Fabrication and Characterization of Carbon MEMS Fractal Electrodes
by Lala, Varun Deepak, M.S., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE, 2011, 41 pages; 1488998

Abstract:

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) is a technology that can be defined as microfabricated mechanical and electro-mechanical elements (i.e., devices and structures). Over the past several decades MEMS researchers and developers have demonstrated an extremely large number of applications such as Microsensors, Microactuators, Accelerometers, Micromirrors etc.

Silicon is by-far the most preferred material of choice to build MEMS. However, Silicon does fall short in applications that involve harsh environments and areas such as biological, chemical MEMS sensing etc. This is where Carbon scores over Silicon because of its advantageous properties like better polymerization, wide electrochemical stability window, biocompatibility etc.

The present work starts by introducing the basic techniques used to fabricate Carbon-MEMS. Processes are then explained to produce different types C-MEMS electrodes which can be further developed into novel biosensors, microbattery etc. The main aim of this study was to compare the different types of C-MEMS electrodes and conclude which type would be the best to further develop applications from.

Application such as a micro-battery requires electrodes to have high surface area as more the surface area, more is the charge stored. For an application such as biosensors, surface area of the electrode affects the sensitivity and accurateness of the sensor. Thus an electrode with high surface area is always desirable. In this work, different C-MEMS electrodes having fractal structures were fabricated and compared for their surface area. The C-MEMS electrodes were characterized using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique. It was found that the sample Carbonized RF gel with Long carbon fibers had the largest surface area out of all the different types.

 
AdviserMarc Madou
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
SourceMAI/ 49-04, p. , Mar 2011
Source TypeThesis
SubjectsBiomedical engineering; Mechanical engineering; Materials Science
Publication Number1488998
Adobe PDF Access the complete dissertation:
 

» Find an electronic copy at your library.
  Use the link below to access a full citation record of this graduate work:
  http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl%3furl_ver=Z39.88-2004%26res_dat=xri:pqdiss%26rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation%26rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1488998
  If your library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database, you may be entitled to a free electronic version of this graduate work. If not, you will have the option to purchase one, and access a 24 page preview for free (if available).

About ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
With over 2.3 million records, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. It is the database of record for graduate research.

The database includes citations of graduate works ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Of the 2.3 million graduate works included in the database, ProQuest offers more than 1.9 million in full text formats. Of those, over 860,000 are available in PDF format. More than 60,000 dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the ProQuest Web site - http://www.proquest.com - or call ProQuest Hotline Customer Support at 1-800-521-3042.