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Living a sustainable lifestyle while facing increasing population and decreasing natural resources has become one of humanity’s largest challenges. Locating fossil fuels is becoming more difficult while the demand for them to power our societies is ever increasing. Instead of finding more efficient methods of extracting fossil fuels, developing technologies that create renewable substitutes for fossil fuels is now the strategy. Algae biofuel matches fossil fuel performance while also meeting the criteria for renewable energy. The focus now shifts to finding methods for commercially producing algae biofuel. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to develop a system that provides the flexibility in finding the optimum operating conditions for lysing algae. Lysing is the process of disrupting the cell membrane in order to isolate the cellular components necessary to produce biofuel. The proposed system consists of cascaded power converters that provide a pulse output voltage in order to create a pulsed electric field (PEF) to lyse algae. The proposed system is unique from any known PEF systems because it provides the ability to independently adjust peak voltage, pulse width and frequency of the output voltage. This in turn provides great flexibility in determining optimum pulse voltage at various operating conditions for lysing algae. The system was tested on its ability to control the required variables while maintaining independence from the other variables. The new network was also designed and tested on how well it regulated the specific output waveform under the effects of different load currents as well as variations in the input voltage.

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Diffusion is an omnipresent, most fundamental phenomenon in nature and thus critical for the performance of numerous technologies. This is in particular true for nanoporous materials with manifold applications for matter upgrading by separation, purification and conversion. The path lengths of molecular transportation within the industrial plants range from the elementary steps of diffusion within the micropores of the individual particles up to the matter flow over macroscopic distances. Each of them might be decisive in determining overall performance so that detailed knowledge of all modes of mass transfer is crucial for a knowledge-based optimization of the devices with reference to their transport properties. The rate of mass transfer is particularly complicated to be assessed within the individual (adsorbent) particles/crystallites with pore sizes of the order of molecular dimensions. We are going to present two powerful techniques exactly for this application, operating under both equilibrium (Pulsed Field Gradient (PFG) NMR) and non-equilibrium (Microimaging by interference microscopy and IR microscopy) conditions. The potentials of these techniques are demonstrated in a few showcases, notably including the options of transport enhancement in pore hierarchies. The contribution concludes with a survey on present activities within an IUPAC initiative aiming at the elaboration of “guidelines for measurements and reporting of diffusion properties of chemical compounds in nanoporous materials”.

Cell-level and tissue-level mechanical properties are key to healthy biological functions, and many diseases and disorder arise or progress due to altered cell and tissue mechanics. Pulse electric field (PEFs), which employ intense external electric fields to cause electroporation, a phenomenon characterized by increased cell membrane permeability, also can cause significant changes to cell and tissue mechanics. Here, we investigate the mechanics of brain and brain cancer cells, specifically focusing on how PEFs impact cell mechanics and PEF-induced blood-brain barrier disruption. In our first study, we investigate single-cell mechanical disruption of glioblastoma cells after reversible electroporation using Nanonet Force Microscopy (NFM). A precise network of extracellular-matrix mimicking nanofibers enabled cell attachment and contraction, resulting in measurable fiber deflections. Cell contractile forces were shown to be temporarily disrupted after reversible electroporation, in an orientation and field-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that cell response is often a multi-stage process involving a cell-rounding stage, biphasic stage, and a cell re-spreading stage. Additionally, cell viability post-PEFs was orientation-dependent. In another study, we investigated the mechanical properties of brain cancer for various-grade glioma cells (healthy astrocytes, grade II, grade III, and grade IV (glioblastoma) cells). A microfluidic constriction channel caused cell deformation as cells, driven by hydrostatic pressure, entered a narrow constriction. Finite element models of cell deformation and a neural network were used to convert experimental results (cell entry time and cell elongation within the channel) into elastic modulus values (kPa). We found that the that low-grade glioma cells showed higher stiffnesses compared to healthy and grade IV glioma cells, which both showed similar values. These results warrant future studies to investigate these trends further. PEFs can induce Blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, an effect we studied using a multiplexed, PDMS microdevice. A monolayer of human cerebral endothelial cells on a semi-permeable membrane was used to model the BBB, and permeability was assessed by the diffusion of a fluorescent dye from an upper to lower channel. A custom tapered channel and branching channel design created a linear gradient in the electric field within the device that enabled six electric field strengths to be tested at once against two unexposed (control) channels. Normalization of permeability by the control channels significantly removed experimental noise. We found that after high-frequency bipolar irreversible electroporation (HFIRE) electric pulses, permeability transiently increased within the first hour after electroporation, in a voltage- and pulse-number dependent manner. However, we found significant electrofusion events after pulsing at high voltages, which reduced monolayer permeability below baseline values. This device enables efficient exploration of a wide range of electroporation parameters to identify the optimal conditions for blood-brain barrier disruption. In another blood-brain barrier study, we incorporate dense, polystyrene nanofiber networks to create ultra-thin, ultra-porous basement-membrane-mimics for In vitro blood-brain barrier models. Fiber networks are fabricated using the non-electrospinning Spinneret-based Tunable Engineered Parameters (STEP) technique. Endothelial cells cultured on one side of the fiber network are in close contact with supporting cell types (pericytes) cultured on the backside of the fibers. Contact-orientation co-cultures have been shown to increase blood-brain barrier integrity, and our nanofiber networks increase the physiological realism of basement-membrane mimics for improve modeling. Finally, we investigate how cell viability post-electroporation is impacted by cell morphology. The impact of cell morphology (shape and cytoskeletal structure) on cell survival after electroporation is not well understood. Linking specific morphological characteristics with cell susceptibility to electroporation will enhance fundamental knowledge and will be widely useful for improving electroporation techniques where cell viability is desirable (gene transfection, electrofusion, electrochemotherapy) or where cell viability is undesirable (tumor ablation, cardiac ablation). Precise control of cell shape and orientation enabled by nanofiber scaffolds provides a convenient and expedient platform for investigating a wide variety of factors (morphological and experimental) on cell viability. Altogether, these investigations shed new light on cell mechanical changes due to disease and pulsed electric fields, and suggest opportunities for improving brain cancer therapies. / Doctor of Philosophy / In biology, structure and function are interrelated. Cells and tissue have structures that enable them to perform their proper function. In the case of disease, cell and tissue properties are altered, leading to dysfunction. Alternatively, healthy structures sometime hinder effective treatments, and therefore can be therapeutically disrupted to improve treatments. In this study, we investigate single-cell and multi-cellular mechanical change due to disease or after pulsed electric fields (PEFs), with a specific focus on the brain. Pulsed electric fields (PEFs) use electrodes to deliver short, intense pulses of electrical energy to disrupt cell membranes and change cell mechanics. We studied as single-cell contractility, cancer cell stiffness, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption by PEFs. We found that PEFs cause significant change to cell shape and mechanics, and can disrupt the BBB. By studying several grades of brain cancers, we found that low-grade brain cancer (gliomas) showed increased stiffness compared to healthy and highly diseased (grade IV) cells. To mimic the BBB, we used microfluidic devices to grow specialized brain cells (endothelial cells) on permeable membranes and nanofibers networks and showed that these devices can mimic structures found in animals/humans. Finally, we studied how cell properties (such as shape) determine whether cells will survive PEFs. Taken together, our investigations improve the understanding of brain mechanics during disease and after PEFs, and suggest the usefulness of PEFs for improved brain cancer therapies.

The current driven electrothermal instability (ETI) forms when the material resistivity is temperature dependent, occurring in nearly all Z-pinch-like high energy density platforms. ETI growth for high-mass density materials is predominantly striation form which corresponds to magnetically perpendicular mode growth. The striation form is caused by a resistivity that increases with temperature, which is often the case for high-mass density materials. In contrast, low-density ETI growth is mainly filamentation form, magnetically aligned modes, because the resistivity tends to decrease with temperature. Simulating ETI is challenging due to the coupling of magnetic field transport to equation of state over a large region of state space spanning solids to plasmas. This dissertation presents a code-code verification study to effectively model the ETI. Specifically, this study provides verification cases which ensure the unit physics components essential to modeling ETI are accurate. This provides a way for fluid-based codes to simulate linear and nonlinear ETI. Additionally, the study provides a sensitivity analysis of nonlinear ETI to equation of state, vacuum resistivity, and vacuum density. Simulations of ETI typically use a collisional form of the resistivity as provided, e.g., in a Lee-More Desjarlais conductivity table. In regions of low-mass density, collision-less transport needs to be incorporated to properly simulate the filamentation form of ETI growth. Anomalous resistivity (AR) is an avenue by which these collision-less micro-turbulent effects can be incorporated into a collisional resistivity. AR directly changes the resistivity which will directly modify the linear growth rate of ETI, so a new linear growth rate is derived which includes AR's added dependency on current density. This linear growth rate is verified through a filamentation ETI simulation using an ion acoustic based AR model. Kinetically based simulations of vacuum contaminant plasmas provide a physical platform to study the use of AR models in pulsed-power platforms. Using parameters from the Z-machine pulsed-power device, the incorporation of AR can increase a collisional-based resistivity by upwards of four orders of magnitude. The presence of current-carrying vacuum contaminant plasmas can indirectly affect nonlinear ETI growth through modification of the magnetic diffusion wave. The impact of AR on nonlinear ETI is explored through pulsed-power simulations of a dielectrically coated solid metallic liner surrounded by a low-density vacuum contaminant plasma. / Doctor of Philosophy / High-energy-density physics (HEDP) is the study of materials with pressures that exceed 1Mbar, and is difficult to reach here on Earth. Inertial confinement fusion concepts and experiments are the primary source for achieving these pressures in the laboratory. Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a nuclear fusion concept that relies on the inertia of imploding materials to compress a light fuel (often deuterium and tritium) to high densities and temperatures to achieve fusion reactions. The imploding materials in ICF are driven in many ways, but this dissertation focuses on ICF implosions driven by pulsed-power devices. Pulsed-power involves delivering large amounts of capacitive energy in the form of electrical current over very short time scales (nanosecond timescale). The largest pulsed-power driver is the Z-machine at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) which is capable of delivering upwards of 30 MA in 130 ns approximately. During an ICF implosion there exists instabilities that disrupt the integrity of the implosion causing non-ideal lower density and temperature yields. One such instability is the Rayleigh-Taylor instability where a light fluid supports a heavy fluid under the influence of gravity. The Rayleigh-Taylor is one of the most detrimental instabilities toward achieving ignition and was one of the main research topics in the early stages of this Ph.D. The study of this instability provided a nice intro for modeling in the HEDP regime, specifically, in the uses of tabulated equations-of-state and tabulated transport coefficients (e.g., resistivity and thermal conductivity). The magneto Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurs in pulsed-power fusion platforms where the heavy fluid is now supported by a magnetic field instead of a light fluid. The magneto Rayleigh-Taylor instability is the most destructive instability in many pulsed-power fusion platforms, so understanding seeding mechanisms is critical in mitigating its impact. Magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) is a pulsed-power fusion concept that involves imploding a solid cylindrical metal annulus on laser-induced pre-magnetized fuel. The solid metal liners have imperfections and defects littered throughout the surface. The imperfections on the surface create a perturbation during the initial phases of the implosion when the solid metal liner is undergoing ohmic heating. Because a solid metal has a resistivity that increases with temperature, as the metal heats the resistivity increases causing more heating which creates a positive feedback loop. This positive feedback loop is similar to the heating process in a nichrome wire in a toaster, and is the fundamental bases of the main instability studied in this dissertation, the electrothermal instability (ETI). ETI is present in all pulsed-power fusion platforms where a current-carrying material has a resistivity that changes with temperature. In MagLIF, ETI is dominant in the early stages of a current pulse where the resistivity of the metal increases with temperature. An increasing resistivity with temperature is connected to the axially growing modes of ETI which is denoted as the striation form of ETI. Contrary to the striation form of ETI, the filamentation form of ETI occurs when resistivity decreases with temperature and is associated with the azimuthally growing modes of ETI. Chapter 2 in this dissertation details a study of how to simulate striaiton ETI for a MagLIF-like configuration across different resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) codes. Resistivity that decreases with temperature typically occurs in low-density materials which are often in a gaseous or plasma state. Low density plasmas are nearly collision-less and have resistivity definitions that often overestimate the conductivity of a plasma in certain experiments. Anomalous resistivity (AR) addresses this overestimation by increasing a collisional resistivity through micro-turbulence driven plasma phenomenon that mimic collisional behavior. The creation of AR involves reduced-modeling of micro-turbulence driven plasma phenomenon, such as the lower hybrid drift instability, to construct an effective collision frequency based on drift speeds. Because AR directly modifies a collisional resistivity for certain conditions, it will directly alter the growth of ETI which is the topic of Chapter 3. The current on the Z-machine is driven by the capacitor bank through the post-hole convolute, the magnetically insulated transmission lines, and then into the chamber. Magnetically insulated transmission lines have been shown to create low-density plasma through desorption processes in the vacuum leading to a load surrounded by a low-density plasma referred to as a vacuum contaminant plasmas (VCP). VCP can divert current from the load by causing a short between the vacuum anode and cathode gap. In simulations, this plasma would be highly conducting when represented by a collisionally-based resistivity model resulting in non-physical vacuum heating that is not observed in experiments. VCP are current-carrying low-density and high-temperature plasmas which make them ideal candidates to study the role of AR as described in Chapter 4. Chapter 4 investigates the role AR in a VCP would have on striation ETI for a MagLIF-like load.

Water and ion transport critically determine the performance of many functional materials and devices, from fuel cells to lithium ion batteries to soft mechanical actuators. This dissertation aims to address some fundamental issues regarding transport and anisotropy, structural heterogeneity and molecular interactions inside ionic polymers. I first discuss a main deficiency of a standard protocol for calibrating high pulsed-field-gradient NMR. I show that high gradient calibration using low γ nuclei is not amenable to measurements on slow diffusing high γ nuclei. Then I employ NMR diffusometry to investigate transport and anisotropy for a series of ionic polymers, from poly(arylene ether sulfone) hydrophilic-hydrophobic multi-block copolymers to polymer blends to perfluorosulfonate random copolymers. For the multi-block copolymers, NMR diffusion measurements yield diffusion anisotropy as a function of water uptake and block lengths. ²H NMR spectroscopy on absorbed D₂O probes membrane alignment modes. These measurements also provide insights into average defect distributions. For the blend membranes, we examine the impact of compatibilizer on their transport properties. An increase in compatibilizer significantly improves the membrane phase homogeneity confirmed by SEM and transport studies. Theories of diffusion in porous media yield changes in domain size and tortuosity that correspond to drastic changes in local restrictions to water diffusion among different blend membranes. NMR relaxometry studies yield multi-component T₁ values, which further probe structural heterogeneities on smaller scales than diffusion experiments. For the random copolymer, the exploration of ion transport reveals inter-ionic associations of ionic liquids (ILs) modulated by hydration level and ionic medium. When ILs diffuse inside ionic polymers, isolated anions diffuse faster (≥ 4X) than cations at high hydration whereas ion associations result in substantially faster cation diffusion (≤ 3X) at low hydration inside membranes, revealing prevalent anionic aggregates. Finally, I present the strategy and analytical protocol for studying ionomer membranes using ILs. The normal cation diffusion contrasts to the anomalous anion diffusion caused by local confinement structures inside the membranes, which vary drastically with temperature and hydration level. These structures correspond to a density variation of SO₃⁻ groups, which define a distribution of local electrical potentials that fluctuate with temperature and nature of ionic media. / Ph. D.