Oxidative Chemical Vapor Deposition of Conjugated Polymers: Electroactive Organic Thin Films

The combination of wind, solar, and electrochemical devices (e.g., batteries and supercapacitors) are cost-competitive alternatives to fossil fuel sources. To justify the use of electrochemical devices, we need to enhance the kinetics of the reactions involved in electrochemical devices by employing catalysts. The high cost of platinum group catalysts, as the traditional choice of catalysts, and the relatively high amount of needed material make the catalyst the primary barrier to large-scale employment of electrochemical devices. Thus, the development of cheap, abundant, and effective catalysts is an essential step toward the advancement of green energy conversion and storage technologies. In this thesis, we have been focused on investigating Conjugated polymers (CPs) for their electrocatalytic applications. We use a vacuum-based method, oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD), to synthesize, coat, and dope thin films of CPs in a single step. Here, we expanded the use of oCVD to polymerize 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) using antimony pentachloride and vanadium oxytrichloride as novel oxidants. We investigated the catalytic activity of the oCVD-PEDOT films toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and their applications as air cathodes. As-deposited oCVD-PEDOT thin films catalyzed ORR with the onset of 0.74 vs RHE. For the first time, we also synthesized poly(3,4-ethylenedithiathiophene) (PEDTT) thin films in the oCVD reactor. PEDTT revealed bifunctional electrocatalytic activity toward ORR, and oxygen evolution reaction (OER), with catalysis onsets of 0.87 and 1.72 vs RHE, respectively. Furthermore, we studied the effect of dopants on the electrocatalytic activity of oCVD-poly(selenophene) thin films toward ORR. The results revealed that dopant exchange of the oCVD-poly(selenophene), either chemically or electrochemically, significantly enhances the catalytic activity of the material. Finally, we developed a novel technique based on nanoconfinement of the substrates to induce the heterogeneous nucleation and growth of highly crystalline polymeric thin films. The synthesized crystalline CPs are uniaxially oriented toward the (00l) direction that is not observed previously. Highly crystalline CPs showed enhanced charge storage properties up to 96% compared to the amorphous counterpart

Title: Investigation of Oxidative Reduction Reactions in Carbon-Based Electrocatalysts Presentation

The expense of commonly used electrocatalysts such as Platinum and Palladium, make many battery technologies and electrochemical reactions cost-prohibitive. A new group of promising low-cost catalysts is doped carbon complexes. These materials need further development to reach the same activity as traditional catalysts. But by examining the Oxidative Reduction Reactions (ORR) of various carbon complexes, desirable characteristics and geometries can be identified and enhanced. For this comparative analysis, a series of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) and Graphene Complexes were tested

The Relationship between Wife Abuse and Mental Health in Women Experiencing Domestic Violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz

Background and Objectives: Neglecting women's health and the domestic violence prevailing against them can cause a variety of mental and even physical diseases that threaten the health of the family. Disruptions in the life pattern of women and mothers have adverse health effects for both the family and the entire society. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between wife abuse and mental health in female victims of domestic violence referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study was conducted over three months in 2013 on 197 women with abusive husbands referred to the Forensic Medical Center of Shiraz. The study data collection tools included a demographic information questionnaire, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and a standard violence against women questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was measured to assess the data collection tools' reliability. Data were analyzed in SPSS-18. Results: The mean age of the study subjects was reported as 30.42±6.72. More than 50 percent of the women had been victim to domestic violence and suffered from disorders in all the aspects of general health (P<0.05). There was a positive relationship between domestic violence and all the aspects of general health. In other words, violence of any kind was a predictor of general health disorders (P<0.05). Domestic violence was found to have the greatest effect on the incidence of depression and anxiety. Conclusion: The present study revealed the psychological consequences of wife abuse and violence against women and confirmed the damaging effect of violence on women's mental health. In addition to imposing heavy costs on the society for providing healthcare and medications, mental health disorders in women are also a burden for the family life and the children's upbringing