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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;page-break-after:avoid'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>MS Thesis Defense<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;page-break-after:avoid'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;page-break-after:avoid'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>POLY (ETHYLENE OXIDE)/GRAPHENE OXIDE POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITE ELECTROLYTE <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;page-break-after:avoid'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>FOR LITHIUM ION BATTERIES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>Mengying Yuan<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Date: Friday, July 26<sup>th</sup>, <sup> </sup>2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Location:</span></b> <span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Mechanical Engineering (small) Conference Room<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Time: 2:00 PM<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Committee Chair: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. Haleh Ardebili<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Committee Chair: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Dr. Jae-Hyun Ryou<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Dr. Yan Yao<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'>Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) can resolve the safety problems associated with the traditional liquid electrolytes while offering mechanical stability and thin film manufacturability. The main issue with SPEs is the lower ionic conductivity at room temperature compared to that of liquid electrolytes. Nanosized ceramic powders are known to enhance the ionic conductivity as well as the mechanical stability of solid polymer electrolytes. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In this study, graphene oxide nanosheets were used as nanosized fillers for SPEs. We demonstrated that about an order of magnitude improvement in lithium ion conductivity, as high as 10<sup>-4</sup> S/cm at room temperature, was achieved with GO fillers. We used thermal analysis, impedance spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared, and morphology analysis to investigate the GO/PEO films. A significant improvement in the tensile strength of polymer electrolyte was observed with only 1 wt % GO fillers while about the 85% elongation remains <a name="OLE_LINK1">uncompromised</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>