Titanium dioxide colloid with a size of particles between 20 - 40 nm was prepared. Subsequently, three substances were syntetized - methylen bis(phosphonic) acid H4L1 , 4-phosphono-butyric acid H3L2 and 4-hydroxy-4,4-diphosphono-butyric acid H5L3 . Surface of the colloidal nanoparticles was modified using these substances (H4L1 , H3L2 and H5L3 ). Then stability of these systems was studied using acid-base titration and addition of calcium ions. Keywords: TiO2, nanoparticles, surface modification

No description available.

No description available.

Novel amphiphilic graft copolymers with a backbone of poly(norbornene) (PNB) with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) grafts have been synthesised by a combination of ring opening metathesis and anionic polymerisation methods. The polymer has been prepared with hydrogenous and deuterated grafts and with grafts of different degrees of polymerisation. These graft copolymers spread at the air-water and air-PEO solution interface forming thin films and their organisation and dynamic behaviour is discussed. Monolayer behaviour was characterised from surface pressure isotherms and it was demonstrated that the shape of the isotherm is dependent on graft length and on the concentration of PEO in the subphase. Using neutron reflectometry the organisation of such spread films at the air-water interface have been obtained over a range of surface concentrations for each length of PEO graft. Data were analysed by both exact calculation methods and the partial kinematic approximation and the models adopted were verified by applying the model independent Bayesian analysis. All yield the same description i.e. the hydrophobic backbone remains at the uppermost surface while the PEO grafts penetrate the subphase. The PEO layer increases in thickness with increased surface concentration and graft length. In each case the rate of increase with surface concentration was initially rapid but above a critical concentration, a slower rate was observed. In this latter regime the variation of the tethered layer height scales with surface density (ơ) and degree of polymerisation of the graft (N) as, r(_s) = N(^1.06)ơ(^0.33),which agrees well with scaling and self consistent field theory of polymer brushes. The dynamic behaviour of each copolymer film spread on water has been studied using surface quasi-elastic light scattering. A resonance between the capillary and dilational waves is observed at identical surface concentrations for each copolymer film. The viscoelastic behaviour of the dilational mode is reminiscent of Kramers-Kronig relations. The phenomenon of resistive mode mixing was observed in frequency dependency studies.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Chemistry / Takashi Ito / Polymer thin films have played an important role in our everyday lives ranging from industrial to biomedical applications. In this thesis, two major topics based on polymer thin films including photopolymerized self-assembled monolayer and nanoporous thin films derived from diblock copolymer are discussed. In the first part of this thesis, a well-packed self-assembled monolayer with phosphonic acid as head group and diacetylenic functional group in the tail formed on AlGaN/GaN surface. According to water contact angle and UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy data, the stability of this self assembled monolayer on oxidized AlGaN/ GaN surface can be improved by photopolymerization of SAMs. The photopolymerization efficiency of the SAMs is effected by the position of polymerization functional group in the alkyl chain. In the second part of this thesis, PS-b-PMMA diblock copolymer thin films were prepared, characterized and applied as a template for electron transfer efficiency determination. The surface COOH group in nanoporous thin films derived from PS-b-PMMA were modified with ferrocene redox moieties having different linker lengths in the organic phase. The surface functionalization efficiency was quantitatively assessed by measuring the monovalent probe cations released from the surface COOH groups via cation-exchange processes using highly- sensitive analytical techniques including spectrofluorometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The surface coverage of the redox moieties is an important parameter to determine the electron hopping efficiency. The electron propagation resulted from electron hopping across relatively large spacing that was controlled by the motion of anchored redox sites. The longer linker led to the larger physical displacement range of anchored ferrocene moieties, facilitating the approach of the adjacent ferrocene moieties within a distance required for electron self-exchange reaction. Faradic currents originating from redox-involved electron hopping through the ferrocene moieties anchored onto the insulator surface decreased with increasing the concentration of beta-cyclodextrin ([beta]-CD) in aqueous solution. The current could be recovered by adding redox-inactive guest molecules of [beta]-CD to the solution.

Typescript, etc.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has long been the interest of researchers in chemistry, physics and engineering, especially since the discovery that SERS can probe into the system down to the single molecule (SM) level. Despite the large number of publications regarding the fabrication of SERS substrates, it has been a challenge in the field to quantify the SERS signal and universally compare substrates. Traditionally, enhancement factor (EF) is used as an indicator of substrate quality, but the EF calculation is hugely dependent on the estimation of the surface coverage and other factors that are determined largely subjectively. Therefore, this thesis aims at discussing other parameters that can also be used to evaluate different substrates. Six different SERS substrates of Ag or Au nanoparticles of different sizes were fabricated by nanosphere lithography (NSL) and characterized by electron microscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. SERS substrates were mapped for different concentrations of a probe molecule. Through subsequent baseline correction and principle component analysis (PCA), the "intensity" of individual spectrum was obtained and the shapes of intensity histograms of each substrate were acquired. Instead of calculating EF, five criteria (six quantification methods in total) were employed to comprehensively evaluate the six substrates. These were density of hot spots (characterized by the number of zero-intensity events), enhancement (represented by mean intensity), spatial variation (calculated by RSD of intensity), repeatability (realized by cross correlation) and histogram shape (quantified by skewness and kurtosis). These new methods provide insights to the understanding of the properties of SERS substrates in terms of hot spots. Different substrates may exhibit better performance in terms of one criterion but worse in terms of others. Those variations in performance can be explained by their surface morphology. These more elaborated methods are believed to provide a more comprehensive approach to evaluate and compare substrates than the traditional EF values. The thesis also paves the way for future study on SM-SERS and fabricating better SERS substrates. / Graduate

In order to create a complete BIM-model of a whole project, it is common thatseveral programs and software-suites are used. It is beneficial if the models producedin these programs are compatible with each other, in order to improve theeffectiveness of the construction process as a whole. If a model created in oneprogram has to be altered in order to be compatible with another the result is excesswork.Designers, utilizing Civil 3D, more often than not have to alter constructions whichare to be part of a surface-model. This creates a situation where the construction hasto be modelled twice as Civil 3D cannot use the original model. The purpose of thisessay is to research the problems pertaining to surface creation in Civil 3D and theconsequences they have for designers.To better understand the process of surface creation of an object containing verticalparts a practical study of the subject has been carried out in Civil 3D. A simpleconstruction was created in Revit and imported to Civil 3D as to create a surface ofthe highest parts of the construction.The methods used by designers working in Civil 3D were researched as a qualitativestudy by means of surveys and interviews. The result of the study makes it clear thatthe respondents are dependent on models from different fields involved in the sameproject. As the models do not automatically adapt to the software used by thedesigners in question a considerable amount of manual reconstruction of models areneeded. Fundamentally, the issue is two-fold. Firstly, designers depend upon 3Dmodels and objects created by others. Secondly, Civil 3D cannot render verticalsurfaces or overhangs while creating surfaces. Knowledge about the way Civil 3Dworks and utilizing methods avoiding future problems before they occur has thepotential to improve workflow. Sufficient communication between parties involvedalso results in a more effective process.

Creation of accurate and coherent surface models is vital to the effective planning and construction of flood control and hurricane protection projects. Typically, topographic surface models are synthesized from Delaunay triangulations or interpolated raster grids. Although these techniques are adequate in most general situations, they do not effectively address the specific case where topographic data is available only as cross-section and profile centerline data, such as the elevation sampling produced by traditional hydrographic surveys. The hydraulic spline algorithm was developed to generate irregular two-dimensional channel grids from hydrographic cross-sections at any desired resolution. Hydraulic spline output grids can be easily merged with datasets of higher resolution, such as LIDAR data, to build a complete model of channel geometry and overbank topography. In testing, the hydraulic spline algorithm faithfully reproduces elevations of known input cross-section points where they exist, while generating a smooth transition between known cross-sections. The algorithm performs particularly well compared to traditional techniques with respect to aesthetics and accuracy when input data is sparse. These qualities make the hydraulic spline an ideal choice for practical applications where available data may be limited due to historic or budgetary reasons.

The background for this thesis originates from a study of the flow characteristics for an airfoil of the type NACA0018. The aim for this thesis was to evaluate how the characteristics of the flow over the NACA0018 profile depend on surface roughness. Airfoils were manufactured in Aluminum by Computer Numerical Control-milling and in polylactide polymer using a 3D-printer, where some of the profile surfaces were postprocessed with sandpaper in various grain sizes. The surface roughness of the profiles was evaluated in a 3D optical profilometer using white light interferometry from Filmetrics. By that technique 3D surface plots were created. The manufactured airfoils were tested in a wind tunnel where the achieved data was made dimensionless for comparative purposes. The computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed in Ansys Fluent and compared against the wind tunnel data as well as with the data from a previously made study at htw saar. The results from the wind tunnel tests show that the surface roughness has an effect on the flow characteristic of the airfoil, where different angles of stall were observed in the comparison. The difference for the dimensionless numbers coefficient of lift and drag show that the manufactured aluminum airfoil performs better compared to the 3D-Printed airfoil in this study. It has a higher performance mean value for both of these coefficients in a span of angles between 0 and 30 degrees. When compared, the results from the simulations and wind tunnel experiments do match in some cases, where the dimensionless coefficients and stall angle coheres. Further studies based on this report are recommended, where small geometric changes to the profile could be tested and validated.