Diamond and sp² carbon for green energy applications

Carbon is a ubiquitous element on earth, with 6 protons, electrons, and neutrons. It is tetravalent, with a range of hybridised bonding configurations, it can form materials with superlative and varied properties. These materials range from soft and conductive sp2 bonded allotropes like graphite and carbon nanotubes, to the insulating and hardest natural material on earth, sp3 bonded diamond. The first half of this thesis presents an investigation of the properties of a promising novel carbon nanomaterial, CNS, and its application to ultracapacitor electrodes for the first time. High surface area conductive carbon nanomaterials are capable of high power and long service life energy storage in ultracapacitors, a critical green technology. The development of this technology to increase energy density to compete with chemical batteries could accelerate a transition to sustainable energy infrastructure. CNS/polymer composite electrodes were assembled using a conductive diamond collector substrate, then characterised using electrochemical techniques to measure capacitative performance. The second half of this thesis concerns the development of amperometric dissolved oxygen sensors for extreme environments. Diamonds controllable electronic properties, corrosion resistance, wide electrochemical window, and resistance to fouling make it an ideal potential material for this application. Conductive boron doped diamond electrodes were functionalised with platinum nanoparticles. Aphotolithographyprocesswasusedtoproduceanarrayofmicrodiscelectrodesusingan SU-8 photoresist mask, for the first time in this application and material system. A custom electrochemical cell was designed and built to provide a new electrochemical capability to the lab at approximately 1/10th the cost of a commercial solution; the project will be made open source. The microdisc array was tested as an oxygen sensor using the cell; calibration standards were produced by controlling the flow of oxygen and nitrogen gasses through the cell. A control measurement was provided for by a calibrated oxygen gauge incorporated into the test cell

The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and leadlead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 1034 cm-2s-1 (1027 cm-2s-1). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4π solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudorapidity coverage to high values (|η| ≤ 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t

EELS investigations of stoichiometric niobium oxides and niobium-based capacitors

A comprehensive electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) study of stoichiometric niobium oxides and niobium was performed in a transmission electron microscope. Numerous EELS features were identified allowing the distinction of different Nb-oxidation states. Optimized sensitivity factors were determined for accurate quantification of the Nb-O system which were applied to nanoscale analysis of solid-electrolyte capacitors with Nb anodes and anodically grown niobium-oxide layers as dielectric

The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and lead-lead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 10^(34) cm^(−2) s^(−1) (10^(27) cm^(−2) s^(−1)). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic-field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4π solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudorapidity coverage to high values (|η| ≤ 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t

The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is described. The detector operates at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. It was conceived to study proton-proton (and lead-lead) collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV (5.5 TeV nucleon-nucleon) and at luminosities up to 10^(34) cm^(−2) s^(−1) (10^(27) cm^(−2) s^(−1)). At the core of the CMS detector sits a high-magnetic-field and large-bore superconducting solenoid surrounding an all-silicon pixel and strip tracker, a lead-tungstate scintillating-crystals electromagnetic calorimeter, and a brass-scintillator sampling hadron calorimeter. The iron yoke of the flux-return is instrumented with four stations of muon detectors covering most of the 4π solid angle. Forward sampling calorimeters extend the pseudorapidity coverage to high values (|η| ≤ 5) assuring very good hermeticity. The overall dimensions of the CMS detector are a length of 21.6 m, a diameter of 14.6 m and a total weight of 12500 t

FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries

FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3

Overview of the physics potential of a future hadron collider

FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries