Sharif Digital Repository

Severe plastic deformation (SPD) is known as an efficient route for grain refinement in the metals. However, the size of SPD products is almost small due to the limitations associated with the SPD processes. Hence, the growing attention is paid to the welding of severely deformed metals. Friction stir welding, as a solid state welding process, seems to be suitable for this purpose. But, considering the significant amount of stored strain within the SPDed metals, appreciable grain growth after recrystallization occurs not only in the stir zone, but also in its surrounded areas. In this study, the 1050-aluminum sheets severely deformed through constrained groove pressing (CGP) were processed... 

The increasing role of nanotechnology in our every-day-life, has aroused global concern regarding their hazardous potential, resulting in a demand for parallel risk assessment. Quatitative structure-activity relationships enable researches to use unique properties of nanoparticles as predictors for their toxicity or any other biological response. Extracting rational correlations between physicochemical properties of nanoparticles and their biological response, not only reveals the way that nanoparticles behave upon entering into biological media, but also leads to the design of safer and efficient nanoparticles for various applications of interest. This PhD dissertation presents QSAR tools... 

In the first part of this research, we reported a liquid sensor array for detection and classification of biological thiols, based on aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with different coatings as sensor elements. Thiol mediated aggregation of AuNPs was visualized via UV–vis spectra. The spectral changes, as a consequence of aggregation of AuNPs, made a unique pattern of spectra for each analyte and allowed for the selective detection and discrimination of the biological molecules. HCA and PCA analysis demonstrated the discrimination of various thiols of different concentrations (i.e. 10–800 mmol L-1 for cysteine, 200–700 mmol L-1 for both glutathione and glutathione disulfide).... 

In recent years, utilizing the colloidal gas aphron (CGA) drilling fluids is getting more and more commonplace due to their little formation damage and filtration loss. This study tries to investigate the effect of presence of nanoparticles and their type (hydrophobicity) on stability and performance of water and oil based CGA drilling fluids. This is done through analyzing stability, filtration, rheology, and pore blockage tests. Water and oil based CGA drilling fluids consisted of stabilizer, surfactant, and nanoparticles are generated and through examining of the effects of polymer, surfactant, and nanoparticle concentrations, the optimum formulation is obtained. High pressure-high... 

In this study, a comprehensive 2D mathematical model has been developed for the simulation of physical and chemical absorption of carbon dioxide in hollow fiber membrane contactors in the presence of nanoparticles. The model were developed by considering molecular diffusion in radial and axial directions as well as non-wetting conditions. Carbon dioxide absorption was simulated from a gas mixture containing carbon dioxide and air, that flows in the shell. Also, absorbent containing nanoparticles flows in tube side and counter currently. Effects of presence of nanoparticles were modeled by taking into account two prominent mechanisms proposed in the literature for mass transfer enhancement in... 

One the basic challenges during drilling of both vertical and horizontal wellbores is due to mud filtrate invasion into the formation. Addition of nanoparticles to composition of drilling fluid has been recognized as a measure of control and reduction of filtrate invasion. Despite notable advances in formulation of nano-enhanced drilling fluids, effects of surface wettability of nanoparticles on their performance have not been studied with any precision. Moreover, return permeability of a grain packed porous media after extreme invasion by mud filtrate has not been experimentally measured in a radial system, yet. The last but not least, Generation and development of mud cake opposite the... 

Despite of significant developments of optical trapping in past decays, trapping of small nanometer-sized particle faces some difficulties. Optical force reduces rapidly by decreasing the size of the particle because of reducing the particle’s polarizability. So, it is necessary to increase the intensity of incident beam to attain a stable trap. However, it can lead to damage of particle before getting trapped. Self induced back-action(SIBA) is one of the proposed solutions to overcome this problem. In this phenomena particle plays an active role in trapping by changing the surrounding electromagnetics field. In this thesis, we show that SIBA is a phenomenon that appears when we extend the... 

Structure and morphology of titanium dioxide have an excessive effect on the photovoltaic properties of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Different approaches have been used to improve the efficiency of these cells. One is using a scattering layer. Studies have been shown that properties of scattering layer such as composition and morphology have great effect on photovoltaic properties of solar cell. In this project, the effect of cubic morphology of TiO2 as a scattering agent in photoanode of DSCs is studied. Titanium dioxide with various morphologies including nanoparticles, solid and hollow cubic structures have been synthesized by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods, respectively. The... 

Iodine isotopes are among the most significant medical radioisotopes with a wide range of applications in therapy and diagnosis. The I-131 isotope is usually synthesized by irradiation of natural tellurium in atomic reactors. But there is an alternative route in which this isotopes is produced along with two other significant medical radioisotopes (i.e. Mo-99, Xe-131) by neutronic irradiation of uranium in the reactors. To separate iodine isotopes especially in the extraction process of fission fragments, it is necessary to be selective adsorption of iodine on a selective adsorbent. One of the most selective adsorbent for this application is copper. The aim of this study is to compare the... 

Water base drilling fluids are the most common drilling fluids in oil and gas operations and biopolymers are the requisite additives used in such kind of fluids frequently. Unfortunately, at harsh conditions of HPHT the polymers undergo thermal degradation which cause serious loss in fluid rheological and filtration properties. Accordingly, this will induce operational pitfalls and tremendous cost. The power of economy along with environmental regulations force us to search for reasonable chemically benign additives to fulfill this need. Nanoparticles are the most promising additives proposed in this study to address this challenge. Regarding their unique exclusive properties, they are able... 

A system of electrospun scaffold containing drug-loaded chitosan nanoparticles was introduced for using in spinal cord tissue engineering. In spinal cord injury treatment, the formation of glial scar after injury which contains proteoglycans and activate glial cells should be avoided. In this study, the release of Dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DEXP) as a steroid anti-inflammatory agent from electrospun nanofiber composite containing chitosan nanoparticles was investigated. DEXP is believed to act through its glucocorticoid receptors found in most neurons and glial cells. These receptors’ pathways are involved in the inhibition of astrocyte proliferation and microglial activation.... 

Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide is believed to be associated with the progression of Alzheimer's disease. One of the main obstacles in developments of therapeutic agents to combat progression of Alzheimer's disease, is the presence of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), which prevents the penetration of the majority of drugs. However, nanoscale objects are able to cross the BBB at low concentrations. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study the interactions of these peptides at the interface of nanomaterials. In this work we have employed molecular dynamics, and weighted histogram analysis methods in order to study the dynamic behavior and affinity of Aβ25-35 peptide on metallic surfaces of different... 

Constant drilling in the shale formation causes many problems such as shale swelling and well instability. Annually many costs are spent dealing with these problems in the drilling industry. Many factors can affect this issue. The most important factor is the type of drilling fluid and its additives. The use of oil-based mud is the best option to deal with the clays instability but, due to environmental problems resulting from OBM, their use has been banned in most parts of the world. Therefore, the water-based mud is the only option for the oil industry that can modify its property by use of additives. In this study, the muds contain Nano silica have been introduced. Silicate as shale... 

In first part Mesoporous silica (SBA-15) was synthesized by template synthesis method and the surface of SBA-15 was functionalized with 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 5-Phenyl-1H-tetrazole. Palladium nanoparticles were immobilized on the aforementioned mesoporous support. Characterization of catalyst regarding to its structure, morphology and other parameters was investigated by physiochemical analysis such as XRD, SEM, TEM, and TGA. This heterogeneous catalyst has high capability in reduction of nitrobenzenes and selective oxidation of primary alcohols which respectively gain aminoarenes and benzaldehydes in high yields. Reduction and oxidation reactions are done in water as a green... 

In this report the important factors affecting the levitation melting of copper are discussed. Pure copper nanoparticles were synthesized by utilizing an Electromagnetic Levitation Melting Gas Condensation (ELM-GC) method. Pure bulk copper samples were melted and evaporated by electromagnetic levitation technique in an inert gas atmosphere in a silica tube. Copper nanoparticles were formed from ascending vapor by employing high purity argon and helium as carrier gases and cooling agents. The pressure of inert gas was changed in both helium and argon atmospheres to investigate on pressure’s effect. Particle size and morphology of the produced nanoparticles were studied by Field Emission... 

A new strategy for enhancing the efficiency of TiO2 dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) doped with Ni ions with different molar percentages (i.e., 0, 0.5, 1, 5 and 10 mol%) was reported. The samples were prepared by sol-gel route and characterized by means of XRD, DRS, UV-visible, FESEM and photovoltaic measurment techniques. It was found that Ni-doped TiO2 nanoparticles had a mixture of anatase, rutile and brookite crystal structures. Moreover, the band gap energy was decreased with increasing Ni molar ratio, The highest cell efficiency of 5.4% was achieved for 1mol% Ni-doped TiO2, being 42% greater than that of pure TiO2 nanoparticles  

Proteins carry out most important roles in the organisms and they have a number of functions including structural, catalytically, regulatory and transportal, However for protein to have functional role they must be able to possess tridimensional structure. Several proteins due to various genetic and physico-chemical conditions have shown to alter their tridimensional structure leading to insoluble fibrilar structure. One of the properties of these insoluble fibrils is conformational change, converting to β-sheet rich structures; the entire process of converting soluble to proteins insoluble fibrils known as amyloid formation. The proteins amyloidosis have been seen as causative role in a... 

Based on the new standards, less than 10 ppm sulfur is allowed for the automotive fuels. This has led researchers to try improving the present conventional methods as well as seeking alternative routes for refinement of the petroleum products so much to comply with the requirements. Since thiophenic fragments such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) are the most durable sulfur compounds in the current hydrodisulfurization method, many studies have been conducted over recent years on how to remove these compounds. In this thesis, the desulfurization of dibenzothiophene from gasoline via adsorption method was studied. In order to carry out the adsorption process, a nanocomposite of graphitic-carbon... 

In this project, two centrifugal microfluidic platforms with the goal of separation and genetical study of circulating tumor cells have been designed, simulated and fabricated. Circulating tumor cells are the ones that are detached from the cancer tumors, entered the blood and disseminated the danger of cancer through other parts of the body. Both passive and active methods of separation are investigated in this study. The passive method is based on the inertial effects of the fluid and the active method is based on the magnetophoretic force exerted from an external magnetic field. In order to use the active method, the magnetic nanoparticles are attached to the breast cancer cells by the... 

In this research work, a two-impinging-jets reactor (TIJR) has been designed and tested to synthesis calcium carbonate nanoparticles. The application of calcium carbonate nanoparticles in various industries including health, food industry, pharmacy, etc., and the dependence of product quality on properties such as morphology and particle size distribution, persuaded us to study the synthesis of calcium carbonate nanoparticles in the designed TIJR. The precipitation processes are fast chemical processes and mixing plays an important role in the final product quality. TIJR have come to the attention of researchers because of the low micromixing time in recent years. In this research work,...