Sharif Digital Repository

Two-dimensional semiconductor materials can be combined with conventional silicon-based technology and sort out part of the future challenges in semiconductor technologies due to their novel electrical and optical properties. Here, we exploit the optoelectronics property of the silicon/SnS2 heterojunction and present a new class of backward diodes using a straightforward fabrication method. The results indicate an efficient device with fast photoresponse time (5-10 μs), high photoresponsivity (3740 AW-1), and high quantum efficiency (490%). We discuss device behavior by considering the band-to-band tunneling model and band bending characteristics of the heterostructure. This device structure... 

IN738LC is one of the superior nickel base superalloys utilized at high temperatures in aggressive environments. However, experiencing high temperatures and stresses during service causes microstructure deterioration and degradation of mechanical properties in this alloy. To restore the microstructure and mechanical properties of the degraded alloy, rejuvenation heat treatments can be considered. In this study, the evolution of microstructural features in a creep damaged IN738LC superalloy during different stages of rejuvenation heat treatment cycles was investigated. During solution treatment stage, dissolution of coarsened γ′ precipitates, grain boundary films and transition zone around... 

The present study investigates the evolution of γ′ precipitate microstructure in a creep damaged IN738LC superalloy during different stages of rejuvenation heat treatment cycles. Dissolution of coarsened γ′ precipitates in the creep damaged alloy occurred during different solution treatments. The precipitates that did not dissolve completely during solution treatment and those formed during subsequent cooling were considered to be as remnant and cooling precipitates respectively. It was found that higher solution treatment temperatures result in lower volume fraction of remnant precipitates and further formation of cooling precipitates. Slower cooling rates after solution treatment gave the... 

The noise performance of intensity-modulation direct-detection microwave photonic links (MWPL) operating under large-signal conditions has been studied in this paper. A sinusoidal signal plus narrow-band white Gaussian noise is applied at the radio frequency input of the link, and the output spectrum is derived using a nonlinear analytical approach. We show that the output SNR can be severely affected by the interaction of signal and noise due to the nonlinearity of the MWPL combined with the large input modulating signal. It is shown that the large-signal noise figure (NF) of an MWPL depends on the input power, a dependence that is not readily apparent under small-signal conditions, due to... 

We use a nonlinear analytic approach to predict the main oscillation mode power and spurious levels in ultrapure microwave optoelectronic oscillators (OEOs). This approach takes into account N simultaneously mode falling inside the RF filter bandwidth and calculates all the dominant InterModulation Products (IMPs) that fall in the fundamental zone. We show that nonlinear microwave photonic links exhibit the capture effect. By considering this effect, we derive analytical expressions that govern the behavior of the OEOs in the steady state. We find that when the small-signal open-loop gain is increased beyond a critical value, OEOs start a multimode operation from which the spurious levels... 

An ultrabroadband power amplifier using 16-way spatial power divider/combiner that using a quasi-TEM-guided wave structure is designed. An oversized coaxial waveguide was used as the host of the dividing/combining circuits that incorporates an antipodal finline array. Galerkin's technique in the spectral domain was used to analyze the antipodal finline. The oversized TEM-guided wave structure and antipodal transitions were designed using the theory of small reflection and near optimum design. A high power amplifier using 16 monolithic-microwave integrated-circuit power amplifiers is built. The measured results show 160% bandwidth impedance match covering the entire 2-18 GHz with maximum... 

We introduce the capture effect concept in microwave photonic links (MWPLs) for the first time to our knowledge. The capture effect or the small-signal suppression is the change in the amplitude ratio of the two signals between input and output of the intensity-modulation direct-detection (IMDD) MWPLs. An analytical explanation of the performance of external IMDD MWPLs due to the effects of nonlinearity combined with sum of several input sinusoidal signals is given.We have investigated the suppression of a weaker signal in these links. General analytic expression for the small-signal suppression is derived using a nonlinear analytical approach. We show that the small-signal suppression is... 

In the view of the latest status and the potential of developing wind energy in South Africa, the present study aims to perform technical–economic–environmental analysis on a wind turbine system with HOMER software using the 20-years average data of the wind speed obtained from NASA's database, for providing the electricity to residential buildings. The results showed that the Port Elizabeth station, had the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) with the value of -0.363 $/kWh when using the EOLO wind turbine, and the Bloemfontein station had the highest LCOE with the value of 1.601 $/kWh when using the Turby wind turbine. The results from the step-wise assessment ratio analysis... 

Nickel titanium shape memory alloys (NiTi-SMAs) were successfully produced from elemental Ni/Ti powders by powder metallurgical method and then subjected to age treatment. Microstructure was examined by SEM and XRD and phase transformation temperatures were measured by dilatometric method. The phase transformation temperatures increased with both duration and temperature of the age treatment. The porous product exhibited desirable shape memory effect. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

We produced bifurcated bone-like shape memory implant (BL-SMI) with desirable tooth-root fixation capability by compact-sintering of TiH2–Ni-urea mixture. The primary constituents of the porous product were Ni and Ti. We could adjust the pores' shape, size, and interconnectivity for favorite bone ingrowth by using urea as a space holder. Without urea, we obtained an average porosity of 0.30, and a mean void size of 100 μm. With 70 vol % urea, we got 62% interconnected pores of 400 μm average size. Aging allowed us to tune the austenite-martensite transformation temperatures towards the needed body tissue arouse. Differential scanning calorimetry measured the transformation temperatures.... 

Due to high surface to volume ratio and tunable band gap, two dimensional (2D) layered materials such as MoS2, is good candidate for gas sensing applications. This research mainly focuses on variation of Density of States (DOS) of MoS2 monolayes caused by ethanol adsorption. The nanosheets are synthesized by liquid exfoliation, and then using Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS) and Density Functional Theory (DFT), local electronic characteristic such as DOS and band gap in non-vacuum condition are analyzed. The results show that ethanol adsorption enhances DOS and deform orbitals near the valence and conduction bands that increase transport of carriers on the sheet. © 2018 IOP Publishing... 

Because of their unique physical and chemical properties, nanoparticles have been gaining increasing attention and have been used in many fields to fabricate new materials with novel functions. If nanoparticles are integrated with cement-based building materials, the new materials might possess some outstanding properties. Ferrocement is a type of thin-wall reinforced concrete commonly constructed of hydraulic cement mortar reinforced with closely spaced layers of continuous and relatively small-sized wire mesh. The low level of technical skill required to make ferrocement and the ready availability of its materials make ferrocement suitable for a wide variety of applications. This study... 

This paper considers the output feedback adaptive controller design problem for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems in output feedback form with unknown control directions and preceded by unknown hysteresis. The problem of lacking in a-priori knowledge on the control directions and unknown hysteresis are solved by using the discrete Nussbaum gain and Prandtl-Ishlinskii model, respectively. The system is transformed into the form of a nonlinear auto regressive moving average (NARMA) model to construct an output feedback control. To overcome the noncausal problem in the control design, future output prediction laws and parameter update laws with the dead-zone technique are constructed... 

Fixed gain controllers for automatic generation control are designed at nominal operating conditions and fail to provide best control performance over a wide range of operating conditions. So, to keep system performance near its optimum, it is desirable to track the operating conditions and use updated parameters to compute control gains. A control scheme based on artificial neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), which is trained by the results of off-line studies obtained using particle swarm optimization, is proposed in this paper to optimize and update control gains in real-time according to load variations. Also, frequency relaxation is implemented using ANFIS. The efficiency of the... 

Renewable hydrogen production plays a key role in transitioning to a hydrogen economy. For this, developing countries are encouraged to keep up with industrialized nations. As such, this study seeks to evaluate the potential of all capital cities of Iran in terms of solar-based hydrogen production and prioritize the nominated alternatives. This step is highly valued because finding the most suitable place for this purpose can lead to substantial outcomes and consequently avoid failure. Therefore, here a 20-kW solar power plant is simulated by PVsyst 6.7 software and meteorological data of 31 capital cities is extracted using Meteonorm 7.1 software. Considering all losses associated with... 

The main purpose of this study is to provide the heating power for space heating and sanitary hot water for a residential house in sixteen stations located in Belgium using evacuated tube solar water (ETSW). A one-year dynamic simulation was performed using TSOL 5.5 software and Meteonorm 7.1 was used to obtain the climatic data. Technical and environmental studies as well as station rankings are the parameters that have been examined for the first time in the present study. The weighting results of using the Best-Worst method (BWM) revealed that total solar fraction and CO2 emission avoided have the highest and lowest weight, respectively. Station ranking was performed using ARAS technique... 

Loess as a subcategory of collapsible soils is a well-known aeolian deposit generally characterized as a highly-porous medium with relatively low natural density and water content and a high percentage of fine-grained particles. Such collapsible soil sustains large stresses under a dry condition with natural water content. However, it can experience high and relatively sudden decreases in its volume once it reaches a certain water content under a certain load and therefore, the natural condition of the soil might not be suitable for construction if the possibility of the exposure of the soil to excessive water exists during the lifetime of the project. This research presents the utilization... 

Low-cost ethanol vapor sensors are fabricated by electrospinning of TiS2/PVP fibers on pre-patterned metal electrodes. TiS2 ribbons have been synthesized through sulfuration of titanium (Ti) foil using chemical vapor transport (CVT). We found selective and stable responses at a low concentration of ethanol vapor (2 ppm) at room temperature with the transient response and recovery times experimentally around 60 s and 2 s respectively. The relatively high responses of sensors (6800% at 18 ppm) are attributable to the synergy effect of TiS2/PVP composite structure. The mechanism of sensing is discussed based on proton hopping while the sensors exposed to ethanol vapor. © 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag... 

A novel nanocarrier based-on hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (HMCNs) with primary amines on its surface, a large cavity, and good hydrophilicity was synthesized by a hydrothermal reaction. The primary amine functionalities on the mesoporous carbon were used as the initiation sites for growing poly (epichlorohydrin) (PCH) chains. The chlorine groups in the side chain of PCH were replaced with imidazole as the pendant groups. Calcium chloride (CaCl2) was applied as a capping agent. The coordination bonding was formed between pendant imidazole groups and calcium ions. Doxorubicin (DOX) was selected as a model of hydrophilic anticancer drug and was loaded onto the nanocarrier and released... 

A novel magnetic Br∅nsted acid catalyst was synthesized based on growing poly(amidoamine) dendrimers on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles. After the dendronizing process, the MNP coated PAMAM was functionalized by chlorosulfuric acid to form an acid catalyst. Because of dendrimer coating of MNPs, catalyst shows good loading level of acidic groups on the surface. Also zwitterion nature of catalyst surface improves the catalytic activity. This new catalyst is proven to be highly effective in the synthesis of α-aminophosphonate compounds in a green way