Molecularly engineered carbon conjugates for electrochemical applications
Part I: Carbon-grafted polymers for electrochemical energy storage in supercapacitors
Carbon-based nanomaterials are key components in energy storage devices. Their functions can be tailored by adjusting or developing new synthesis pathways. Our studies in this area are focused on living radical polymerization techniques, an electrochemically-aided atom transfer radical polymerization (e-ATRP), oxidative radical polymerization, and reversible addition chain transfer polymerization (RAFT) applied for grafting of carbon allotropes such as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), graphene and single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWCNH) among other carbons. The main goal of our research is to create new nanocomposites that demonstrate an improved gravimetric capacitance and electrochemical stability, originating from the synergy of a double-layer capacitance of carbon and pseudo-capacitance of redox active polymers. This is mainly own to the covalent linkage between carbon and electrochemically active molecules.
Part II: Carbon-conjugated biomolecules for electrochemical biosensor detecting bacterial and viral diseases
Over the past forty years, Lyme disease has remained a virulent and pervasive illness, persisting throughout North America and many other parts of the world. While Lyme disease is easily treated if caught early on, delayed diagnosis can result in illness that is increasingly difficult, or even impossible, to fully cure. In addition, long-lasting Lyme infections may develop more serious and debilitating symptoms, including severe arthritis and neurological disorders. Within North America, Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is spread through the bite of infected deer ticks. Once inside the human body, Lyme bacteria move throughout, and eventually settle, in various tissues and organs through adherence to the surface of human cells. This adherence of Borrelia burgdorferi to human cells is facilitated, in part, by BBK32 – a surface protein located on the outside of Lyme bacterial cells – which binds to the human glycoprotein Fibronectin. The adherence mechanism between Lyme and human cells provides an excellent example of how small-scale chemical interactions can translate into much larger biological phenomena.
Anna Ignaszak – biographical sketch
Dr. Anna Ignaszak is an associate professor of chemistry at the University of New Brunswick, before that she was a junior professor funded by Carl-Zeiss Foundation at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Germany. She obtained a Ph.D. in her native Poland in 2006 and moved to Canada to take on a position as a research associate at The University of British Columbia (Vancouver), and at the National Research Council of Canada. She has a diverse background in materials for electrochemical energy applications and electrochemical diagnostics.