Sharif Digital Repository

Concentration-dependent cyto and genotoxicities of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) sheets on spermatozoa were studied. rGO sheets with various surface chemical states were achieved using hydrazine (N2H 4) hydrothermal (HT) reactions and green tea polyphenols (GTPs). Although 0.1 μg mL-1 graphene could not change sperm viability and kinetic parameters, <40% and 20% of spermatozoa were viable and progressively motile, after 2 h incubation with 400 μg mL-1 GO or rGO, respectively. All the graphene nanomaterials induced concentration- dependent reductions of adenosine triphosphate and NAD+/NADH produced by spermatozoa for motility and metabolic activity. While GO, N 2H4-rGO, and HT-rGO... 

Graphene oxide nanoribbons (GONRs) were synthesized using an oxidative unzipping of multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The interactions of the GONRs with various concentrations of fetal bovine serum or human plasma serum indicated that the GONRs were functionalized substantially by the albumin originated from the two different protein sources. Then, concentration-dependent cytotoxicity of the protein-functionalized GONRs on human epithelial cells was studied. Although the GONRs with concentrations ≤50 μg/mL did not exhibit significant cytotoxicity on the cells (with the cell viability >85%), the concentration of 100 μg/mL exhibited significant cytotoxicity including prevention of cell... 

In recent years, quantum dots (QDs) have been widely used in upcoming nanotechnology-based solar cells, light-emitting diodes and even bioimaging, due to their tunable optical properties and excellent quantum yields. But, such nanostructures are currently constituted by heavy elements which can threat the human health and living environment. Hence, in this work, the in vivo effects of CdTe nanocrystals (NCs) (as one of the promising QDs) on spermatozoa of male mice and subsequently on fertility of female mice were investigated, for the first time. To do this, CdTe NCs were synthesized through an environment-friendly (aqueous-based solution) method. The sperm cells presented a high potential... 

This work is concerned with the experimental investigation of mass transfer, which occurs during diffusion of hydrocarbon solvents in heavy oil based on constant and concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient. Here, a series of free fall diffusion experiments have been conducted in sealed test tubes at fixed temperatures. Pentane, hexane, and octane were used as solvents and were placed on heavy oil in tubes. The diffusivity of heavy oil into solvents was monitored by a digital camera. The image analysis technique was applied to extract concentration profiles in diffusion zones of solvents by means of calibration curves. Fick's second law was used to obtain both constant and... 

The adverse effect of graphene-titanium oxide composite films (containing sheet-like surface morphology) on Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes (as a model for minuscule animals) was investigated in a solar light-induced photocatalytic process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated photocatalytic reduction of the chemically exfoliated graphene oxide sheets included in the TiO 2 film. Furthermore, formation of TiC and Ti-O-C bonds in the composite film (obtained through annealing at 450 °C in air) resulted in a substantial delay in the recombination rate of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs and more efficient photocatalytic processes. The composite film showed a type of... 

Reduced graphene oxide nanoribbons functionalized by amphiphilic polyethylene glycol (rGONR-PEG) were applied to attach arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD)-based peptide and cyanine dye 3 (cy3) for targeting ανβ3 integrin receptors on human glioblastoma cell line U87MG and its selective fluorescence imaging, respectively. The rGONR-PEG suspension with a concentration of 100 μg mL -1 showed ∼14 and 2.4-fold higher near infrared (NIR) absorption at 808 nm than GONR (with dimensions of ∼80 nm × 1 μm) and rGO-PEG sheets (with lateral dimensions of ∼2 μm), respectively. The rGONR-PEG-cy3-RGD exhibited highly efficient NIR photothermal therapy performance (concentrations ≥1.0 μg mL-1 resulted in... 

In this paper, an adaptive fuzzy controller, based on backstepping technique, has been proposed for temperature control of a general class of continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTRs). Using the observability concept, an adaptive fuzzy controller using temperature measurement has been designed. A fuzzy logic system is used to estimate the concentration dependent terms and other unknown system parameters appearing in the control law. It is shown that the closed loop system is asymptotically stable and influences of minimum approximation error and external disturbance on the L2 norm of the output tracking error can be attenuated arbitrarily. The performance of the proposed controller has been... 

In this study, some new aspects of adsorption of a fluorochemical onto carbonate rocks as a wettability alteration agent to a gas wetting condition with the potential application for reduction of condensate blockage in gas condensate reservoirs are presented. To achieve this, kinetics, equilibrium, and thermodynamic of the adsorption process besides contact angle, imbibition, and characterization tests are investigated. Results of adsorption experiments revealed that kinetics behavior of the utilized fluorochemical–calcite system obeyed the pseudo-second order kinetics model. There was no change in adsorption after about 20 h. Also, the intraparticle diffusion mechanism was not the only rate... 

The main purpose of this paper is modeling and simulation of in-situ releasing of smart nano-sized core-shell particles at the water-oil interface during polymer flooding. During the polymer flooding process, when these nano-particles reach the water-oil interface, migrate to the oil phase and the hydrophobic layer of them dissolves in this phase. After dissolution of this protective nano-sized layer, the hydrophilic core containing a water-soluble ultra high molecular weight polymer diffuses back into the water phase and with dissolving in this phase, dramatically increases viscosity of flooding water in the neighborhood of the water-oil interface. In this study, two different...