Sharif Digital Repository

Chemical Vapor Synthesis route was used for synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in hot-walled reactor at 800degreeC using TiCl4 as precursor. The effect of processing parameters e.g., temperature and amount of precursor on phase structure, size, purity, coagulation and agglomeration of nanoparticles were investigated in this respect. Also, the H2O effects on the size, crystallinity, phase transformation and purity of nanoparticles were studied. Comprehensive experimental observations were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and thermal gravimetric-differential thermal analysis results. The obtained results showed that by increasing the... 

TiO2-based photocatalysts are seen as the most common agents for the photodegradation of bacteria. In this study, AgCl/TiO2, hydroxyapatite(Hp)/AgCl/TiO2, AgI/TiO2, and Hp/AgI/TiO2 were prepared by the deposition-precipitation method on P25 TiO2 nanoparticles and were characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, EDX and BET methods. The prepared composites showed high efficiency for the inactivation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria under visible light and in dark media with different catalyst amounts of 12 and 24 mg, respectively. In less than 30 min, AgI/TiO2, prepared by the combination of cationic surfactant and PVPI2, disinfected 1 × 10(7) colony-forming units of E. coli completely. However,... 

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was successfully immobilized on amine functionalized TiO2-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (NH2 – TiO2 – CNTs) by a convenient and efficient method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and amperometry were applied to characterize the HRP/NH2 – TiO2 – CNT nano-composite. These techniques showed that the NH2 – TiO2 – CNTs greatly enhance the electron transfer between HRP and the modified electrode. Owing to the redox reaction of the electroactive centre of HRP, the HRP = NH2 – TiO2 – CNTs modified electrode exhibited a pair of quasi-reversible peaks with a peak-to-peak separation (ΔEp) of 70.6 mV and a formal potential (E 0′) of 367.65 mV... 

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... 

In this work, the electrophoretic deposition method was utilized to immobilize TiO2 particles on stainless steel substrates. In addition, for the first time, statistics-based experimental design using response surface methodology was employed to investigate the effect of four key coating parameters (i.e. applied voltage, calcination temperature, photocatalyst weight percentage, and deposition time) on the photocatalytic degradation. Analysis of variance revealed that the proposed model was adequate. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope were used to evaluate the effects of the parameters on degradation efficiency. The optimum applied voltage, calcination temperature, catalyst... 

Hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings in and onto anodized TiO2 nanotube arrays were presented and prepared by electrophoretic deposition technique (EPD). Coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). EPD proved to be an innovative and versatile technique to coat HA on and into nanotubular structures of TiO2 with enhanced adhesion between nanotubes and HA particles provided by mechanical interlocking. After EPD of HA on TiO2 layer, samples were sintered at 400 °C, 600 °C and 800 °C for 2 h in an Ar atmosphere. Effect of EPD processing parameters on thickness of the deposits and rate of deposition was elucidated for HA coatings on the nanotubular TiO2... 

In the present work, the synergetic effect of Ti-based catalysts (TiH2 and TiO2 particles) on hydrogen desorption kinetics of nanostructured magnesium hydride was investigated. Nanostructured 84mol% MgH2-10%mol TiH2-6%mol TiO2 nanocomposite powder was prepared by high-energy ball milling and subjected to thermal analyses. Evaluation of the absorption/desorption properties revealed that the addition of the Ti-based catalysts significantly improved the hydrogen storage performance of MgH2. A decrease in the decomposition temperature (as high as 100°C) was attained after co-milling of MgH2 with the Ti-based catalysts. Meanwhile, solid-state chemical reactions between MgH2 and TiO2 nanoparticles... 

A new strategy for enhancing the efficiency of TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) by design of a new double-layer film doped with Zn ions, with various morphologies and phase compositions, is reported. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that Zn2+ (in the range 0.25-0.1 at.%) was successfully incorporated into the TiO2 lattice without forming secondary phases. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) analyses showed that the synthesized nanoparticles had nanometer grains with different phase compositions and average crystallite sizes in the range of 8-48 nm, depending upon Zn atomic percentage. UV-vis absorption verified that Zn... 

TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal assisted sol-gel technique. The preparation parameters including pH value, the amount of water, titanium tetra isopropoxide content, temperature and time of hydrothermal process were investigated by Taguchi statistical experiments to determine the influence of synthesizing variables on the optimal conditions and to realize the highest degree of crystallinity or smallest crystallite size. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and direct band gap energy (Eg) values, measured via diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), proved that all the samples consist of anatase as a unique phase. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and specific surface area... 

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... 

The synergistic effect of nano titanium dioxide (10 and 30 nm) and nano silver (10 nm) as antibacterial agents were investigated on UV curable clear coating. Antibacterial and physical-mechanical properties of coating were optimized using experimental design in response surface method. Twenty different samples of nano Ag and nano TiO2 were prepared in this method. Antibacterial properties on Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) were investigated. The results revealed that using equal amounts of two sizes of nano TiO2 promote the antibacterial activity of nano Ag. So, the coating shows strong activity against E. coli. Physical-mechanical properties such as surface hardness, abrasion... 

Free-standing TiO2 nanotube array (TNA) films were fabricated via two-step anodization of a titanium sheet. The X-ray diffraction pattern indicated amorphous TNAs were transformed into anatase after annealing the films at 500 °C in air. The surface of TNA was modified by a sequential-chemical bath deposition (S-CBD) method to fabricate Ag2S nanoparticles and forming TNA/Ag2S-n nanostructure, by varying the number of cycles (n). Based on SEM observations, the produced films consisted of vertically ordered tubular structure arrays, each with 125 nm in diameter and 4.1 μm in length containing silver sulphide nanoparticles of ∼12 nm diameter. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the... 

Anatase and amorphous TiO2 nanoparticles were used to improve recovery of heavy oil from sandstone cores. Before performing core floods, the stability of nanoparticles at different salinities was tested using ζ potential and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) methods. While water recovered only 49% of the oil in the core flood experiments, 0.01% anatase structure solution recovered 80% of the oil after injecting two pore volumes at optimum conditions. To understand the mechanism responsible for improved recovery, contact angle measurements were performed on the rock surface before and after treatment with the nanoparticle solution. Contact angle measurements showed that the rock wettability... 

Sulfur doped and pure micro-nanoporous TiO2 film were synthesized with PEO method to produce a film with a high surface area for photocatalysis applications. The effect of applied voltage and electrolyte concentration on the microstructure and photocatalytic properties of the prepared layer were investigated via SEM, XRD, EIS and DRS studies. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) was carried out in order to determine the corrosion and electrochemical properties of the produced layer. It was found that although the barrier layer resistance decreases with the voltage, the layers porosity and consequently the surface area increases. Finally the XRD and DRS spectrums were correlated with... 

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... 

Titanium(IV) tetraisopropoxide was employed as a metal oxide sol-gel precursor to prepare ceramic composite nanofibers by the electrospinning system. To facilitate this process and obtain the desired nanofibers with higher aspect ratios and surface area, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) was added to the sol of titania. Four ceramic nanofibers sheets based on titania were prepared while each sheet contained different transition metals such as Fe-Mn, Fe-Ni, Fe-Co, and Fe-Mn-Co-Ni. The scanning electron microscope images showed good homogeneity for all the prepared ceramic composites with a diameter range of 100-250 nm. The sorption efficiency was investigated by a micro-solid-phase extraction setup in... 

CdS/TiO2/graphene (CTG) nanocomposite thin films were synthesized by a facile production route. The TiO2/graphene (TG) nanocomposite was initially fabricated by sol-gel method in such a way that TiO2 nanoparticles loaded on graphene oxide (GO) sheet via photocatalytic process. Then, CdS nanoparticles were deposited on the TG thin film by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction process (SILAR) approach. Based on atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses, the TG thin film possessed a larger surface area as compared with the pure TiO2 thin film due to presence of graphene sheet. UV/visible spectroscopy exhibited... 

High chemical resistance is the main prerequisites for materials that are intended to be utilized in usages such as chemicals storage containers production. Nanocomposites of epoxy resin containing nanoclay, CaCO3 and TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared and their chemical resistance was studied. Moreover, the effect of electron beam irradiation was explored. TEM micrographs proved the dispersion of nano-size particles in the polymeric matrix. XRD patterns showed an exfoliated structure for nanocomposite containing 1 % nanoclay and intercalated structures for nanocomposites with higher nanoclay contents. SEM showed the pits that appeared in epoxy/nanoclay structure due to chemical corrosion....