Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3975-8930

Date Available

1-28-2018

Year of Publication

2017

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Chemistry

First Advisor

Dr. Beth S. Guiton

Abstract

Metal oxides are of interest not only because of their huge abundance but also for their many applications such as for electrocatalysts, gas sensors, diodes, solar cells and lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Nano-sized metal oxides are especially desirable since they have larger surface-to-volume ratios advantageous for catalytic properties, and can display size and shape confinement properties such as magnetism. Thus, it is very important to explore the synthetic methods for these materials. It is essential, therefore, to understand the reaction mechanisms to create these materials, both on the nanoscale, and in real-time, to have design control of materials with desired morphologies and functions.

This dissertation covers both the design of new syntheses for nanomaterials, as well as real-time methods to understand their synthetic reaction mechanisms. It will focus on two parts: first, the synthesis of 1-dimension (1-D) featured nanomaterials, including manganese-containing spinel nanowires, and tin dioxide and zinc oxide-based negative nanowire arrays; and second, a mechanistic study of the synthetic reactions of nanomaterials using in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The work presented here demonstrates unique synthetic routes to single crystalline “positive” and “negative” metal oxide nanowires, and introduces a new mechanism for the formation of single-crystalline hollow nanorods.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.306

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