Roya Maboudian (Advisor)

Research Advised by Professor Roya Maboudian

Maboudian Group:  List of Projects | List of Researchers

BPN783: Low-Power Conductometric Soot Sensor with Fast Self-Regeneration

Ameya Rao
2015

We are designing a conductometric soot sensor that measures the change in conductance resulting from soot deposition onto the sensor. Although previous work has been done on conductometric soot sensing, current sensors are power intensive (5-30 W) and slow (60-170 s between sensing cycles) due to their large size, ineffective thermal insulation, and the high currents required for soot combustion (when self-regenerating). We propose to use MEMS fabrication methods to develop a miniaturized conductometric soot sensor with a built-in polysilicon microheater for self-regeneration, whose...

BPN797: Synthesis and Friction Characteristics of Gecko-Inspired Adhesives

Hai Liu
JuKyung Choi
Gina Zaghi
2016

Geckos have a remarkable ability to stick to and climb almost any type of surface using micro- and nanoscale foot- hairs, which allow conformal contact against any counter-surface and thus, maximize the interfacial interaction. With the goal of mimicking the high adhesion and friction capability of geckos, we have fabricated ordered polymeric nano-fiber arrays of various soft and hard polymers, including low-density polyethylene and cyclic olefin polymers. In order to provide a useful reference for optimum high performance conditions, the effects of fiber geometry (diameter and...

BPN762: Microheater-Based Platform for Low Power Combustible Gas Sensing

Anna Harley-Trochimczyk
2016

Accurate detection of flammable gases is essential for safe operation of many industrial processes. Installing networks of combustible gas monitors in industrial settings can allow for rapid leak detection and increased safety and environmental protection. However, existing combustible gas monitors are not suitable for use in wireless sensor networks due to the high power consumption. We have developed an ultra-low power combustible gas sensor with competitive sensitivity and lifetime characteristics that will enable ubiquitous wireless monitoring of combustible gases in industrial...

BPN819: Hybrid Porous Nanowire Arrays for High Energy Supercapacitor

Sinem Ortaboy
2016

Recently, silicon-based supercapacitors have received considerable attention for application in mobile and remote sensing platforms due to their unique properties such as high surface area, low cost, long lifetimes, and excellent charge–discharge capability. These promising energy storage devices store more energy than conventional dielectric capacitors and deliver higher power with longer cycle life than available battery technologies. Recent studies in the field of supercapacitors have focused on the realization of hybrid materials to further improve the energy density of...

BPN786: NanoPlasmonics for Sensing and Energy

Arthur O. Montazeri
2016

Controlling and concentrating infrared radiation has the potential to significantly impact infrared sensors, thermal imaging devices, as well as heat conversion systems. As most molecules have vibrational modes in the infrared range, they reradiate a great portion of the incident radiation instead of efficiently transmitting it. As a promising alternative, plasmonic gratings not only offer low-loss transmission of infrared radiation, but also compress the long infrared wavelengths. This localization effect greatly improves the sensing resolution and offers high-intensity fields at...

BPN827: Metal Oxide-decorated Silicon Carbide Nanowires Electrode for The Applications on Electrochemical Energy Storage

Chuan-Pei Lee
Steven DelaCruz
2016

Since the discovery of electricity, we are looking for promising methods to store that energy for use on demand. In the energy storage industry, electrochemical water splitting is a well-established technology to convert electricity into chemical energy, addressing the issues of effective storage and transport. On the other hand, electrochemical capacitors, namely supercapacitors, have also attracted much attention for electrical energy storage because of their feature of both high power density and energy density. In this work, we are developing processes for the synthesis of metal...

BPN842: Conductometric Gas Sensing Behavior of WS2 Aerogel

Wenjun Yan
2016

The gas sensing characteristics of a high surface area tungsten disulfide (WS2) aerogel are investigated. Gas sensors are fabricated by integrating a low-density WS2 aerogel onto a low power polysilicon microheater platform to provide control over the operating temperature. The response of the WS2 aerogel-based sensors to NO2, O2, and H2 is investigated with the sensing characteristics indicating p-type behavior. The optimum sensing temperature is found to be about 250 ℃;, when considering sensitivity, power consumption and response time. The role of O2 in H2 and NO2 sensing is...

BPN834: Direct Formation of Pore-Controllable Mesoporous SnO2 for Gas Sensing Applications

Won Seok Chi
Hu Long
2017

Amphiphilic graft copolymer self-assembly provides an effective method to create mesoporous structures that can act as templates for the synthesis of inorganic materials with controlled morphology. In this project, we are using PVC-g-POEM graft copolymer as a template for mesoporous SnO2 fabrication directly onto a microheater platform for gas sensing applications. The sol-gel solutions are composed of PVC-g-POEM and SnO2 precursor with tunable composition allowing the formation of various structures with controllable pore size, and surface area. The mesoporous SnO2 structure is...

BPN813: Novel Hierarchical Metal Oxide Nanostructures for Conductometric Gas Sensing

Ameya Rao
2017

Semiconducting metal oxides have been extensively studied as sensing materials for conductometric gas sensors. Nanostructured metal oxides integrated with miniaturized heating elements have been shown to exhibit particularly high sensitivity while maintaining low power consumption. However, the incorporation of nanostructured metal oxide films onto miniaturized heater-based sensing platforms commonly suffers from uncontrollability in film thickness and microstructure, which reduces sensor performance and fabrication reproducibility. We have developed a controllable and flexible...

BPN878: Scalable Synthesis of Core-Vest Nanoparticles Assisted by Surface Plasmons

Siyi Cheng
Arthur O. Montazeri
2018

Compared with single-component nanocrystals, core-shell nanocrystals show better performance in various areas, such as energy harvesting and storage, catalysis, sensing and functionalized targeted cell therapy. The solution-based fabrication process is the most common strategy for synthesizing core-shell structures. However, the complex and difficult-to-scale fabrication procedures severely reduce their practical applications. Besides, the thermodynamically driven process of the fabrication of core-shell nanostructures possesses several constraints on their size and geometry, the...