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Study of Intermediate Oxidation Products in Chemical and Enzymatic Degradation of Carbon Nanomaterials

Bai, Hao (2013) Study of Intermediate Oxidation Products in Chemical and Enzymatic Degradation of Carbon Nanomaterials. Master's Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

With increasing applications of carbon nanomaterials, toxicity of the material itself and the degradation products in biological systems and environment becomes a valid concern. At present, most of the toxicity studies only focus on the bulk property of carbon nanomaterials and the relevant conclusions are ambiguous. To better understand the degradation mechanism and the potential source of toxicity, we separated the oxidation products and studied the “small molecules” and “large particles” respectively in detail. In the first oxidation method, graphene oxide was degraded by Fenton reagent (Fe2+/Fe3+/H2O2) under UV irradiation. Through techniques including mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography, we successfully proposed plausible product structures and discovered several structure patterns of the products. By using atomic force microscopy and fluorimeter, we monitored the morphology transformation of graphene oxide flakes (~ 600 nm × 1 nm) to graphene quantum dots (~ 25 nm × 5 nm), in both aqueous solution and immobilized system. Given the similarity of Fenton reagent chemical oxidation and horseradish peroxidase enzymatic degradation of carbon nanomaterials, our results will help to understand the enzymatic degradation mechanism in biosystem and in the environment and to assess the toxicity at different stages during the degradation process. In the second part, we studied the degradation of SWNTs in both MPO and NaClO systems and further optimization is required to eliminate the ion suppression resulting from the high concentration of salt in these systems.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Bai, Haohab58@pitt.eduHAB58
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairStar, Alexanderastar@pitt.eduASTAR
Committee MemberLiu, Haitaohliu@pitt.eduHLIU
Committee MemberRobinson, Renarena@pitt.eduRENA
Date: 24 July 2013
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 9 December 2012
Approval Date: 24 July 2013
Submission Date: 18 April 2013
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 81
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Chemistry
Degree: MS - Master of Science
Thesis Type: Master's Thesis
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: carbon nanomaterials,degradation, fenton reaction, graphene oxide, mass spectrometry
Date Deposited: 24 Jul 2013 20:03
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 14:11
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/18466

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