20^th International Conference on Emerging Materials and Nanotechnology June 25-26, 2018 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Biography:

Yu-Shu Wu has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from Caltech and postdoctoral studies from Harvard University Division of Applied Sciences. He is a professor of Department of Electrical Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Abstract:

Graphene electrons possess the interesting degree of freedom known as valley pseudospin, due to the double valley degeneracy at Dirac valleys (K and K’) in the band structure. Such pseudospin is an analog of electron spin and opens up a new type of electronics known as valleytronics. For example, the valley pseudospin can serve as an information carrier for quantum information processing. In this presentation, we will discuss the implementation of valley based qubits - valley pair qubits [1] formed of two quantum dot-confined valley pseudospins, with logic 0 and 1 represented in terms of “valley singlet and triplet states”, respectively. Their manipulation can be electrically achieved with the unique valley-orbit interaction (VOI) in graphene. We will also present a recent expansion [2] in the valley qubit research, namely, the valley-photon quantum state transfer enabled by the electron valley - photon polarization correspondence. As a result, quantum information can flow back and forth between valley and photon qubits, with a possible application in quantum communications.

Biography:

Chih-Ping Chen’s research led to 64 SCI publications with >3000 citations (with an H-index of 31), including two ESI highly cited papers in The Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Nano Letters. He has 10 granted patents.

Abstract:

We prepared water-dispersed carbonized bamboo−derived carbon nano−dot (CND) via thermal dissociation, and following by aqueous extract process. The CND shows high photoluminescence properties at a λem of 430 nm with a particle size of ca. 3-5 nm and containing either COOH or OH functionality. We have found that this CND can served as cathode interfacial layer (IFL) and efficiently increases the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of both fullerene and nonfullerene based organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The embedding of CND showed the effect on the altering the work function and surface roughness of ZnO. The variation of surface status for ZnO/CND further affected the morphologies of the active layers, and the charge selectivity and transportation, thus facilitated the electron transport and extraction of OPV devices providing increase in the fill factor (FF) and short circuit current density (J_sc). The greatest OPV performance was that of the PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM device incorporating CND—a PCE of 9.6% and a remarkable FF of 72.8%. This performance is one of the best PCE used carbon based IFL materials.

Biography:

Muhammad Naeem Khan has completed his PhD at the age of 30 years from University Brunei Darussalam, Brunei. During his PhD studies, he has one year working experience in Prof. John T.S. Irvine Labs, School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, UK. He is currently working as assistant professor in Baluchistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS), Quetta, Pakistan. He has published 04 papers in reputed journal. He has one patent as well published in US Patents.

Abstract:

BaZr_0.1Ce_0.7Y_0.1Yb_0.1O_{3 - δ} (BZCYYb) proton conducting electrolyte material was processed via solid state reaction method and ZnO was added in various wt. %. 1 wt. % of ZnO was found as the optimum amount for obtaining the maximum densification with optimum shrinkage of 24.23%. An increase in the grain size was observed with increase in the sintering temperature from 1300 – 1400 ºC with a maximum relative density of 99.1% at the sintering temperature of 1350 ºC. A maximum value of ionic conductivity of 13.25 x 10^-3 S cm^-1 at 600 ºC was achieved in humidified 5 vol% H₂/Ar atmosphere. The average value of the thermal expansion co-efficient (α) was measured to be 8.53 x 10^-6 K^-1 in the temperature range of 50 – 1100 ºC, which is close to the α value for Pr-based cathode materials. The chemical stability of ZnO-added BZCYYb sample in pure CO₂ up to 1200 ºC was found about 3 times higher than the blank BZCYYb (without ZnO), however still some small peaks corresponding to BaCO₃ and CeO₂ were observed in XRD pattern after chemical stability test. Hence, ZnO-added BZCYYb is a promising electrolyte material for fuel cell applications.

Biography:

Andrey Borzenko has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from University of British Colmbia and postdoctoral studies from Dalhouse University. He has published more than 10 papers in reputed journals.           

Abstract:

Rapidly growing energy production motivates the development of efficient and safe energy storage. Dielectric materials that we develop demonstrate high polarizability and sufficient resistivity to be candidates for massive inexpensive energy storage. We suggest the use of these dielectric materials as films in the new type of capacitors that would have higher energy density as compared to traditional capacitors.In general, dielectric films in the proposed capacitors should be polarizable, and maintain the polarization energy without breakdown. Hence, film forming species should contain at least two parts, the inner being responsible for the polarization, and the peripheral one having required resistance. Aromatic rings connected by diazo bridges are of great interest for us since similar linkers have been justified for many decades in azo dyes.

The potent material that we develop comprises -N=N-(p-C₆H₄)- subsequently conjugated units, along with electron acceptor group (NO₂) on one side and electron donor -N(n-C₁₀H₂₁)₂ group bearing resistive tails on the other side. Analysis of the crystal structure of the material reveals a head-to-tail arrangement of molecules, forming alternating layers of conjugated cores and resistive tails. Layers formed by tails are responsible for the high resistivity of our material. Corona experiments as well as in-situ Raman spectroscopy demonstrate nonlinear dielectric behaviour of the materials. This behaviour confirms that application of electric field leads to the increase of the polarization. Energy density of our material is estimated to be up to 2 kWh/kg.

Biography:

Zubair has completed his Master from University of Alberta in January 2017. Currently he is Ph.D  candidate in the Department of Agrictulral, Food and Nutritiona Science, Univeristy of Alberta. He is working on the utilization of proteins - renewable resources for industrial processing and synthesis of bio-based polymers

Abstract:

One of the most serious global challenges is inadequate access to fresh water, that is predicted to grow worse in the future as demand continues to rise due to ever increasing world population, rapid industrialization and greater energy needs. Clean water is essential to protect human and any other life on the planet earth. However, one tenth of the global population do not have access to safe drinking water. Conventional approaches such as reverse osmosis, decontamination and disinfection can address many water problems. However, these methods are often chemically, energetically and operationally intensive and, thus require considerable infusion of capital. Herein, we are proposing the development of an integrated low cost, robust and efficient water treatment technology based on graphene oxide/ keratin with a potential to remove metals, organics and pathogens in a single treatment without further stressing environment. In this study, graphene oxide will be modified with the epoxy, keratin will be extracted from chicken feathers and hybridized with modified graphene oxide to develop the membrane. Furthermore, the membrane properties will be evaluated with XRD, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, solid state NMR and TEM. The water purification performance of the membrane will be tested and compared with the commercially available membranes. This study will open up new horizons to exploit unique properties of both chicken feathers and graphene oxide for water purification.

Biography:

Abstract:

The effects of carbon sphere (CS) and carbon nanotube (CNT) incorporation as carbonaceous template (CT) in the preparation of TiO₂ nanocomposites were compared. Three methods of alcoholic phase sol-gel, aqueous phase sol-gel, and hydrothermal were utilized to form a layer of TiO₂ on the CT and the effect of calcination temperature was studied. All the samples were prepared also in the absence of CT to thoroughly investigate the effect of CT incorporation. The prepared samples were characterized with SEM, TEM, XRD, BET, TGA, and FT-IR. The analysis of results revealed that the TiO₂ nanoparticles formed uniformly on the surface of CS, however, their formation on the CNT was not uniform. Only for the case of CS incorporation in alcoholic phase sol-gel method, CT enhanced the surface area (around 5.7 times). Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of prepared samples was compared based on the enhancement in the amount of hydrogen production by CT incorporation. The results indicated that the highest improvement was related to the incorporation of CS in the hydrothermal method followed by the calcination at 400 ºC that increased the photocatalytic activity 2.8 times.