<p> Organic chemistry used to augment nanoparticles and nanotubes, as well as more traditional materials, is a subject of great interest across multiple fields of applied chemistry. Herein we present an example of both nanoparticle and nanotube augmentation with organic small molecules to achieve an enhanced or otherwise infeasible application. The first chapter discusses the modification of two different types of Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) anode brush bristle fibers with positive surface charge increasing moieties to increase quantitative bacterial adhesion to these bristle fibers, and therefore overall MFC electrogenicity. Type-1 brush bristles, comprised of polyacrylonitrile, were modified via the electrostatic attachment of 1-pyrenemethylamine hydrochloride. Type-2 brush bristles, comprised of nylon, were modified via the covalent attachment of ethylenediamine. Both modified brush types were immersed in an <i>E. Coli</i> broth for 1 hour, stained with SYTO<sup>®</sup> 9 Green Fluorescent Nucleic Acid Stain from ThermoFisher Scientific (SYTO-9), and examined under a Biotek Citation 3 fluorescent microscope to visually assess differences in bacterial adherence. In both trials, a clear increase in amount of bacterial adhesion to the modified bristles was observed over that of the control. The second chapter demonstrates a potential biomedical technology application wherein a polymerizable carbocyanine-type dye was synthesized and bound to a chitosan backbone to produce a water-soluble photothermal nanoparticle. Laser stimulation of both free and NP-conjugated aqueous solutions of the carbocyanine dye with Near-Infrared (NIR) Spectrum Radiation showed an increase in temperature directly correlated with the concentration of the dye which was more pronounced in the free particle solutions.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10272651 |
| Date | 26 May 2017 |
| Creators | Chapman, James Vincent, III |
| Publisher | University of Colorado at Denver |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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