Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2013, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) possess unique physicochemical properties that may facilitate entry into the central nervous system (CNS) where they may act therapeutically. There is little information on biodistribution or inflammatory effects of GNPs in specific brain regions. Brain Localization and neuroinflammatory response to citrate-capped spherical GNP (10 nm) was determined 24 hours after intravenous (IV) injection in male C57Bl mice. A known inflammogen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2 mg kg-1, SC), was tested as a positive control supplement. Aggregation of GNPs was measured using various Phosphate-Buffered Saline (PBS) concentrations (10, 1, 0.1, 0.01 X) to determine the optimal buffer concentration to maintain GNP solubility. 0.01 X PBS was used in all studies, since it produced the least amount of GNP aggregation. The next experiment verified entry of GNPs into the CNS. Mice were injected IV (200 µg mL-1 10 nm GNP in 0.01 X PBS) via the tail vein. After 24 hours mice were euthanized (with 130 mg ml-1 Euthasol), and perfused transcardially (with 2% glutaraldehyde and 2% paraformaldehyde), then brains were removed. GNP concentrations were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in whole brain homogenates. To specifically localize accumulation of GNPs in brain, septum, caudate, hippocampus, hypothalamus, cortex, frontal cortex, and spinal cord regions were micro dissected. Hypothalamus, hippocampus, and septum had the highest GNP levels (6.7, 6.2, and 4.6 µg Au g-1 tissue respectively). To evaluate brain inflammation, we used q-PCR analysis of frozen brain regions for study of pro-inflammatory mediators, Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), CC chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) and Interleukine-1 ß (IL-1ß). GNPs did not affect cytokine/chemokine expression in cortex, frontal cortex or hippocampus. LPS (positive control), as expected, caused a marked (100-fold) increase in the same cytokines. Results show that GNPs enter brain and concen (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mariana Morris Ph.D. (Advisor); Saber M. Hussain Ph.D. (Advisor); Ioana Pavel Sizemore Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomedical Research; Environmental Science; Health Sciences; Medicine; Nanoscience; Nanotechnology; Neurobiology; Neurosciences; Pharmacology; Toxicology

Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences (MSBS), University of Toledo, 2020, Biomedical Sciences (Medical Physics: Radiation Oncology)

In this study we investigate the primary mechanism responsible for the tumoricidal effect of high-energy photon irradiation in the presence of gold nanoparticles (GNP) in aqueous media. Multiple recent in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrated that the biological effect of cell irradiation is greatly enhanced in the presence of gold nanoparticles. The mechanism of the enhancement, however, is not very clear yet. Based on classical radiobiology, cell killing caused by ionizing radiation is due to DNA double strand breaks. For photons about two thirds are facilitated by water radiolysis creating reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydroxyl free radicals; another one third is from direct physical interactions of DNA molecule with radiation. As the physical dose enhancement due to presence of GNP in practically achievable concentrations is almost negligible under higher energy photon sources, we believe the effect is caused by an increase in generation of ROS at the GNP surface, acting as a catalyst. A novel approach to quantify the ROS generation through fluorescence spectroscopy is developed and validated in this study. Due to the short average life of ROS their detection requires use of chemical agents (“sensor”) capable of binding to ROS immediately upon their formation. Anthracene salt (anthracene-9,10-dipropionic acid disodium) is used as such fluorescent sensor molecule that selectively reacts with ROS. Samples of GNP solution and de-ionized (DI) water mixed with the sensor are irradiated under Ir-192 clinical high-dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatment source, having average photon energy of ~380keV. NaCl is added to samples after irradiation to segregate the nanoparticles and minimize their possible effect on the sample content after irradiation and before fluorescence analysis. The intensity of 430nm fluorescence spectroscopy peak is used to quantify the ROS generation. Our result shows that the radiation induced ROS generation could be doubled, reachi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Diana Shvydka PhD (Committee Chair); E. Ishmael Parsai PhD (Committee Member); Nicholas Sperling PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Sciences; Nanoscience; Physics; Radiation

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2018, Materials Engineering

Two-dimensional assemblies of colloidal gold nanoparticles were deposited via electrostatic self-assembly onto silicon substrates modified with aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Assemblies were tuned by systematically adjusting the pH and ionic strength of the nanoparticle solutions and the fraction of adsorbed aminosilane molecules on the silicon surfaces. The nanoparticles were characterized by their size distribution, solution stability and electrokinetic properties. The resulting two-dimensional assemblies varied in particle surface coverage, interparticle separation and lateral organization. Increasing solution pH intensified interparticle repulsions and reduced the charge density of the aminosilane substrate, thus decreasing the fractional monolayer coverage of particles. Additionally, increasing ionic strength reduced interparticle separations, which were described by radial distribution functions, and consequently produced denser particle assemblies. At long adsorption times, surface coverage approaches a maximum which was constrained by the extent of interparticle repulsion and particle-surface interactions. With strong surface attraction of the pure aminosilane surface, the particles were incapable of lateral rearrangement during the adsorption process and, at best, organized into liquid-like structures, in agreement with the random sequential adsorption model for colloidal monolayers. In an effort to circumvent this issue, non-binding alkylsilanes were incorporated into the modified surfaces, thereby reducing the aminosilane surface density and weakening the attractive potential of the surface. These mixed silane surfaces were characterized to reveal their chemical and interfacial energetic properties. At a particular threshold of reduced aminosilane density, nanoparticle coverage fell considerably and two-dimensional order degraded. The local geometries of particle assemblies were evaluated by Voronoi tessellation which provided indication of structural transf (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Erick Vasquez PhD (Committee Chair); Richard Vaia PhD (Advisor); Andrey Voevodin PhD (Committee Member); Paul Murray PhD (Committee Member); Donald Klosterman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Materials Science

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Macromolecular Science and Engineering

A series of core-shell inorganic-organic hybrid nanomaterials have been proposed with gold nanoparticle as core, carbazole terminated star-like copolymer (h-PEI-b-PCL-Cbz) as shell which consist of hyper-branched polyethyleneimine (h-PEI) and three different chain lengths of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). Electrostatic interaction between the PEI core and gold nanoparticles provides the possibility to form a core-shell nanomaterial by phase transfer method. By adjusting the degree of polymerization of PCL as well as the chain length of PCL, this core-shell nanomaterial has a controllability of energy transferring property and tunability of surface hydrophobicity as well as ionic probe diffusion property. These properties will help with further applications of formed core-shell hybrid system.

Committee: Rigoberto Advincula (Committee Chair); David Schiraldi (Committee Member); Lei Zhu (Committee Member); Alexander Jamieson (Committee Member) Subjects: Materials Science; Nanoscience; Polymer Chemistry

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2016, Chemical Engineering

The nanoscale of the supporting fibers may provide enhancements such as restricting the migration of metal catalyst particles. In this work, palladium nanoparticle doped alumina fibers were electrospun into template submicron fibers. These fibers were calcined at temperatures between 650°C and 1150°C to vary the crystal structures of the calcined fibers with the Pd particle size. Higher calcination temperatures led to higher reaction temperatures from 250 to about 450°C for total conversion, indicating the effective reactivity of the fiber-supported catalysts decreased with increase in calcination temperature. Pd-Au alloy nanoparticle doped titania fibers were also fabricated using an electrospinning method and assembled into a fibrous porous medium structure by a vacuum molding process. In reactor tests, the fiber media with Pd-Au alloy nanoparticle catalyst had greater reactivity in conversion of NO and CO gases than that of fiber media with Pd monometallic catalyst alone, attributed to a lower activation energy of the Pd-Au catalyst particles. In carbon monoxide oxidation reaction tests, the results showed that the performance was optimal for a catalyst of composition Pd2Au1 molar ratio that was active at 125°C, which had higher dispersion of active components and better catalytic performance compared to monometallic particle Au/TiO2 and Pd/TiO2 fiber media. Moreover, the improved reaction activity of Pd2Au1/TiO2 fiber medium was attributed to a decreased in the activation energy. Further experiments were conducted using the electrospun ceramic fibers biodurability study. The properties of nano-sized fiber structures have attracted the attention of recent research on ceramic nanostructures as nonwoven media for applications in hazardous chemical and high temperature environments. However, health and safety concerns of micro and nano scale ceramic materials have not been fully investigated. Little is known about the physicochemical effects of the propertie (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: George Chase Dr. (Advisor); Rex D Ramsier Dr. (Committee Member); Chelsea Monty Dr. (Committee Member); Shing-Chung Wong Dr. (Committee Member); Edward A Evans Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Chemical Engineering; Environmental Science; Materials Science

Master of Science, Miami University, 2015, Physics

This thesis presents the application of an empirical model of total internal reflection (TIR) we recently developed in conjunction with a home-built sensor to detect nanoaggregates in highly scattering opaque polystyrene colloidal suspensions. The nanoaggregates are detected directly without any sample dilution or special sample preparation. Additional results on nanoaggregate detection in gold nanoparticle suspensions are presented. Preliminary tests of our model and sensor in an absorbing dye solution are also presented.

Committee: Samir Bali PhD (Advisor); Lalit Bali PhD (Advisor); Jason Berberich PhD (Advisor); Jon Scaffidi PhD (Advisor); James Clemens PhD (Committee Member); Karthik Vishwanath PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Analytical Chemistry; Biochemistry; Biomedical Engineering; Biomedical Research; Biophysics; Chemical Engineering; Chemistry; Experiments; Materials Science; Medical Imaging; Molecular Physics; Molecules; Nanoscience; Nanotechnology; Optics; Organic Chemistry; Physics; Polymer Chemistry; Polymers; Scientific Imaging

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2015, Chemistry

The thermal decay of optically excited gold nanoparticles has been examined using a femtosecond transient analyzer. From this, we observe a two component exponential thermal decay whose fast component is attributed to substrate decay and slow component attributed to solution decay. Additionally, a scanning optical probe technique utilizing an optically trapped erbium oxide nanoparticle has been developed that can thermally image a substrate with high resolution. This technique has been used to thermally image optically irradiated gold nanoparticles spin coated on a glass substrate. This technique has also been used to study nucleation events that occur under heating from irradiated gold nanoparticles. Here, we see the temperature inside the nucleation envelope rises to the melting point of bulk gold (~1330 K). This extreme temperature is attributed to the loss of the gold-to-solution thermal dissipation pathway, due to the surrounding insulating vapor envelope.

Committee: Hugh Richardson Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Chemistry

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2014, Physics

Radiation therapy has been established as a standard technique for cancer treatment. Advances in nanotechnology have enabled the application of many new approaches in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Achievement of selective enhancement in radiation dose deposition within a targeted tumor, while sparing surrounding normal structures, remains a challenge and one of the major objectives of cancer-related research. This objective can be realized by the insertion of high atomic number (Z) materials in the tumor site. Due to their high atomic number (Z=79) and favorable biological compatibility, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been found very promising in this respect. Another candidate material, platinum (Z=78), offering very similar radiation interaction properties to gold and exhibiting additional cytotoxic effects, has been exploited in chemotherapeutic agents for a long time. A number of studies evaluating dose enhancement on the basis of an approximation of a uniform distribution of individual gold atoms rather than nanoparticles neglect the effects near the gold-tissue interface. Those studies have demonstrated high dose enhancement at low kiloelectronvolt (keV) energies, relevant only to certain brachytherapy nuclides, but have not shown a significant enhancement in clinical megavoltage (MV) radiation beams. However, recent experiments with biological systems have brought mixed results, few of them demonstrating promising cell kill effects exceeding the predictions based on pure dose deposition under MV beams. It has been a general observation in physics that many new phenomena originate from interfaces and hence it is important to closely examine the interface effects between high-Z materials, such as gold or platinum, and low-Z tissues. The small physical dimension of the radiation dose enhancement region, ~ 1 mm or less, and the very high dose gradient pose a great challenge in the investigation of the effects. Nonetheless, the interface effects (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Diana Shvydka PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Physics

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2013, Biomedical Sciences PhD

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) have demonstrated great potential in the development of a variety of tools with applications ranging from biomedical to military fields. Consequently, there is increasing concern regarding the toxic potential of these nanomaterials. Biodistribution studies demonstrate clearance of Au-NPs from peripheral circulation and bulk localization primarily in the liver and spleen post- intravenous administration. Deposition of Au-NPs in spleen suggests the potential for direct exposure of immune cells to these foreign materials under relatively static conditions. Although much less, due to the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB), Au-NPs appear to also deposit in the brain, suggesting that the resident cells of the brain may also be exposed to Au-NPs. Studies show the toxic potential of Au-NPs in a variety of cell types, however, the overall picture is still inconclusive due to the variation in cell-to-cell responses to these NPs. Additionally, NP aggregation and sedimentation in static in vitro conditions makes it very difficult to achieve uniformly dispersed treatment solutions. Furthermore, static conditions might be physiologically relevant to certain cell types, such as the immune cells in the spleen and lymph nodes; however the `BBB’ experiences continuous flow of blood. Therefore, NP research calls for modification of traditional in vitro models to simulate the in vivo conditions. The main aim of this study was to determine the impact of Au-NPs on two model systems; 1) a B-lymphocyte cell line (CH12.LX) which pose as a direct target to NPs in vivo and 2) a co-culture of an astrocytic (C8-D30) and an endothelial cell line (bEnd.3), where endothelial cells shield the astrocytic cell line from direct exposure to NPs. Furthermore, static conditions might be physiologically relevant to certain cell types, such as the immune cells in the spleen and lymph nodes; however the `BBB’ experiences continuous flow of blood. Our results demonstrate th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Courtney Sulentic Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Saber Hussain Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Nancy Bigley Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sharmila Mukhopadhyay Ph.D. (Committee Member); David Goldstein Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomedical Research; Nanoscience; Nanotechnology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2013, Chemistry

Two-dimensional self-assemblies of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) could one day become a useful technology for mankind as it has a potential to produce desirable structures with various patterning and ordering that is difficult to achieve by the top-down approach. Furthermore, these patterned and ordered structures of NPs have been known to display interesting optoelectronic properties. While applications using self-assemblies of plasmonic NPs seem promising, the fundamental forces that govern the evolution of these structures are not fully understood yet. Interesting similarities between the interfacial NP self-assembly and epitaxial growth exist despite a number of differences such as diffusion, desorption, coalescence, and ordering. The goal of this dissertation is to determine to what extent established submonolayer epitaxy theories can be applied to modeling interfacial NP self-assembly, and thereby develop new tools for understanding NP-NP interactions and self-assembly. Different sizes of 1-dodecanethiol (DDT) capped Au NPs were used to study the submonolayer growth behavior of NP islands. However, for the study, synthesizing DDT Au NPs > 8 nm by a conventional method was a challenge. To solve this synthesis problem, large NPs were synthesized in water and a phase transfer-based method was developed and used. While solving this synthesis problem, we developed general guidelines for NP phase transfer and determined that successful phase transfer only depended on three key surfactant parameters: bulkiness, length, and ability to get onto the interface. Furthermore, we also shed light on the mechanistic details of NP phase transfer into the organic medium. The experimental results for the submonolayer growth study such as NP island size distribution (ISD), capture zone distribution (CZD), percolation threshold, diffusion, and flux were compared and contrasted with the known epitaxy theories. It was found that islands were compact and circular at low covera (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Terry Bigioni PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Chemistry

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2013, Chemistry (Arts and Sciences)

Nanotechnology has introduced a wide variety of new behaviors to study and understand. Metal nanostructures are of particular interest due to their ability to generate large amounts of heat when irradiated at the plasmon resonance. Furthermore, heat dissipation at the nanoscale becomes exceedingly more complicated with respect to bulk behavior. What are the credentials for a heat carrier to move across an interface? Is it important for both materials to have similar vibrational density of states? What changes if one material is a liquid? All of these questions have open ended answers, each of which hold potential for new technologies to be exploited once understood. This dissertation will discuss topics exploring the transfer of heat from an optically excited gold nanoparticle into a surrounding liquid. Gold nanostructures are created using conventional electron beam lithography with lift-off. The nanostructures are deposited onto a thin film thermal sensor composed of AlGaN:Er3+. Erbium(III) has two thermally coupled excited states that can be excited with a 532nm laser. The relative photoluminescence from these excited states are related by a Boltzmann factor and are thusly temperature dependent. A scanning optical microscope collects an image of Er3+ photoluminescence while simultaneously exciting the gold nanostructure. The nanostructure temperature is imaged which is directly related to the surrounding's heat dissipation properties. The first of two topics discuss the heat dissipation and phase change properties of water. A gold nanostructure is submersed under water and subsequently heated with a 532 nm laser. The water immediately surrounding the nanodot is can be superheated beyond the boiling point up to the spinodal decomposition temperature at 594 ± 17 K. The spinodal decomposition has been confirmed with the observation of critical opalescence. We characterize the laser scattering that occurs in unison with spinodal decomposition due to an increase (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Hugh Richardson Dr. (Advisor); Jeffery Rack Dr. (Committee Member); Michael Jensen Dr. (Committee Member); Martin Kordesch Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Solid State Physics

Master of Science in Engineering (MSEgr), Wright State University, 2010, Materials Science and Engineering

Carbon substrates have a wide variety of applications, many of which are enabled by appropriate surface modifications. In particular, the use of carbon-based substrates for biological devices can be quite advantageous due to their relative inertness and biocompatibility. Moreover, graphitic carbon can take many forms ranging from flat sheets to foams, fibers, and nanotubes. In this project, larger carbon substrates such as microcellular foam and flat graphite have been modified with carbon nanotubes, and their potential use in two types of biological applications was tested. The first study involved an investigation of the growth and proliferation of osteoblast cells on carbon, so that such structures can be evaluated for possible use as a scaffold for in-vivo tissue regeneration. The surface modifications that were compared are a collagen coating, a silica film, and a strongly adhered carbon nanotube layer. It was seen that the attachment of carbon nanotubes led to the highest density and viability of osteoblast cells on the surface indicating their potential benefit in implant and cell scaffolding applications. In the second study, carbon nanotubes were attached on the graphite, and subsequently decorated with gold nanoparticles and a ribonucleic acid (RNA) sequence. These nano-structures show advantages in detecting the DH5α E. coli bacterial strain, indicating potential use as a biosensor. Proof-of-concept results indicate increased attachment of gold nanoparticles coated with an RNA capture element compared to uncoated particles onto the E. coli. This demonstrates the potential use of this concept in creation of a multi-array sensor for fast and sensitive detection of many types of pathogens. These results clearly show that attachment of carbon nanotubes on larger carbon substrates can provide the basis for several unique biological devices.

Committee: Sharmila Mukhopadhyay PhD (Advisor); Saber Hussain PhD (Committee Member); Allen Jackson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomedical Engineering; Engineering; Materials Science; Nanotechnology

Master of Science, Miami University, 2011, Physics

This thesis reports on work to study gold nanoparticles for application in semiconductor CdS nanosheet biosensor devices. We first characterize gold nanoparticle behavior and proceed to synthesize bipyramidal gold nanoparticles through a seed-mediated process. This process results in bipyramidal particles that are 89 nm long and have a tip radius of curvature of 3.6 nm. By examining the bipyramids' absorbance spectra and TEM images we characterize their morphology and plasmonic resonant behavior. It is found that this synthesis is highly temperature dependent and can be tailored by adjusting the concentration of silver nitrate present in the growth solution. Higher silver nitrate concentration results in a higher growth rate and longer wavelength longitudinal spectral peak. As a final brief extension to this work, we attempt to functionalize these bipyramidal gold nanoparticles. Sensitivity tests find that the capture of target molecules results in a measurable spectral shift.

Committee: Jan Yarrison-Rice PhD (Advisor); Michael Pechan PhD (Committee Member); Khalid Eid PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Nanoscience; Nanotechnology; Physics

PHD, Kent State University, 2010, College of Arts and Sciences / Chemical Physics

The theme of this work is orientational order of anisometric inclusions in elastomers. These inclusions can refer to rod-like molecules, which are chemical constituents of a liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE), metallic nanoparticles, which are embedded in an elastomer host, or macroscopic particles placed in the bulk or on the surface of rubber blocks or sheets. The salient feature of all these systems is that deformations of the elastomer network couple to anisometric shape of the inclusions, which results in a systematic reorientation of the inclusions. The initial chapters of this dissertation concern the synthesis and characterization of LCEs. We use novel experimental methods to characterize the anisotropic nature of the molecular ordering as a function of strain. We then show ways to exploit this coupling to do mechanical work. Metallic nanoparticles are expected to have novel optical properties due to plasmon resonance. We use the simulation scheme Discrete Dipole Approximation and the package Microwave Studio to determine the optical response of such particles. These results are used to interpret experimental measurements of the properties of metallic nanoparticles embedded in elastomers and oriented by the network. These simulations also provide insights about LCEs doped with nanoparticles which show orientational order in the absence of strain. Finally, we study the order of macroscopic particles on rubber sheets, which interact through viscous or static friction when strained. We develop a theoretical framework for this coupling and then carry out experiments to compare observations with theoretical predictions. In the Conclusion section, we discuss the common features of the materials and methods used to examine the nature of interactions between particles and elastomeric hosts and the connection which results in orientational order. We discuss practical implications and indicate directions for future work.

Committee: Peter Palffy-Muhoray PhD (Advisor); Robin Selinger PhD (Committee Member); Eugene Gartland PhD (Committee Member); Arne Gericke PhD (Committee Member); Hiroshi Yokoyama PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Physics

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2011, Chemical Engineering

Of the wide variety of nanomaterials currently under study, metal nanoparticles have seen a large amount of research activity due to their unique and useful properties and applications. Nanoparticles of noble metals such as silver, gold, and platinum are of particular interest because of their resistance to oxidation in addition to their myriad possible applications including use in catalysis, biomedical devices, and sensing. While noble metal nanoparticles are relatively easy to synthesize initially, aggregation of metal particles is a problem that frequently occurs which prevents long term stability. When particles become agglomerated, the nano-sized regime of the particles is lost which inhibits access to properties that are only exhibited at the nanoscale. Many research groups have employed the use of nanoscale carbon supports to template nanoparticle growth in order to prevent aggregation, impart long-term stability, and preserve the nanoscale properties. Sonochemistry is well suited for this task because it has the ability to combine the synthesis of various metal nanomaterials with the deposition process due to the unique conditions that acoustic cavitation initiates. In this work, silver nanoparticles were synthesized via the reduction of silver acetate and subsequently decorated onto the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This synthesis was performed in two different solvents, either N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) or de-ionized (DI) water, using either sonochemistry or conventional thermal heating and the products were analyzed in order to determine the optimal procedure for decorating carbon supports. Through characterization data provided by TEM, XRD, FTIR, and DSC/TGA analysis, it was determined that the sonochemical reaction in DMF provided the optimal product. This synthetic procedure for sonochemically coating carbon nanostructures with silver nanoparticles was extended to include decoration of two additional supports in the form of gra (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elena A. Guliants PhD (Committee Chair); Shiral K.A. Fernando PhD (Advisor); Khalid Lafdi PhD (Committee Member); Scott Gold PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Chemical Engineering; Chemistry; Nanoscience