dc.contributor.advisor | Banerjee, Sarbajit | |
dc.creator | O'Loughlin, Thomas Edward | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2020-09-04T18:33:13Z | |
dc.date.available | 2020-09-04T18:33:13Z | |
dc.date.created | 2018-05 | |
dc.date.issued | 2018-03-12 | |
dc.date.submitted | May 2018 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/188884 | |
dc.description.abstract | The response of a liquid when placed onto a surface depends on the inherent properties of the
liquid (cohesive forces within the liquid), the texturation of the surface (which can drastically
increase the inherent wettability of surfaces or provide reentrant curvature), and the surface
energy at the solid/liquid interface. This dissertation focuses on two main thrusts: (a) the
separation of viscous oil and water emulsions using an inorganic membrane comprising ZnO
nanotetrapods embedded on a stainless steel mesh to induce hierarchical texturation and exploit
the surface-tension-mediated differential wettability of such fluids; and (b) the tuning of surface
properties including mesoscale texturation and chemical functionalization to altogether prevent
the wetting of surfaces by either oil or water by suspending liquid droplets in metastable states.
The properties of the surfaces can be drastically modified by changing the surface roughness on
the micrometer scale and the nanometer scale, as well as by altering the chemistry of the surfaces
by functionalizing them with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Understanding the influence
of these parameters is critical for programmably defining the behavior of liquids and their
emulsions when interacting with such surfaces. The development of methods for precisely
defining the wettability of surfaces by fluids exhibiting complex rheological properties has
implications for the separation of heavy oil/water emulsions, the transportation and handling of
oil, and the cleanup of oil spills in marine environments. This dissertation describes the synthesis
of such surfaces and membranes, as well as their tunability based on altering the loading of ZnO
nanotetrapods and their functionalization with amorphous SiO2 or perfluorinated phosphonic
acid monolayers. | en |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en | |
dc.subject | ZnO | en |
dc.subject | tetrapods | en |
dc.subject | separations | en |
dc.subject | viscous oil | en |
dc.title | Towards a Surface Chemistry and Multiscale Texturation Toolkit for the Separation and Handling of Viscous Hydrocarbons | en |
dc.type | Thesis | en |
thesis.degree.department | Chemistry | en |
thesis.degree.discipline | Chemistry | en |
thesis.degree.grantor | Texas A&M University | en |
thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
thesis.degree.level | Doctoral | en |
dc.contributor.committeeMember | North, Simon | |
dc.contributor.committeeMember | Batteas, James | |
dc.contributor.committeeMember | Sheldon, Matthew | |
dc.type.material | text | en |
dc.date.updated | 2020-09-04T18:33:14Z | |
local.etdauthor.orcid | 0000-0002-4435-2505 | |