in the world but also with a large focus on Russia has been investigated. The main focus was made on successful international projects which have been created within last decades. Moreover, hydrogen production methods and fuel cell technology were described in detail. The cost to produce 1 kg of hydrogen gas based off of Russian economic figures and using water electrolysis and steam reforming process was estimated. Solid oxide and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells were considered in the analysis. The next step was to estimate effectiveness of combined technology with electrical power of 1 kW and economic feasibility of using such technology as stand-alone power generation system in the regions with decentralized electricity.

Organic semiconducting materials have received a lot of attention in recent years and can now be found in many applications. One of the applications, the light emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) has emerged due to its flat and lightweight device structure, low operating voltage, and possibility to be fully solution processed. Today LECs can emit light of various colors, but to be applicable in the lighting industry, white light need to be produced in an efficient way. White light on the other hand, is one of the toughest "colors" to achieve in an efficient way, and is of particular interest in general lighting applications, where high color-rendering index devices are necessary. In this thesis I show that blue light can be partially converted, into white light, by utilizing the photoluminescence of color conversion layers (CCLs). Furthermore, I show that a high color-quality white light can be attained by adopting a blue-emitting LEC with a CCL. Particularly, three different color-conversion materials were embedded onto a blue bottom-emitting LEC, to study the resulting spectrum. One of the materials, MEH-PPV, have good absorption compatibility with the electroluminescence of the blue emitters, but the materials photoluminescence do not cover the red to deep-red range of the spectrum. These parts of the spectrum are necessary to obtain high color rendering indices (≥80). A single layer of MEH-PPV adapted onto a blue-emitting LEC, led to a cold white LEC with CIE-coordinates x = 0.29, and y = 0.36, color-rendering index = 71, and correlated color temperature = 7200 K. These properties makes it potentially useful in outdoor-lighting applications. The photoluminescence of another studied color-converting material, polymer red, covers the red to deep-red range of the spectrum but the material lacks absorption in the green parts of the blue emitters electroluminescence spectrum. Thus it is necessary to combine it with MEH-PPV to be able to absorb all wavelengths from the blue-emitter and get a broad light-spectrum out of the device. In order to preserve a part of the blue light, a new device configuration was designed. It features a top-emitting blue LEC with a dual-layer CCL which reach an impressive color rendering index = 89 at a correlated color temperature = 6400 K (CIE-coordinates x = 0.31, y = 0.33). The color-rendering index is the highest reported for a white LEC. The absence of UV-, and IR-radiation, together with the high color rendering properties make the white LEC a possible candidate for even the most demanding lighting-applications, such as art galleries, and shop display windows, together with indoor lighting. In this thesis, I show that the CCLs function well. However, for the LECs to be worthy competitors, the efficiency and lifetime of the blue emitter need improvements.

Environmentally-assisted cracking (EAC) phenomena affect the in-service behaviour of austenitic stainless steels in nuclear power plants. EAC includes such degradation phenomena as Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) and Corrosion Fatigue (CF). Factors affecting EAC include the material type, microstructure, environment, and stress. This is an important degradation issue for both current and Gen III+ light water reactors, particularly as nuclear power plant lifetimes are extended ( > 60 years). Thus, it is important to understand the behaviour of the alloys used in light water reactors, and phenomena such as SCC to avoid failures. Although there is no agreement on the mechanism(s) of SCC, the importance of localized electrochemical reactions at the material surface is widely recognised. Considerable research has been performed on SCC and CF crack growth, but the initiation phenomena are not fully understood. In this project, novel in situ analytical TEM techniques have been developed and applied to explore localised reactions in Type 304 austenitic stainless steel. In situ transmission electron microscopy has become an increasingly important and dynamic research area in materials science with the advent of unique microscope platforms and a range of specialized in situ specimen holders. In metals research, the ability to image and perform X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XED) analyses of metals in liquids are particularly important for detailed study of the metal-environment interactions with specific microstructural features. To further facilitate such studies a special hybrid specimen preparation technique involving electropolishing and FIB extraction has been developed in this thesis to enable metal specimens to be examined in the liquid cell TEM specimen holder using both distilled H2O and H2SO4 solutions. Furthermore, a novel electrode configuration has been designed to permit the localized electrochemical measurement of electron-transparent specimens in the TEM. These novel approaches have been benchmarked by extensive ex situ experiments, including both conventional electrochemical measurements and microcell measurements. The results are discussed in terms of validation of in situ test data as well as the role of the electron beam in the experiments. In situ liquid cell TEM experiments have also explored the localized dissolution of MnS inclusions in H2O, and correlated the behaviour with ex situ experiments. Based on the research performed in this thesis, in situ liquid cell and in situ electrochemical cell experiments can be used to study nanoscale reactions pertaining to corrosion and localized dissolution leading to "precursor" events for subsequent EAC phenomena.

Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden zwei verschiedene Klassen oxidischer Nanomaterialien nasschemisch synthetisiert und strukturell-morphologisch charakterisiert. Zum einen betrifft dies TiO2-, TiO2/SiO2-, Ag/TiO2- und Pd/TiO2-Sole, welche die photokatalytisch aktive Modifikation Anatas in nanokristalliner Form enthalten und über einen solvothermalen Sol-Gel-Prozess hergestellt werden konnten. Im Hinblick auf eine potentielle Anwendung in der Desinfektionstechnologie und für den Abbau organischer Umweltschadstoffe wurde die photokatalytische Aktivität von Pulvern und Beschichtungen auf Textil durch E. coli-Abtötung bzw. Modellfarbstoffabbau untersucht. Im Weiteren wurde die antimikrobielle Aktivität pyroelektrischer LiNbO3- und LiTaO3-Pulvermaterialien unter zyklischer thermischer Anregung nachgewiesen. Diese als Pyroelektrokatalyse bezeichnete Nutzung des pyroelektrischen Effektes in einem katalytischen bzw. elektrochemischen Prozess ist dabei von grundlegender Neuheit. Aufsetzend auf den physiko-chemischen Grundlagen dieses Phänomens wurde eine Hypothese des Mechanismus entwickelt und in Analogie zur Photokatalyse diskutiert. / This thesis deals with two classes of oxidic nanomaterials that were synthesized by chemical solution routes and characterized with respect to structure and morphology. Sols of TiO2, TiO2/SiO2, Ag/TiO2 and Pd/TiO2 containing the photocatalytically active modification anatase in nanocrystalline form were prepared via a solvothermal sol-gel process. With regard to potential application in disinfection and environmental remediation technology the photocatalytic activity of powders and coatings on textile was investigated by means of E. coli decomposition and organic dye degradation. Further the antimicrobial activity of pyroelectric LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 powder materials under cyclical thermal excitation was demonstrated. In this context the application of the pyroelectric effect in a catalytic or electrochemical process – termed as pyroelectrocatalysis – is of fundamental novelty. Based on the physico-chemical principles of the phenomenon a hypothesis of the mechanism was developed and discussed in analogy with photocatalysis.

Thermal nanoimprint lithography (T-NIL) is a cheap and fast technique to produce nanopatterns in polymeric materials. It creates these patterns by pressing a stamp down into a polymer film that has been heated above its glass transition temperature. These nanopatterned polymer films can be used in a wide variety of scientific fields, not the least the organic semiconductor industry. There the nanopatterned films have, among else, been used to improve the efficiency of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC), which is similar in structure to an OLED, also uses polymer films in their device structure but the light emitting layer also contains an electrolyte. However, it has not been shown if nanopatterns can improve LECs as well or if it is even possible to make an imprint in their polymer films that are mixed with an electrolyte. This thesis shows that T-NIL can be used to imprint nanopatterns in films made of poly(ethylene oxide) and the conjugated polymer Super Yellow. The best nanopatterns were produced by setting the imprint parameters to  85 °C, 10 bar, 1800 s for poly(ethylene oxide) and 115 °C, 20 bar, 1800 s for Super Yellow. Imprints were also performed on polystyrene but no nanopatterns could be produced. This was most likely because the stamp could not handle the high temperature that is required to make a nanopattern in polystyrene. The best imprint parameters of Super Yellow were then used to produce a pattern in a film made of Super Yellow mixed with the salt tetrahexylammonium tetrafluoroborate (THABF4) in order to be able to produce one imprinted and one reference LEC. The imprinted LEC had a luminosity of 139 cd/m2, an improvement of 20% compared to the reference’s 115 cd/m2 when operated under identical conditions.  The forward direction and the angular dependent electroluminescence spectrum of the imprinted LEC clearly showed an effect not observed in the reference. These findings show that the polymer films used in a LEC can be imprinted with a nanopattern by using T-NIL. The imprinted films can be used to create functional LECs that show different behavior and a higher luminosity compared to a non-imprinted reference. If these results can be repeated it might be the starting point of a brighter future.