Nanostructured Carbon Materials for Active and Durable Electrocatalysts and Supports in Fuel Cells

Meeting the energy demands of the future will require a breadth of technologies and materials for generating and converting electricity. Increasing activity and reducing costs of electrocatalysts for fuel cells is among the most important challenges for the technology. With advances in nanomaterials there has been increased interest in creating novel catalysts with both high activity and excellent long-term durability. This thesis aims to understand how modification of nanostructured carbons can be used to improve the activity and durability of catalysts and supports for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Using an integrating approach to synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical testing, it is shown that modifications via heteroatom doping and surface functionalization can improve upon the catalytic properties of nanostructured carbons. This work includes successful co-doping of nitrogen and phosphorus into carbon nanotubes for metal-free catalysis, improving Pt catalyst support properties of carbon black via ozone treatment, and evaluating popular test protocols for studying carbon corrosion in fuel cells

Creating a Fresh Start for the GV Honors Experience

Dear Reader, Thank you for your interest in our team, The ASAP, and our work with the Grand Valley State University Frederik Meijer Honors College. At the time of undertaking the task of reimagining the current Honors College curriculum, we explored the current sentiments of stakeholders, unfulfilled needs, and how other colleges have provided solutions to these needs. Our hope is that you, whoever you may be, become inspired and that ideas from our final prototype become a reality in the Honors College curriculum. The team working on this project consisted of 6 members, all introduced on the page prior. Each member took charge of the tasks within the project most suited to their personality and strengths while simultaneously targeting desired areas of personal growth. This method resulted in a system where work was distributed well and all members contributed to the end product in the way best suited to them. We believe that the solution that we have come up with will benefit all stakeholders involved and provide a better and more useful learning experience for future Honors College students. As a team, we are proud of the accomplishments made toward the common goal of creating a better Honors College at Grand Valley State University. We hope that in this project our passion and best efforts are evident throughout and that our efforts are found valuable when a new Honors College curriculum is implemented. Thank You, Team ASA

Cardiovascular disease, risk factors and heart rate variability in the elderly general population: Design and objectives of the CARdiovascular disease, Living and Ageing in Halle (CARLA) Study

BACKGROUND: The increasing burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the ageing population of industrialized nations requires an intensive search for means of reducing this epidemic. In order to improve prevention, detection, therapy and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases on the population level in Eastern Germany, it is necessary to examine reasons for the East-West gradient of CVD morbidity and mortality, potential causal mechanisms and prognostic factors in the elderly. Psychosocial and nutritional factors have previously been discussed as possible causes for the unexplained part of the East-West gradient. A reduced heart rate variability appears to be associated with cardiovascular disease as well as with psychosocial and other cardiovascular risk factors and decreases with age. Nevertheless, there is a lack of population-based data to examine the role of heart rate variability and its interaction with psychosocial and nutritional factors regarding the effect on cardiovascular disease in the ageing population. There also is a paucity of epidemiological data describing the health situation in Eastern Germany. Therefore, we conduct a population-based study to examine the distribution of CVD, heart rate variability and CVD risk factors and their associations in an elderly East German population. This paper describes the design and objectives of the CARLA Study. METHODS/DESIGN: For this study, a random sample of 45–80 year-old inhabitants of the city of Halle (Saale) in Eastern Germany was drawn from the population registry. By the end of the baseline examination (2002–2005), 1750 study participants will have been examined. A multi-step recruitment strategy aims at achieving a 70 % response rate. Detailed information is collected on own and family medical history, socioeconomic, psychosocial, behavioural and biomedical factors. Medical examinations include anthropometric measures, blood pressure of arm and ankle, a 10-second and a 20-minute electrocardiogram, a general physical examination, an echocardiogram, and laboratory analyses of venous blood samples. On 200 participants, a 24-hour electrocardiogram is recorded. A detailed system of quality control ensures high data quality. A follow-up examination is planned. DISCUSSION: This study will help to elucidate pathways to CVD involving autonomic dysfunction and lifestyle factors which might be responsible for the CVD epidemic in some populations

Genome-wide analysis in over 1 million individuals of European ancestry yields improved polygenic risk scores for blood pressure traits

Hypertension affects more than one billion people worldwide. Here we identify 113 novel loci, reporting a total of 2,103 independent genetic signals (P < 5 × 10−8) from the largest single-stage blood pressure (BP) genome-wide association study to date (n = 1,028,980 European individuals). These associations explain more than 60% of single nucleotide polymorphism-based BP heritability. Comparing top versus bottom deciles of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) reveals clinically meaningful differences in BP (16.9 mmHg systolic BP, 95% CI, 15.5–18.2 mmHg, P = 2.22 × 10−126) and more than a sevenfold higher odds of hypertension risk (odds ratio, 7.33; 95% CI, 5.54–9.70; P = 4.13 × 10−44) in an independent dataset. Adding PRS into hypertension-prediction models increased the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) from 0.791 (95% CI, 0.781–0.801) to 0.826 (95% CI, 0.817–0.836, ∆AUROC, 0.035, P = 1.98 × 10−34). We compare the 2,103 loci results in non-European ancestries and show significant PRS associations in a large African-American sample. Secondary analyses implicate 500 genes previously unreported for BP. Our study highlights the role of increasingly large genomic studies for precision health research

Phosphorus and Nitrogen Centers in Doped Graphene and Carbon Nanotubes Analyzed through Solid-State NMR

Graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been investigated closely in recent years because of their apparent positive effect on the electrochemical performance of new fuel cell and battery systems as catalyst stabilizers, supports, or metal-free catalysts. This is particularly true for doped graphene and CNTs, where only a small amount of doping with nitrogen and/or phosphorus can have a remarkable effect on the material performance. A direct link between structure and function in these materials is, as of yet, unclear. Doped graphene and CNTs were synthesized using varied chemical vapor deposition-based methods, and ssNMR was used to unambiguously identify dopant atom sites, revealing that these particular synthesis methods result in highly homogeneous populations of installed phosphorus and nitrogen atoms. We present the first experimental ¹⁵N spectrum for graphitic nitrogen in N-doped graphene. ¹⁵N-labeled nitrogen-doped graphene synthesized as reported here produces mainly graphitic nitrogen sites located on the edges of sheets and around defect sites. ¹H–¹H and ¹H–¹⁵N correlations were also used to probe dopant nitrogen sites in labeled and unlabeled N-doped graphene. A nearly homogeneous population of phosphorus in P-doped graphene is found, with an overwhelming majority of graphitic phosphorus and a small amount of phosphate oligomer. Similar findings are noted for the phosphorus sites in phosphorus and nitrogen codoped CNTs with a minor change in chemical shift, as would be expected from two chemically similar phosphorus sites in carbon allotropes (CNTs vs graphene sheets) with significantly different electronic structures