Sharif Digital Repository

A chemiresistive sensor is described for the lung cancer biomarker hexanal. A composite consisting of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles and multiwalled carbon nanotubes was used in the sensor that is typically operated at a voltage of 4 V and is capable of selectively sensing gaseous hexanal at room temperature. It works in the 10 to 200 ppm concentration range and has a 10 ppm detection limit (at S/N = 3). The sensor signal recovers to a value close to its starting value without the need for heating even after exposure to relatively high levels of hexanal  

Two-dimensional MXenes are the newly emerging family of nanomaterials with competitive performance for nano-device development. Surface functional groups and abundant binding sites make these materials ideal candidates for sensor applications. Herein, we report the successful fabrication of a MXene-based nano-bio device for capturing, sensing, and filtering the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. Mannose carbohydrate, which binds strongly to E.coli's fimH protein via glucan multivalent interactions, is used as the bio-receptor element. MXene's structure was engineered to guarantee efficient E. coli capturing without mannose detachment. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic... 

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) was used to improve the hydrogen sensing properties of Pd and Pt-decorated TiO2 nanoparticles by facile production routes. The TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by sol–gel method and coupled on GO sheets via a photoreduction process. The Pd or Pt nanoparticles were decorated on the TiO2/RGO hybrid structures by chemical reduction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that GO reduction is done by the TiO2 nanoparticles and Ti–C bonds are formed between the TiO2 and the RGO sheets as well. Gas sensing was studied with different concentrations of hydrogen ranging from 100 to 10,000 ppm at various temperatures. High sensitivity (92%) and fast response time... 

It has long been an aspirational goal to create artificial structures that allow fast permeation of water but reject even the smallest hydrated ions, replicating the feat achieved by nature in protein channels (e.g., aquaporins). Despite recent progress in creating nanoscale pores and capillaries, these structures still remain distinctly larger than protein channels. We report capillaries made by effectively extracting one atomic plane from bulk crystals, which leaves a two-dimensional slit of a few angstroms in height. Water moves through these capillaries with little resistance, whereas no permeation could be detected even for such small ions as Na + and Cl − . Only protons (H + ) can... 

Evolutionary Algorithms are vastly used in development of rule based classifier systems in data mining where the rule base is usually a set of If-Then rules and an evolutionary trait develops and optimizes these rules. Genetic Algorithm is usually a favorite solution for such tasks as it globally searches for good rule-sets without any prior bias or greedy force, but it is usually slow. Also, designing a good genetic algorithm for rule base evolution requires the design of a recombination operator that merges two rule bases without disrupting the functionalities of each of them. To overcome the speed problem and the need to design recombination operator, this paper presents a novel algorithm... 

A three-dimensional electrode based on porous Cu2O-Cu1.8S nanowires is prepared by means of a facile fabrication process. In this electrode, nanowires are decorated with Cu1.8S polyhedral nanostructures on the top, which are directly grown on a copper foam, thereby eliminating the need for a polymer binder. As an electrochemical electrode, it exhibits an extrinsic pseudocapacitive charge storage mechanism, which is different from that of battery-like Cu2O-CuO and Cu(OH)2 electrodes. The areal and volumetric capacitances of the Cu2O-Cu1.8S electrode can reach 2.6 F cm-2 and ∼200 F cm-3, respectively, at 2 mA cm-2, which are much higher than those obtained using copper(i, ii) oxide and... 

Genetic Algorithms are vastly used in development of rule based classifier systems in data mining. In such tasks, the rule base is usually a set of If-Then rules and the rules are developed using an evolutionary trait. GA is usually a good solution for such tasks as it globally searches for good rule-sets without any prior bias or greedy force, but it is usually slow. This paper presents a novel algorithm for rule base generation based on natural process of symbiogenesis. The algorithm uses symbiotic combination operator instead of traditional sexual recombination operator of genetic algorithms. The new algorithm is compared with genetic algorithm on some globally used benchmarks and it is... 

The room temperature polar vapor sensing behavior of a graphene-TiS3 heterojunction material and TiS3 nanoribbons is described. The nanoribbons were synthesized via chemical vapor transport (CVT) and their structure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. The gas sensing performance was assessed by following the changes in their resistivities. Sensing devices were fabricated with gold contacts and with lithographically patterned graphene (Gr) electrodes in a heterojunction Gr-TiS3-Gr. The gold contacted TiS3 device has a... 

Gas permeation through nanoscale pores is ubiquitous in nature and has an important role in many technologies 1,2 . Because the pore size is typically smaller than the mean free path of gas molecules, the flow of the gas molecules is conventionally described by Knudsen theory, which assumes diffuse reflection (random-angle scattering) at confining walls 3-7 . This assumption holds surprisingly well in experiments, with only a few cases of partially specular (mirror-like) reflection known 5,8-11 . Here we report gas transport through ångström-scale channels with atomically flat walls 12,13 and show that surface scattering can be either diffuse or specular, depending on the fine details of the... 

The promise of graphene for use as a vapor sensor motivated exploration of the vapor responses of graphene nanomesh (GNM) functionalized with single stranded DNA. Devices detected different vapor types, including carboxylic acids, aldehydes, organophosphates, and explosives. As-fabricated GNM field effect transistors (FETs) had larger vapor responses than standard graphene FETs due to the effect of oxidized edges and lattice defects. DNA-GNM devices discriminated between homologous species with detection limits of a few parts per million, with fast response and recovery. Responses varied significantly when the base sequence of the DNA was changed, making the sensor class an intriguing... 

The controlled growth of metal oxide nanostructures within hierarchically porous conductive carbon-based frameworks is critically important to achieving high volumetric performance and appropriate channel size for energy storage applications. Herein, we grow cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoflakes, using a sequential-electrodeposition process, into spherically porous sponge-like few-layer partially reduced graphene oxide (SrGO) synthesized by template-directed ordered assembly. Maximum specific/volumetric capacitances of 1112 F gCo3O4-1 (at 3.3 A gCo3O4-1), 178 F cm-3 (at 2.6 A cm-2), and 406 F gtotal-1 (at 1 A gtotal-1) and sensible rate capability (80% retention by increasing the charge/discharge... 

A novel intelligent semi-active control system for an eleven degrees of freedom passenger car's suspension system using magnetorheological (MR) damper with neuro-fuzzy (NF) control strategy to enhance desired suspension performance is proposed. In comparison with earlier studies, an improvement in problem modeling is made. The proposed method consists of two parts: a fuzzy control strategy to establish an efficient controller to improve ride comfort and road handling (RCH) and an inverse mapping model to estimate the force needed for a semi-active damper. The fuzzy logic rules are extracted based on Sugeno inference engine. The inverse mapping model is based on an artificial neural network...