Sharif Digital Repository

Numerical simulation of the electrical field distribution helps in-depth understanding of the mechanisms behind the responses and the benefits of the high voltage pulse comminution. The COMSOL Multiphysics package was used to numerically simulate the effect of ore compositions in this study. Regarding phosphate ore particles shape and composition, the effects of mineral composition, particle size, particle shape and electrodes distance were investigated on the electrical field intensity and distribution. The results show that the induced electrical field is significantly dependent on the electrical properties of minerals, the feed particle size and the location of conductive minerals in... 

There is still an open question of how to prepare high-performance counter electrodes for dye solar cells (DSCs) at room temperature; a requirement for flexible DSCs. Here, we introduce Pt deposited cube-like chromium coating as a low-temperature highly-efficient counter electrode for DSCs. Cr is a chemically stable metal and can be easily electroplated on conductive substrates with high roughness (here ∼160 nm) and cube-like appearance. A cyclic electrochemical deposition method with optimized temperature and number of cycles is used to grow Pt nanoparticles on this surface and charge transfer resistance as low as 0.54 Ω cm2 and 0.27 Ω cm2 were obtained at 40 °C and 55 °C solution... 

Light scattering, porosity, surface area, and morphology of TiO2 working electrode can affect the power conversion efficiency of dye -sensitized solar cells dramatically. Here mesoporous TiO2 microbeads were tested as working electrode in dye-sensitized solar cells based on cobalt tris-bipyridine electrolyte. Power conversion efficiencies up to 6.4% were obtained with D35 dye adsorbed onto the light-scattering microbeads. Electron transport, studied using small light perturbation methods, was found to be significantly faster in the microbead films than in standard mesoporous TiO 2 films. This was attributed to the favorable assembly of nanocrystals in the microbeads, which can increase the... 

PbS on Pb thin film (Pb/PbS) was deposited on conductive glass (CG) substrate (CG/Pb/PbS) using electrochemical techniques to investigate the Schottky junction in solution. The CG/Pb/PbS electrode was investigated by different techniques based on thermionic emission theory. Electrochemical cell consisted of the CG/Pb/PbS as a working electrode in an alkaline solution showed character of the Schottky junction. Reduction and oxidation of H2O on the CG/Pb/PbS electrode were enhanced under illumination. Water photo splitting is the main process. Study of linear sweep voltammetry at around open circuit potential (OCP) allowed proposing a model based on the Schottky junction which is charged at... 

In this paper, a two-dimensional, two-phase, non-isothermal model is presented to predict the electrochemical, mass transfer and heat transfer behaviors in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Governing equations including the momentum, continuity, heat transfer, proton and electron transport, species transport for water, methanol, and all the gas species (carbon dioxide, methanol vapor, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen) and the auxiliary equations are coupled to studying the various phenomena in DMFC. The modeling results agree well with the four different experimental data in an extensive range of operation conditions. A parametric study is also performed to examine the effects of the cell... 

For the first time, a new platform based on electrochemical growth of Au nanoparticles on aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNT) was developed for sensitive lable-free DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation, one of the most popular genes in cancer research. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the sequence-specific DNA hybridization events related to TP53 gene. Compared to the bare Ta or MWCNT/Ta electrodes, the synergistic interactions of vertically aligned MWCNT array and gold nanoparticles at modified electrode could improve the density of the probe DNA attachment and resulting the sensitivity of the DNA sensor greatly. Using EIS, over the extended... 

Pyrrole was electro-polymerized on the surface of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) coated with a thin film of carbon nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), nanodiamond-graphite (NDG) or graphite nanopowder (GNP). Morphology, thickness, stability and loading of the polypyrrole (PPY) film were significantly affected by the structure and morphology of the sub-layer of carbon nanomaterials. Electrochemical oxidation of atorvastatin (ATOR) was investigated. Under the optimized conditions, a significant increase in the peak current (compared to other modified electrodes and bare GCE) and a negative shift in the peak potential (compared to bare GCE) were... 

Nickel/silicon carbide composite electrodeposits were prepared on a rotating disk electrode (RDE), under pulse current condition. The effect of pulse parameters, current density, SiC content in the electrolyte on the codeposition of SiC were studied. Afterwards, the effect of codeposited SiC amount was investigated on electrochemical behavior and nanomechanical properties of coatings. The coatings were analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), linear polarization, nanoindentation and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The Ni-SiC electrocomposites, prepared at optimum conditions, exhibited improved nanomechanical properties in comparison to pure nickel electrodeposits. With increasing... 

PbS nanoparticles were in situ deposited on graphene sheets by a successive ionic liquid adsorption and reaction method to prepare a graphene/PbS composite counter electrode for CdS/CdSe quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs). Under 1 sun illumination, the cells with graphene/PbS counter electrodes (CEs) show a maximum energy conversion efficiency of 2.63%, which is remarkably higher than that of those employing PbS (1.28%) or graphene (0.23%) CEs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis shows that graphene/PbS composite counter electrodes have lower charge-transfer resistance at the interface of the CE and the polysulfide redox electrolyte, compared to those cells with PbS and... 

Herein, we present the large scale fabrication of carbon nanotubes (CNT) electrodes supported on flexible polymeric sheets by subsequent multilayer inkjet printing of a silver layer for electrical connection, CNT layers as active electrode material and an insulation layer to define a stand-alone CNT active electrode area with high accuracy. Optical and electrochemical characterization using several redox mediators demonstrates the reproducibility of the electrode surfaces and their functionality even with a single inkjet printed CNT layer. These electrodes are targeted to the clinical sector for the determination of the antioxidant power (AOP) of biologically relevant fluids by... 

Bacteriorhodopsin is a heptahelical protein found in the purple membrane of Halobacterium salinarum. The performance of bacteriorhodopsin was evaluated as a sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Bacteriorhodopsin was efficiently immobilized on the titanium dioxide nanoparticles and then tested for its ability to convert solar radiation to electricity. The photovoltaic performance of DSSC based on the bacteriorhodopsin sensitizer has been examined. Under AM1.5 irradiation, a short-circuit current of 0.28 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltages of 0.51 V, fill factor of 0.62, and an overall energy conversion efficiency of 0.09 % are achieved employing platinum as a counter electrode. Carbon... 

The objective of the work ahead is presentation of a new carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified by TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) and 1,2-bis-[o-aminophenyl thio] ethane (APTE) ligand as a selective cation receptor for determination of the Cd (II) ions using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). The electrode shows an excellent tendency to Cd (II) ions in presence of some interfering species. Under the optimum conditions, a linear calibration curve was obtained in the concentration range of 2.9 nM to 4.6 μM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9969 in the anodic potential of 0.54 (V vs. Ag/AgCl). The metal detection limit was 2.0 nM after 10 min preconcentration (S/N = 3). The... 

A novel ultrasensitive modified electrode was fabricated with a graphene nanosheets and carbon nanospheres (GNS-CNS)-based nanocomposite film as a powerful platform. Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs) were simply electrodeposited onto the GNS-CNS-coated glassy carbon electrode creating a PtNPs/GNS-CNS hybrid nanocomposite modified electrode. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) techniques were used for the characterization of the prepared modified electrode. The results of investigation of electrochemical response characteristics of cefepime (CP) revealed a considerable improvement in the oxidation peak current of CP on PtNPs/GNS-CNS/GCE... 

Here in this study, successful conversion of visible light into electricity has been achieved through utilizing microalgal pigments as a sensitizer of nanostructured photo-electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). For the first time, photosynthetic pigments extracted from microalgae grown in wastewater is employed to imitate photosynthesis process in bio-molecule-sensitized solar cells. Two designs of photoanode were employed: 10μm nanoparticular TiO2 electrode and 20μm long self-ordered, vertically oriented nanotube arrays of titanium dioxide films. Microalgal photosynthetic pigments are loaded on nanostructured electrodes and their photovoltaic performances have been investigated.... 

RGO/TiO2NTs/Ti electrodes with high surface area and good capacitive characteristics were prepared by simple electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) onto the previously formed TiO2 nanotubes. Microstructure studies show that reduced graphene oxide (RGO) having high surface area has been deposited onto the TiO2NT arrays. The electrochemical capacitive behaviors of the obtained electrodes were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge studies, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 1 M H2SO4 solution. The electrochemical data demonstrated that the electrodes displayed specific capacitance of 410 F g−1 at the current density of 50 A g−1 and... 

We have observed that a rotating liquid soap film generates electricity when placed between two non-contact electrodes with a sufficiently large potential difference. In our experiments, suspended liquid film (water + soap film) is formed on the surface of a circular frame, which is forced to rotate in the x−y horizontal plane by a motor. This system is located at the center of two capacitor-like vertical plates to apply an external electric voltage difference in the x-direction. The produced electric current is collected from the liquid film using two conducting electrodes that are separated in the y-direction. We previously reported that a liquid film in an external electric field rotates... 

Here, a solvothermal method for synthesis of porous Ni–Co binary oxide (NiCo2O4) nanorods followed by thermal decomposition is described. The prepared nanorods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) methods. These porous NiCo2O4 nanostructures were promising candidates in the development of high capacity supercapacitors and having excellent cycling performance due to high specific surface area. In addition, the influence of annealing rate on the structure and electrochemical behavior of the synthesized nanorods was investigated. The results showed that the annealing rate had a direct effect on the crystalline... 

The present paper demonstrates the capability of narrow graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) in constructing new sensing platforms. Graphene nanoribbons have been synthesized via a simple solvothermal route through unzipping of carbon nanotubes, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy analysis. These narrow carbon sheets were used to form a composite film by in-situ electro-polymerization with aniline. The produced graphene nanoribbon/polyaniline (GNR/PANI) composite film showed impressive performance in electrochemical determination of dobutamine (DBT). Under optimal conditions, in comparison to... 

Purpose: According to the conventional arch model of the pelvis, stability of the sacroiliac joints may require a predominance of form and force closure mechanisms: the greater the vertical shear force at the sacroiliac joints, the greater the reliance on self-bracing by horizontally or obliquely oriented muscles (such as the internal oblique). But what happens to the arch model when a person stands on one leg? In such cases, the pelvis no longer has imposts, leaving both the arch, and the arch model theory, without support. Do lumbopelvic muscle activation patterns in one-legged stances under load suggest compatibility with a different model? This study compares lumbopelvic muscle... 

The screen-printed gold electrode (SPGE) modified with the formation of self-assembly monolayer (SAM) of cysteine (Cys) on gold-nanoparticles (Au nano) was utilized for rapid and simultaneous determination of tetracycline and cefixime antibiotics by square wave voltammetry (SWV). Electrochemical investigation and characterization of the modified electrode was achieved using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A principal component artificial neural network (PCANN) with three layer back-propagation network was utilized for the analysis of the voltammogram data. It is possible to simultaneously determine the tetracycline and cefixime concentrations in the ranges of...