Sharif Digital Repository

Nickel-dimethylglyoxime complex (NiDMG) modified nickel electrode (Ni/NiDMG) showed a catalytic activity towards methanol oxidation in NaOH solution. The modified electrode prepared by the dimethylglyoxime anodic deposition on Ni electrode in the solution containing 0.20 mol L-1 NH4Cl + NH4OH (pH 9.50) and 1.0 × 10-4 mol L-1 dimethylglyoxime. The modified electrode conditioned by potential recycling in a potential range of 100-700 mV (vs. SCE) by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline medium (0.10 M NaOH). The results show that the NiODMG film on the electrode behaves as an efficient catalyst for the electrooxidation of methanol in alkaline medium via Ni(III) species formed on the electrode with the... 

This paper outlines a quantitative risk assessment for an 110,000 ton/day ethylene oxide production plant in Iran. After a complete and detailed hazard identification study, done by HAZOP method, the purification column was found to be one of the most hazardous sections in this plant. As ethylene oxide with high concentration and inventory is present there. Fault tree analysis (FTA) technique has been used to identify the basic events responsible for top event occurrence and also calculation of top event frequency of occurrence. Human error has been calculated numerically and probability of human error has been estimated. Failure rate data were collected referring to several sources and... 

We prepared single-phase polycrystalline Gd1-xPrx Ba2Cu3O7-δ samples with x = 0, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20. The deoxygenation process of these samples was performed by an annealing method. Electrical resistivity measurements revealed depression of the transition temperature with the increase of x and δ. We calculated the hole concentration in the CuO2 plane for different values of x and δ. A linear dependence of transition temperature and hole concentration in the CuO2 plane was found as a function of 2δ + x. It is proposed that a combination of the localization and filling of holes should be considered as the effective mechanisms for the appearance of the Pr anomaly in HTSCs  

Modified tungsten oxide films by vanadium oxide provide neutrally coloring electrochromic electrodes for smart windows technology. In this study W-V-O mixed oxide films were fabricated by Nd:YAG pulsed laser deposition (PLD), λ=1064 nm, from mixed pressed powders of (WO3)1-x(V2O5)x, x=0, 0.09, 0.17, 0.23, 0.29 and 0.33, at 13.3 Pa oxygen partial pressure and 200 °C temperature on glass substrates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed V5+, V4+, W6+ and W5+ surface oxide states, where the ratio of W5+/W6+ enhances by the amount of vanadium in the films. Surface morphology was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical properties by transmission-reflection spectra.... 

A carbon-paste electrode (CPE) is modified by incorporating cobalt-5-nitrosalophen (CoNSal) and tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB). The mechanism of electrocatalytic oxidation of dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) at the surface of the CoNSal-modified CPE containing various percents of TOAB is thoroughly investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. In solutions of pH 5.0, in which all studies are performed, DA exists as the positively charged species whereas AA is mainly as the neutral form. Therefore, the favorable ionic interaction (electrostatic repulsion) between the cationic form of DA and the cationic surfactant (TOA+) caused increasing the overvoltage for DA and... 

N-Benzyl-DABCO-ammonium tribromide was found to be an efficient and recyclable reagent for the deprotection of dithioacetals in dichloromethane/ methanol at room temperature. The reaction can be performed cleanly, in short time, and in high yield. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC  

Prediction of the creep behavior of metal matrix whiskers reinforced composites is the subject of many analytical and experimental research works. However, application of the FEM modeling to this area has not been so successful. The present research work highlights the shortcomings of the previous FEM studies and combines the analytical findings with the power of FEM modeling. More specifically, the fiber/matrix debonding parameter ξ is incorporated into the modeling. In contrary to the analytical results, it is shown that the value of ξ could only change in the range of zero to 0.5. The results indicate that the exponential creep law along with the modified ξ-σ relationship, and the newly... 

A new method for the fabrication of an electromagnetic nanocomposite based on Fe3O4 and polyaniline (PANI) is offered. The authors focused on improvement of the physical and electromagnetic properties of the nanocomposite using a new synthetic method. Supermagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized through coprecipitation method. As a chemical modification, the third generation of poly (amidoamine) dendrimer was grafted on the surface of the nanoparticles. PANI was grafted from -NH2 functional groups of dendrimer via in situ polymerization of aniline. Finally, Au nanoparticles were loaded on the nanocomposite and its catalytic activity for reduction reactions was studied  

Liposomes are known to be promising nanoparticles (NPs) for drug delivery applications. Among different types of self-assembled NPs, liposomes stand out for their non-toxic nature, and their possession of dual hydrophilic-hydrophobic domains. Advantages of liposomes include the ability to solubilize hydrophobic drugs, the ability to incorporate different hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs at the same time, lessening the exposure of host organs to potentially toxic drugs and allowing modification of the surface by a variety of different chemical groups. This modification of the surface, or of the individual constituents, may be used to achieve two important goals. Firstly, ligands for active... 

Liposomes are known to be promising nanoparticles (NPs) for drug delivery applications. Among the different types of self-assembled NPs, liposomes stand out for their non-toxic nature and their possession of dual hydrophilic-hydrophobic domains. The advantages of liposomes include the ability to solubilize hydrophobic drugs, the ability to incorporate different hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs at the same time, lessening the exposure of host organs to potentially toxic drugs and allowing modification of the surface by a variety of different chemical groups. This modification of the surface, or of the individual constituents, may be used to achieve two important goals. First, ligands for... 

The chemical modification of isotactic polypropylene was performed by the free-radical-promoted grafting of 1,1,1-trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA) in the presence of dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as the initiator. The reaction was carried out both in a batch internal mixer and in a corotating twin-screw extruder; the effects of the peroxide and monomer concentrations on the extent of modification in terms of the grafting efficiency and polymer chain structure variations were investigated. The modified samples were characterized with Fourier transform infrared to determine the structure of the grafted groups and the degree of functionalization, with gel permeation chromatography and the... 

A naked-eye (equipment-free), label-free (cost-effective), and RNA extraction-free (to speed up) method for SARS-CoV-2 (as a case study of RNA viruses) detection is developed. Here, the DNA is being used as a template for in situ formation of anisotropic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) without any chemical modification or DNA labeling. In this study, synthesized AuNPs for the direct detection of N-gene (nucleocapsid phosphoprotein) of SARS-CoV-2 are exploited. To this aim, antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) with an extra poly guanine tail (G12) were designed. Thus, in the presence of its viral target RNA gene and ASOs@AuNPs-RNA hybridization, there was a red shift in its localized surface plasmon... 

Radiopacity is sometimes an essential characteristic of biomaterials that can help clinicians perform follow-ups during pre- and post-interventional radiological imaging. Due to their chemical composition and structure, most bioceramics are inherently radiopaque but can still be doped/mixed with radiopacifiers to increase their visualization during or after medical procedures. The radiopacifiers are frequently heavy elements of the periodic table, such as Bi, Zr, Sr, Ba, Ta, Zn, Y, etc., or their relevant compounds that can confer enhanced radiopacity. Radiopaque bioceramics are also intriguing additives for biopolymers and hybrids, which are extensively researched and developed nowadays for... 

Blood oxygenation is the main performance characteristic of capillary membrane oxygenators (CMOs). Handling of natural blood in in vitro investigations of CMOs is quite complex and time-consuming. Since the conventional blood analog fluids (e.g. water/glycerol) lack a substance with an affinity to capture oxygen comparable to hemoglobin's affinity, in this study a novel approach using modified sulfite solution is proposed to address this challenge. The solution comprises sodium sulfite as a component, simulating the role of hemoglobin in blood oxygenation. This approach is validated by OTR (oxygen transfer rate) measured using native porcine blood, in two types of commercially available... 

In the present work, we report a chemically modified polyacrylamide/silica nanoporous composite adsorbent for the removal of reactive black 5 (RB5) azo dye from aqueous solutions. The composite adsorbent was synthesized in a packed bed and modified by ethylenediamine (EDA). The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermoporometry, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) method and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical stability of the adsorbent was examined in a packed bed by following the back-pressure of the column. Pore diameter of the composite adsorbent in dry and wet states was estimated to be about 18.71 nm and... 

Mixing has become a challenge in micro-fluidic systems because of the low Reynolds number in micro-channels. The method which is implemented in this paper is to use freely-swimming bacteria to enhance the mixing process. Accordingly, the Serratia marcescens bacteria were used for this matter. The mixing performance of the system is quantified by measuring the diffusion rate of Rhodamine B in a particular section of a channel connected to a chamber with varying Rhodamine B concentration. The concentration of Rhodamine B was measured using the Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) technique. The channel is in the form of a pipe and is closed on the extending side. In this paper, it is demonstrated... 

Methods for the regioselective C-H borylation and subsequent cross-coupling of the 2,1-borazaronaphthalene core are reported. Azaborines are dependent on B-N/C=C isosterism when employed in strategies for developing diverse heterocyclic scaffolds. Although 2,1-borazaronaphthalene is closely related to naphthalene in terms of structure, the argument is made that the former has electronic similarities to indole. Based on that premise, iridium-mediated C-H activation has enabled facile installation of a versatile, nucleophilic coupling handle at a previously inaccessible site of 2,1-borazaronaphthalenes. A variety of substituted 2,1-borazaronaphthalene cores can be successfully borylated and... 

Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane process has become the most promising technology for desalination to produce purified water. Among numerous polymeric materials used to fabricate RO membranes, aromatic polyamide thin film composite (TFC) membranes are dominant in commercial RO membrane processes because of their high salt rejection and water permeability as well as their excellent chemical, thermal, and mechanical stability. However, the major hindrance to the effective application of polyamide TFC RO membranes is membrane fouling. Furthermore, polyamide TFC RO membranes have limited stability to chlorine, which is commonly used as disinfect to control membrane biofouling. These two factors...