Date of Award
8-1-2017
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Engineering Science
First Advisor
Mondal, Kanchan
Abstract
The depletion of natural resources has long been a concern since the rapid increase in energy consumption in recent years. The gradual increase of pollution worldwide accompanied by energy generation process also started to post threats to the environment. With the evolution of technology and materials, power generation and energy storage with significant improved efficiency can be made possible, and further benefits the reduction of degree of pollution generated. In this research, synthesis, processing, characterization and application of nano materials towards energy generation and energy storage devices are studied. In chapter 2, superior corrosion resistance properties of HVOF thermal spray of TiC and TiB2 coatings on 304H stainless steel, 430, and P91 steels were reported. The coatings successfully served at a protection layer by limiting oxygen penetration, sulfur attack, and decreased the formation of pits and cracks on the substrates at 750°C for up to 800 hours. In chapter 3, continuous smooth TiC nanofibers were successfully synthesized by carbothermal reduction of electrospun titanium based nanofibers. XRD and HR-TEM analysis results indicated the synthesized nanofibers were composed of high purity TiC. Electric conductivity of a single fiber was in the 2.00×10^5 range. Symmetrical cyclic voltammetry curve further indicated good electrochemical properties of the fibers. In addition, the TiC nanofibers also exhibited excellent sintering properties over TiC or TiB2 nanoparticles. Studies on morphology and electrochemical properties of MnOx nanofiber and nanoparticles is reported in chapter 4. MnOx, MnOx/SnO2, and MnOx/CNT nanofibers synthesized using electrospinning method showed specific capacitance of 166.12 F/g, 182 F/g for, and 472 F/g at scan rate of 10mV/s. Analysis results also showed positive impact of conductivity and fiber morphology on the electrochemical properties of the fibers. morphology and electrochemical properties of the MnOx nanoparticles synthesized using solvents with different polarity with gelation pH of 8.5, 9.0 and 10.0 were also studied. Analysis results show the impact of particle sized and morphology on the electrochemical properties. Highest specific capacitance measured for the synthesized nanoparticles was 231.38F/g@10mV/s and 165.13F/g@10mV/s for methanol and mixture of methanol and propanol based MnOx respectively. Effect of solvent polarity of the manganese sol on MnOx formation and phase transformation temperature is also shown in the chapter.
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