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Determination of electrolyte activity coefficients in acetonitrile using the isopiestic technique for the construction of reliable reference half cells for nonaqueous electrochemistry and the dynamic monitoring of osteoblast cell attachment with a quartz crystal microbalance
Abstract
This dissertation is comprised of three investigations. The first chapter details a thermodynamic study of electrolytes in acetonitrile. Mean ionic activity coefficients are determined for a number of 1:1 electrolytes in acetonitrile using the isopiestic technique. In the second chapter, these activity coefficients are used to evaluate apparent formal cell potentials as a function of electrolyte activity. Apparent formal cell potentials for a number of redox couples frequently used as reference standards and a redox polymer are studied. This work has been executed in order to find an improved reference system for nonaqueous electrochemistry. The last chapter of this dissertation investigates the application of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as a dynamic biosensor. A QCM is used in aqueous solutions to monitor the rate of attachment of osteoblasts to the surface of the crystal. Crystal surface coverages are determined by the digital image processing of scanning electron micrographs. A linear relationship is established by experimentation between the surface coverages and the changes in resonant frequency of the crystal. With a linear relationship in hand, I attempted to use the QCM to monitor osteoblast growth over a period of a few days. This was done by using the QCM cell as a culture flask in an incubator.
Subject Area
Organic chemistry|Cellular biology
Recommended Citation
Mechalke, Eric Joe, "Determination of electrolyte activity coefficients in acetonitrile using the isopiestic technique for the construction of reliable reference half cells for nonaqueous electrochemistry and the dynamic monitoring of osteoblast cell attachment with a quartz crystal microbalance" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9715976.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9715976