Sharif Digital Repository

Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of the acidic components found in the flue gas that can harm industrial facilities and the environment. SO2 adsorption by metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is an emerging method to effectively remove SO2 in low concentrations from the gas mixtures. In this study, amino-functionalized MIL-53(Al), i.e., NH2-MIL-53(Al), was synthesized through the solvothermal method and examined for SO2 adsorption at relatively moderate pressure and temperature (up to 2 bar, 25-80 °). According to the results of XRD, FT-IR, TGA, and DSC analysis, NH2-MIL-53(Al) demonstrated appropriate water, acid, and thermal stability. The SO2 adsorption capacity of NH2-MIL-53(Al) was 5.21 mmol.g-1... 

Active edge sites of MoS2 nanosheets exhibit promising futures for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), comparable with remarkable performances of highly cost platinum. However, 3D structures of MoS2 suffer from a lack of high mobility and unexposed active sites which lower the electrocatalytic activity. In this study, we show that there is a balance between increasing the active sites on the one hand and managing the charge transfer to facilitate the reaction on the other hand, and achieving this balance increases the efficiency of the electrocatalyst tremendously. For this purpose, we directly attached exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets onto carbon cloth (CC) substrate as a 3D network of conductive... 

A pseudocapacitive electrode based on mesoporous manganese dioxide (MnO2) was fabricated via the anodic pulse electrodeposition method. Pulse current (PC) has many parameters that affect the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the material. PC parameters are generally divided into independent and dependent types. Independent pulse parameters consist of the time of applying current (ton), interval time with zero current (toff), and peak current density (Ip). Dependent pulse parameters include duty cycle (θ), frequency (f), and average current density (Ia). In this work, the changes of two independent parameters (ton and toff) at the constant Ip = 2 mA cm-2 on the anodic pulse... 

The Zr-based metal-organic framework (MOF, UiO-66) was synthesized solvothermally. The synthesized UiO-66 was activated using different solvents (acetone, chloroform, and ethanol) via two activation methods of centrifugation and Soxhlet extraction over different periods (1–10 days). The crystalline structure and morphology of the synthesized UiO-66s were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. The adsorption behaviors of the synthesized UiO-66s were then investigated by selecting anionic methyl red (MR) and cationic methylene blue (MB) as the model dyes. It was found that a change in... 

Active edge sites of MoS2 nanosheets exhibit promising futures for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), comparable with remarkable performances of highly cost platinum. However, 3D structures of MoS2 suffer from a lack of high mobility and unexposed active sites which lower the electrocatalytic activity. In this study, we show that there is a balance between increasing the active sites on the one hand and managing the charge transfer to facilitate the reaction on the other hand, and achieving this balance increases the efficiency of the electrocatalyst tremendously. For this purpose, we directly attached exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets onto carbon cloth (CC) substrate as a 3D network of conductive... 

CO2 separation is of paramount importance owing to global warming abatement, as well as sour natural gas sweetening. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs), containing porous zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), in particular ZIF-8, have drawn noticeable attention due to their favorable separation performance. However, there are evidences of discrepancies in the reported values of gas diffusion coefficients/diffusivities through ZIFs, even for common well-studied gases, such as CO2 and CH4 in the literature. These discrepancies might be attributed to the surface/barrier effects, which are intensified by ZIF-8 nanocrystals downsizing. In this paper, an effort has been made to determine the impact... 

In this study, plasmonic properties of transition metal atoms (Sc-Zn, Pd, Pt) adsorbed on various sites of graphene sheets were investigated before and after CO adsorption by density functional theory (DFT). To this aim, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) of these systems were obtained by periodic DFT. The results indicated that the highest in-plane plasmon peaks undergo blue shifts after CO adsorption, in such a way that Co–graphene system demonstrates the highest blue shift of 2.42 eV from Visible to UV region. Also, out-of-plane plasmons do not exhibit significant sensitivity to CO adsorption. For deeper understanding of electronic structure of metal-graphene systems, appropriate... 

This work reports on the potential application of UiO-66 in gas sweetening and its structural stability against water, air, dimethylformamide (DMF), and chloroform. The UiO-66 nanoparticles were solvothermally synthesized at different scales and activated via solvent exchange technique using chloroform, methanol, and ethanol. Thus prepared and aged MOFs were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. The chloroform-activated MOF showed the largest surface area among all activation solvents, and presented high uptakes of 8.8 and 4.3 mmol/g for CO2... 

Graphene reinforced polymer derived carbon (carbon/graphene) aerogels were synthesized by carbonization of novolac/graphene oxide aerogels. Novolac/graphene oxide aerogels were synthesized using solvent-saturated-vapor-atmosphere technique. To this aim, 20 wt% solution of novolac resin with 0, 2, and 5 wt% graphene oxide in 2-propanol were made and were cured in an autoclave. Wet aerogels were dried in air and were carbonized at 800 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. Eliminating the time-consuming methods of drying like supercritical and freeze drying is one of the advantages of this method of synthesis of organic aerogles. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron... 

Herein, a magnetic zirconium-based metal-organic framework nanocomposite was synthesized by a simple solvothermal method and used as an adsorbent for the removal of direct and acid dyes from aqueous solution. To enhance its adsorption performance, poly(propyleneimine) dendrimer was used to functionalize the as-synthesized magnetic porous nanocomposite. The dendrimer-functionalized magnetic nanocomposite was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, and vibration sample magnetometer. The obtained results revealed the successful synthesis and functionalization of the... 

The Zr-based metal-organic framework (MOF, UiO-66) was synthesized solvothermally. The synthesized UiO-66 was activated using different solvents (acetone, chloroform, and ethanol) via two activation methods of centrifugation and Soxhlet extraction over different periods (1–10 days). The crystalline structure and morphology of the synthesized UiO-66s were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. The adsorption behaviors of the synthesized UiO-66s were then investigated by selecting anionic methyl red (MR) and cationic methylene blue (MB) as the model dyes. It was found that a change in... 

In this research, for the first time, SnO2-based varistors were fabricated via spark plasma sintering technique (SPS) and the microstructure and electrical properties of these varistors were investigated. Furthermore, the effect of post-annealing temperature in oxygen atmosphere on electrical properties of the SPSed samples was studied. The SPS process was performed at the sintering temperatures of 600, 650, and 700 ᵒC for 15 min with a maximum pressure of 90 MPa under vacuum condition. The SPSed sample which was sintered at 650 ᵒC possessed maximum density of 98% and the ultra-fine-grained microstructure with the mean grain size of 380 nm. Surprisingly, all SPSed samples exhibited Ohmic... 

The interactions between four different gas molecules (methanol, o-xylene, p-xylene and m-xylene) and Ni-decorated monolayer MoS2 were investigated by means of density functional computations to exploit its potential application as a gas sensor. The electronic properties of the Ni-decorated monolayer MoS2 and gas molecule (adsorbent–adsorbate properties) strongly depend on the Ni-decorated monolayer MoS2 structure and the molecular configuration of the adsorbate. The adsorption properties of volatile organic compound (VOC) molecules on Ni-decorated MoS2 has been studied taking into account the parameters such as adsorption energy, energy bandgap, density of states, and Mulliken charge... 

Three versions of zirconium-based metal organic frameworks, NH2-UiO-66, GMA-UiO-66, and EDA-UiO-66, were synthesized and employed as adsorbent for CO2/CH4 separation. GMA-UiO-66 was synthesized via a ring opening reaction between the amine species in the framework and epoxy groups in glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), while the green aza-Michael addition reaction was used for the first time to functionalize GMA-UiO-66 with ethylenediamine (EDA). The products were characterized by BET, XRD, TGA, FESEM, ICP-OES, 1H NMR, mass spectroscopy, and FTIR-ATR methods to monitor their textural properties before and after functionalization. The results indicated that GMA was successfully grafted to the... 

In the present study, the feasibility of electrospun polyethersolfone (PES) nanofibrous membrane as the solid substrate for microfluidic based immunoassays to enhance the density of immobilized antibody on the surface of membrane was assessed. Conversely, the efficacy of antibody immobilization was compared by two different strategies as 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC)/N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) coupling chemistry and hydrophobic interaction. Compared to conventional immunoassays carried out in plates or gels, microfluidic based immunoassays grant a lot of advantages such as a consumption of little samples and reagents, shorter analysis time, and higher efficiency.... 

Comprehensive structural/molecular simulations have been undertaken to study the poly(benzimidazoles) (PBI) membrane combined with four different nano-oxide materials (ZnO, Al2O3, SiO2 and TiO2) for purification and production of hydrogen from natural gases. Composite membranes were built with different amounts of nano-oxide materials to investigate the influence of nano-oxide content on the PBI membrane performance. Several structural characterizations such as FFV, WAXD and also a thermal one (glass transition temperature) were done to study the structural properties of all simulated membrane cells. Moreover, MSD and adsorption isotherms tasks were used to estimate the diffusivity and... 

In the present work, mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) were synthesized by using a low-cost and unique set of precursors (camphor and urea). The CVD method at 1000 °C was used with different camphor/urea ratios, and Co-Mo/MgO nanocatalyst was utilized as growth catalyst. Application of mesoporous N-CNTs in selective oxidation of H2S was studied experimentally and N-CNTs interactions with H2S was also investigated using DFT calculations. The as-synthesized N-CNTs were characterized using FTIR, FE-SEM, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), XPS and nitrogen adsorption/desorption. The N-CNT2 sample with urea to camphor ratio (U/C) of 1 showed the highest sulfur yield at... 

SnO2-CuO is one the most promising systems for detection of detrimental H2S gas. Although previous experimental research has suggested a sulfidation reaction to explain selectivity toward H2S, little is known about the origin of change of electrical response of this system by changing the H2S gas concentration. In this study the relation between sensing response of continuous SnO2-CuO bilayer thin film and H2S gas concentration is computed based on changeability of chemical composition of covellite CuxS. For this purpose, chemical activity of sulfur as a function of atomic fraction in covellite copper sulfide is estimated using Gibbs energies of formation and chemical thermodynamics. By... 

A mechanochemical method was applied to prepare bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr) nanoplates using bismuth nitrate pentahydrate and potassium bromide for 15 (A15), 30 (A30) and 60 (A60) minutes. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that all the products were comprised of nanoplates. Aggregated nanoplates along with microblocks were observed for A15 and A30 and the entire morphology was not homogenous. The morphology of A60 was uniform and consisted of thin and isolated nanoplates. Evaluation of the X-ray diffraction patterns showed that the purity and crystallinity of the products improved by increasing the milling time. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirmed the high purity of the... 

In the present research, iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized through the hydrothermal method, and the influence of processing parameters such as pH of the initial coprecipitation reaction, time and temperature of hydrothermal treatment was studied. The magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles were coated with a negatively charged, thin layer of silica. The product is then coated with a layer of mesoporous silica. As a result of the electrostatic attraction between the cationic CTAB and the primary silica coating, the formation of mesoporous silica would be mainly localized on the surface of nanoparticles. Calcination was performed in an argon atmosphere tube furnace at 550 °C, through which...