News and Events:
Thesis Defense:
Jacqueline Bracco – Awarded a GSA Professional Development Grant for travel to attend the 245th American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans. The value of the travel award is $400. Advisor – Dr. Steven R. Higgins
Recent Presentations
ACS Local Division, Annual Poster Session and Patterson College Chemistry Awards were held March 12.
Chemistry Awards
Poster Presenters
Recent Chemistry Publications:
Ryan Selhorst and Eric Fossum, Department of Chemistry, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435, USA, Utilization of N,N-diethyl-3,5-difluorobenzene sulfonamide to prepare functionalized poly(arylene ether)s, Polymer, 54 (2013) pp. 530–535.
Man Xua, Katie Sullivana, Garrett VanNessa, Kevin G. Knaussb, and Steven R. Higginsa, aDepartment of Chemistry, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, Ohio 45435, United States,
bEarth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States, Dissolution Kinetics and Mechanisms at Dolomite–Water Interfaces: Effects of Electrolyte Specific Ionic Strength, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2013, 47 (1), pp 110–118.
C.B. Anders, J. D. Baker, A. C. Stahler, A. Williams, J. N. Sisco, J. C. Trefry, D. P. Wooley, and I. E. Pavel Sizemore, Tangential Flow Ultrafiltration: A “Green” Method for the Size Selection and Concentration of Colloidal Silver Nanoparticles, Journal of Visualized Experiment, e4167, 2012, 1-9.
Most Recent Master's Graduates:
Thesis are now available for viewing online:
Chemistry Graduate Thesis Page
Jessica Davis
Adam Stahler
Jared Duncan
Joshua Baker
Courtney Sutherland
Rachel aga, ph.d - research
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATIONS:
Hydrogen storage in nanostructures
To sustain the growing global energy demand and at the same time minimize carbon emissions, there is a need to develop clean and renewable energy alternatives. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is among the various areas of interest which could potentially support the development of alternative ways to meet energy needs. On-board hydrogen storage remains to be a challenging aspect of this technology. We are carrying out computer simulations to study molecular hydrogen storage capacity of nanostructured cabon materials such as graphene (with Oak Ridge National Laboratory) and nanofoams (with Rice University). We are also working with the Computational Materials Research Cluster at WSU http://www.engineering.wright.edu/nanocenter/cmrc.shtml) on a project to investigate hydrogen adsorption on silicene.
Organic photovoltaic materials
Organic photovoltaic (PV) materials are considered to be one of the promising low cost alternatives to silicon solar cells, and they offer advantages, including relatively easier processing and large-area scalability. However, the power conversion efficiency achievable is way below the efficiency of commercial Si solar cells. In this work, we are studying the factors that affect their performance efficiency. Our experiments, in collaboration with Fisk University, involve measurements to understand the barrier to efficient extraction of electrons during the operation of a solar cell under artificial sunlight. We would like to understand the correlation between this barrier and the power conversion efficiency.
