eprintid: 8563
rev_number: 6
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/00/85/63
datestamp: 2011-11-10 19:53:25
lastmod: 2016-11-15 13:46:45
status_changed: 2011-11-10 19:53:25
type: thesis_degree
metadata_visibility: show
contact_email: pak9@pitt.edu
item_issues_count: 0
eprint_status: archive
creators_name: Kaur, Palwinder
creators_email: pak9@pitt.edu
creators_id: PAK9
title: Aggregation of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes in Dilute Solutions and Transmission Spectroscopy Based on Metal Nanoslit Arrays
ispublished: unpub
divisions: sch_as_chemistry
full_text_status: public
keywords: conjugated polyelectrolytes; fluorescence; lifetime; nanoslits; transmission
abstract: This thesis consists of two parts. The first part describes the work done on understanding the affect of different solution conditions and association with different macromolecules on optical properties of polyphenylethynylene (PP1) and polyphenylphenylene (PP2) based conjugated polyelectrolytes. Conjugated polymers are of great scientific interest because of their promise for applications. The photophysical studies performed on these polyelectrolytes has provided important insight in to the structural changes in different solution conditions. These studies are useful if the potential of these polyelectroytes in complex biological fluids are to be realized as biosensors since the optical properties are greatly affected by solution conditions. Second part of the thesis investigates the chemical modification of metallic nanoaperture arrays and their potential for biochemical sensing using surface plasmon resonance. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy is widely used in chemical and biological sensing. The SPR technique senses the integral changes in the dielectric ambient near a metal surface that supports surface plasmon waves. There has been a growing interest in SPR sensing of biochemicals using a nanostructured metal layer because they can also operate in the transmission configuration, thereby simplifying the optical arrangement and requiring small amounts of analyte.Optical transmission through metal nano-slit arrays has been investigated. Chemical modification of these nanoslit arrays by alkanethiols has shown to red shift the main transmission peak by 11 nm. Analysis of the plasmonic fields and charge distributions shows that the strong confinement of optical fields in the narrow slit region allows sensitive transduction of surface modification into a shift of surface plasmon resonance wavelength. Further, potential of these nano-slit arrays for biosensing has been investigated. Preliminary data shows that these nano-slit arrays have the potential for biological and chemical sensing.
date: 2007-09-19
date_type: completed
institution: University of Pittsburgh
refereed: TRUE
etdcommittee_type: committee_chair
etdcommittee_type: committee_member
etdcommittee_type: committee_member
etdcommittee_type: committee_member
etdcommittee_name: Waldeck, DavidH
etdcommittee_name: Velankar, Sachin
etdcommittee_name: Weber, Steve
etdcommittee_name: Saxena, Sunil
etd_defense_date: 2007-07-19
etd_approval_date: 2007-09-19
etd_submission_date: 2007-07-24
etd_access_restriction: 5_year
etd_patent_pending: FALSE
assigned_doi: doi:10.5195/pitt.etd.2011.8563
thesis_type: dissertation
degree: PhD
committee: D.H. Waldeck () - Committee Chair
committee: Sachin Velankar () - Committee Member
committee: Steve Weber () - Committee Member
committee: Sunil Saxena () - Committee Member
etdurn: etd-07242007-114321
other_id: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07242007-114321/
other_id: etd-07242007-114321
citation:   Kaur, Palwinder  (2007) Aggregation of Conjugated Polyelectrolytes in Dilute Solutions and Transmission Spectroscopy Based on Metal Nanoslit Arrays.  Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.    (Unpublished)  
document_url: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/8563/1/PalwinderKaur071907.pdf