Sharif Digital Repository

Here in this research, we report on surface engineering of bulk Cu2O photocathode thorough employing nanostructured materials. Nanorods (NRs) of copper oxide with average lengths of 150 nm have been synthesized by anodization of Cu foil in aqueous KOH electrolyte, followed by annealing treatment. Several heating processes were examined to reach pure Cu2O nanostructures and lastly the moderate annealing procedure at 700 °C under Ar gas flow resulted in pure Cu2O nanostructures, confirmed by XRD analysis. Surface modified nanorod/bulk Cu2O electrode was prepared by spin coating of sediments suspension of anodized drop on bulk Cu2O film fabricated through thermal oxidation method, followed by... 

Morphology tailored TiO2 nano assemblies consisting of nanorods with and without nanoparticle attachments were hydrothermally synthesized and their characteristics and light scattering properties were determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The nanorod-nanoparticles (NR-NP) assemblies and smooth nanorod (NR) double layers were screen printed onto fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass underlayers to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) photoanodes. The double layer heterogeneous... 

Ordered perpendicular TiO2 nanotubes (TNT) with 405 to 952 nm length and 60 to 90 nm diameter were grown via 40 to 120 min anodization of Ti6Al4V flat substrates. The samples were called TNT-40, -60, -80, -100, and -120. Vancomycin was loaded on the bare and anodized electrodes by separate immersion and electrophoretic (EP) deposition procedures. EP loading resulted in storage capacity of 5221.86 μg cm-2 for TNT-80 which was much higher than 1036.75 μg cm-2 of immersed sample. Drug release comprised of three stages: (i) burst release (78% for the bare, and 23% for the TNT-80 sample), (ii) gradual transport (21% for the bare, and 64% for the TNT-80 sample), and (iii) equilibrium. Transfer... 

Ordered perpendicular TiO2 nanotubes (TNT) with 405 to 952 nm length and 60 to 90 nm diameter were grown via 40 to 120 min anodization of Ti6Al4V flat substrates. The samples were called TNT-40, -60, -80, -100, and -120. Vancomycin was loaded on the bare and anodized electrodes by separate immersion and electrophoretic (EP) deposition procedures. EP loading resulted in storage capacity of 5221.86 μg cm-2 for TNT-80 which was much higher than 1036.75 μg cm-2 of immersed sample. Drug release comprised of three stages: (i) burst release (78% for the bare, and 23% for the TNT-80 sample), (ii) gradual transport (21% for the bare, and 64% for the TNT-80 sample), and (iii) equilibrium. Transfer... 

Nickel and nickel-manganese alloy modified graphite electrodes (G/Ni and G/NiMn) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetery (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed. In CV studies, in the presence of methanol NiMn alloy modified electrode shows a significantly higher response for methanol oxidation. The peak current of the oxidation of nickel hydroxide increase is followed by a decrease in the corresponding cathodic current in presence of methanol. The anodic peak currents show linear dependency upon the... 

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) was used as a template to prepare highly ordered Ni-Fe-Co alloy nanowire arrays. This membrane was fabricated with two-step anodizing method. It is found that there is an optimum barrier thickness to obtain a successful electrodeposition in pores of AAO. The thickness of barrier layer can be modified by additional electrochemical process after completing the anodizing step. Barrier layer thinning can create a rooted structure at the bottom side of the AAO pores and the electrodeposited nanowire arrays. The triple Ni-Fe-Co alloy was deposited in AAO membrane by ac voltage in a simple sulfate bath. The composition of nanowires shows anomalous deposition features... 

A stable copper (hydr)oxide-modified electrode was prepared in 0.5 mol/L NaOH solution by cyclic voltammetry in the range of -250 to 1000 mV. It can be used for electrochemical studies in the range of -250 to 1000 mV without interfering peaks because there is no oxidation of copper. During an anodic potential sweep, the electro-oxidation of saccharose on Cu occurred by the formation of CuIII and this reaction also occurred in the early stages of the reversed cycle until it is stopped by the negative potentials. A mechanism based on the electro-chemical generation of CuIII active sites and their subsequent consumption by saccharose was proposed, and the rate law and kinetic parameters were... 

The influence of an externally applied bias on photocatalytic performance of crystallized TiO2/Ti nanotubular electrode formed by anodization in fluoride-based electrolyte were investigated and compared to the behavior of multiporous TiO2 electrode. The photoelectrocatalytic oxidation behavior of methanol over the nanotubular electrode has been studied by measuring photocurrent response, potentiodynamic polarization spectroscopy and using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was found that the photoelectrocatalytic oxidation and the charge transfer rate constant of reaction on TiO2/Ti nanotubular electrode can significantly be increased by applying electrochemical bias. Moreover,... 

A mixture of multi-walled carbon nanotube/graphite paste electrode modified with a salophen complex of cobalt was prepared and was applied for the study of the electrochemical behavior of 6-mercaptopurine (MP) using cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). An excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of MP was achieved, which led to a considerable lowering in the anodic overpotential and remarkable increase in the response sensitivity in comparison with unmodified electrode. Utilizing DPV method, a linear dynamic range of 1-100 μM with detection limit of 0.1 μM was obtained in phosphate buffer of pH 3.0. The electrochemical detection system was very stable, and the... 

There are high attractions in the development of conducting polymer (CP) coatings to improve the electrochemical properties and biocompatibility of electrodes in the area of biosensors. A new type of the modified electrodes is prepared in a layer-by-layer process by using multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and poly-pyrrole. In this procedure, the glassy carbon electrode is casted by a drop suspension of MWCNT, which leads to form a thin film of nanotube on its surface. In the second step, electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of tiron (used as doping anion) is performed on the surface of the MWCNT pre-coated electrode. The modification procedure led to fabrication of a... 

Degradation of Clindamycin phosphate (CMP) was studied in aqueous solutions by an anodic oxidation process under galvanostatic conditions. The electrolysis cell consisted of a Ti/SnO2-Sb anode, prepared by dip-coating technique, and a 316 stainless steel cathode, both of which had a surface area of 6 cm2. The effects of critical factors, including CMP concentration, current density, initial pH, and the supporting electrolyte were evaluated. The electrochemical oxidation of CMP was controlled by mass transport within the studied range. The kinetic analysis indicated that the degradation reactions followed pseudo-first-order equation. The rate of CMP decay, as well as that of COD removal,... 

Nickel and nickel-copper alloy modified glassy carbon electrodes (GC/Ni and GC/NiCu) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox process and electrocatalytic activities towards the oxidation of methanol in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetery (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) were employed. The cyclic voltammogram of NiCu alloy demonstrates the formation of β/β crystallographic forms of the nickel oxyhydroxide under prolonged repetitive potential cycling in alkaline solution. In CV studies, in the presence of methanol NiCu alloy modified electrode shows a significantly higher response for methanol oxidation. The peak current of the oxidation of nickel... 

Nickel and nickel-copper alloy modified glassy carbon electrodes (GC/Ni and GC/NiCu) prepared by galvanostatic deposition were examined for their redox processes and electro-catalytic activities towards the oxidation of glucose in alkaline solutions. The methods of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA) were employed. The cyclic voltammogram of NiCu alloy demonstrates the formation of β/β crystallographic forms of the nickel oxyhydroxide under prolonged repetitive potential cycling in alkaline solution. It is also observed that the overpotential for O 2 evolution increases for NiCu alloy modified electrode. In CV studies, NiCu alloy modified electrode yields significantly higher... 

In this work, a porous and flexible three-dimensional (3D) nickel/gold nanoparticle electrode (NiF/AuNPs) is presented as an efficient electrocatalyst for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media. The 3D nanocomposite electrode consists of interconnected porous nickel foam (NiF) with large pores (500±200 μm diameter) surrounded by interconnected struts (∼100 μm) that are decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, 37±8 nm) through in-situ electrochemical deposition. The catalytic performance of the 3D electrode was evaluated by different electrochemical methods. An enhancement in the performance (about 253 %) and a remarkable decline in onset potential (about ∼0.63 V) in comparison with pristine... 

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a new method for simultaneous wastewater treatment and biological electricity generation. In this study, petrochemical wastewater with 8000 mg/l of chemical oxygen demand was examined in a membrane-less single chamber MFC. Effects of wastewater concentration as substrate for microbial oxidation, and anode material (stainless steel or carbon brush) were investigated as designing parameters  

In this research, different coating methods of polyaniline (PANI) on the anode electrodes and their performance in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) were investigated. The performance of systems in a discontinuous state was studied using the high energy content dairy industry wastewater. The phase enrichment assessment was conducted under open circuit potential (OCP) and the performance of MFCs coated with PANI through three methods was evaluated via chemical oxygen demand (COD), polarization, power density, energy coulombic efficiency (ECE), coulombic efficiency (CE), and potential efficiency (PE) values. The results showed the maximum value for the power density of 28Wm-3, CE of 17%, and COD of... 

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are rapidly becoming recognized as a new alternative to traditional energy conversion systems because of their high energy efficiency. From an ecological perspective, this environmentally friendly technology, which produces clean energy, is likely to be implemented more frequently in the future. However, the current SOFC technology still cannot meet the demands of commercial applications due to temperature constraints and high cost. To develop a marketable SOFC, suppliers have tended to reduce the operating temperatures by a few hundred degrees. The overall trend for SOFC materials is to reduce their service temperature of electrolyte. Meanwhile, it is... 

In this study, the effects of pulse current parameters on corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of anodized coatings were evaluated. Hardness measurements, polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests were employed to investigate the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of these coatings. Also, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphology and microstructure of the coatings. It was found that the properties of anodized coatings were dependent on various parameters, among which, time, temperature and pulse current parameters (current density limit, frequency and duty cycle) were optimized. Analysis of Variance... 

In this study, a two-phase flow model based on species transport, energy, and electrochemical equations was developed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The influences of heat sources and sinks, and water transport inside the fuel cell were also taken into account. In this regard, the effect of the operating conditions including cell temperature and pressure, anode and cathode inlet humidity, and anode and cathode stoichiometric ratios on the fuel cell performance was investigated. The simulation results show that inlet humidity and stoichiometric ratio of the anode side, cell pressure and temperature, and distribution of the heat sources and sinks are crucial factors... 

Here we analyze the effect of two relevant aspects related to cell preparation on quantum dot sensitized solar cells (QDSCs) performance: the architecture of the TiO 2 nanostructured electrode and the growth method of quantum dots (QD). Particular attention is given to the effect on the photovoltage, V oc, since this parameter conveys the main current limitation of QDSCs. We have analyzed electrodes directly sensitized with CdSe QDs grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) and successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR). We have carried out a systematic study comprising structural, optical, photophysical and photoelectrochemical characterization in order to correlate the material...