Sharif Digital Repository

Over the last few years, the universal number of legged robots has increased astonishingly in outdoor environments. In this paper, the design, and control of a new RHex robot named IRHex with innovative Fiberglass-Fiber carbon composite legs are described. IRHex is a six-legged robot-one actuator located at each hip-achieving mechanical uncomplicatedness that provides a reliable performance. In this investigation, the new material used for building IRHex legs was discovered after several tests on the effect of sequence and orientation of laminates in the composite. IRHex achieves robust locomotion using a computer board analyzing the data sent by the sensors and communicating to the ground... 

As microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology continues to gain momentum toward commercialization, the replacement of traditionally used platinum for oxygen reduction with an inexpensive catalyst becomes more important. A nonprecious nitrogen-doped carbon composite catalyst with previous applications in PEM fuel cells is demonstrated for the first time in a single-chamber air cathode MFC with comparisons to a similar platinum-based MFC. The performance of the MFC is compared with a similar MFC using a platinum catalyst and acetate feed. When the platinum is replaced with the catalyst loaded at the surface of the proton exchange membrane (loading density of 1 mg/cm2), MFC operation outperforms a... 

Bolometric response and noise characteristics of YBCO superconductor transition edge IR detectors with relatively sharp transition and its resulting detectivity are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The magnitude of response of a fabricated device was obtained for different bias currents and modulation frequencies. Using the measured and calculated bolometric response and noise characteristics, we found and analyzed the device detectivity versus frequency for different bias currents. The detectivity versus chopping frequency of the device did not decrease following the response strongly, due to the decrease of the noise at higher frequencies up to 1 kHz, resulting in... 

Porous carbon template decorated with mixed transition metals/metal oxides with tunable architecture is becoming increasingly important and attractive as a kind of novel electrode materials. In this way, mixed-metallic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provide an opportunity for fabrication of homogeneous mixed metals/metal oxides distribution in the porous carbon frame without any carbon precursor additive. Also, structures, dimensions and electrochemical performance of MOFs can be readily manipulated by simply tuning the metals molar ratio. In this study, we demonstrate the design and fabrication of petal-like NiCo/NiO-CoO metal/metal oxides with a rational composition embedded in 3D... 

Perovskite solar cells are well known for being low cost, solution-based, and efficient solar cells; however, the high price of the conventional hole-collector electrode (Spiro-OMeTAD/Gold) and the high price and complexity of depositing gold on large scales are major barriers against commercializing them. Herein, an effective carbon composite electrode is introduced for a low-cost perovskite solar cell with CuIn0.75Ga0.25S2 hole transport material to solve this problem. The carbon electrode is deposited by the doctor blade method using a paste composed of flakes of graphite, carbon black, and a kind of hydrophobic polymer (polystyrene or poly-methyl methacrylate). It is investigated how the... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have excellent photovoltaic properties. There are, however, challenges of materials cost and device stability to be solved before commercializing them. Utilizing low-cost inorganic hole transport materials (HTM) as a replacement for spiro-OMeTAD, and replacing the Au electrode with printable carbon could be important steps in this regard. For this purpose, CuInxGa1-xS2 (x = 1, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25, 0) nanoparticle layers are deposited as inorganic HTMs with carbon composite electrode as the back electrode. Photovoltaic properties of PSCs with CuInxGa1-xS2/Carbon hole collecting electrodes are studied by changing the In ratio in the HTM layer. Results from impedance... 

Activated carbon (AC) is an inert adsorbent material that has widely been used in water treatment or removing of environmental pollutants from water. In order to improve the adsorption of AC, which highly depends on its pore size and surface area, we prepared highly porous adsorbent composites of activated carbon (AC)/chromium-based MOF (MIL-101(Cr)). The composite has a high specific surface area of 2440 m2 g−1 and total pore volume of 1.27 cm3 g−1. To show the efficiency of the composite as an adsorbent, the removal kinetics of anionic dyes (Direct Red 31 and Acid Blue 92) from aqueous solutions dependent on the amount of composite, adsorption time, concentration of dye and pH is... 

An efficient and commercially available method is introduced for preparation of a binder-free electrode for capacitive deionization (CDI) application. An interconnected porous composite consisting of polyphosphate (PPO), graphene (Gr) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) is fabricated and assembled on a Ni foam substrate to prepare a binder-free electrode (Ni/PPOGrCNT). The resulting electrodes were characterized using various instrumental techniques such as TEM, SEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, Raman, XPS and XRF. Characterization results indicated that a mesoporous PPO structure is formed on a 3D assembly of carbon backbone. Accordingly, the 3-D porous structure facilitates the ion diffusion into... 

Monolithic dye-sensitized solar cells are conventionally fabricated using carbon composite layer as the counter electrode. In the current research, the brittle carbon composite layer is replaced with a metal foil, aiming to decrease the device series resistance and using less catalyst material in counter electrode. This metallic structure has also an advantage of mechanical strength and decreases the fabrication complexity. The counter electrode is prepared by electrodepositing Cr film followed by electrodepositing Pt nanoparticles on a metal foil. As the porous spacer layer, different composite layers of SiO2, TiO2, and Al2O3 are investigated and the best results are obtained for TiO2... 

In this work, we present the design and fabrication of a novel nanocomposite based on noble metal and metal oxide nanoparticles dispersed on highly porous carbon obtained via the pyrolysis of an inorganic complex and metal-organic frameworks. This nanocomposite is prepared by a two-step procedure: first, the composite support of nanoporous carbon (NPC) is obtained by the direct carbonization of the Cr-benzene dicarboxylic ligand (BDC) MOF in an Argon atmosphere at 500 °C (Cr2O3-NPC). A mixture containing Cr2O3-NPC and [PtCl(SnCl3)(SMe2)2] is then prepared, and underflow of Argon is heated to 380 °C. Finally, Pt-SnO2 nanoparticles are loaded on the Cr2O3-NPC support, and the obtained...