Sharif Digital Repository

The most common reasons for hard-tissue implant failure are structural loosening and prosthetic infections. Hence, in this study, to overcome the first problem, different bioinspired coatings, including dual acid-etched, anodic TiO2 nanotubes array, anodic hierarchical titanium oxide (HO), micro- and nanostructured hydroxyapatite (HA) layers, and HA/chitosan (HA/CS) nanocomposite, were applied to the titanium alloy surfaces. X-ray diffraction and FTIR analysis demonstrated that the in situ HA/CS nanocomposite formed successfully. The MTT assay showed that all samples had excellent cell viability, with cell proliferation rates ranging from 120% to 150% after 10 days. The HO coating... 

Two main origins of failure for hard tissue replacements are structural loosening and prosthetic implant infections (PIIs). Bioinspired multifunctional TiO2 hierarchical micro/nanostructures of conical-shaped TiO2 (CTO), regular TiO2 nanotubes (RTO) and irregular TiO2 nanotubes (ITO) with tunable improved cell growth and inhibited bacteria adhesion were synthesized. CTO and ITO samples indicated superhydrophilicity with contact angles of less than 5°. The MTT assay demonstrated excellent biological performance for RTO and CTO sample with 98.1% and 103.1% of cell viability, respectively. The bridging force for osteoblast cell attachment onto the synthesized porous coatings was presented as a... 

Enzymatic decolorization of reactive blue 221 (RB221) using laccase was investigated in a dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC). Suspended laccase was used in the cathode chamber in the absence of any mediators in order to decolorize RB221 and also improve oxygen reduction reaction in the cathode. Molasses was utilized as low cost and high strength energy source in the anode chamber. The capability of MFC for simultaneous molasses and dye removal was investigated. A decolorization efficiency of 87% was achieved in the cathode chamber and 84% COD removal for molasses was observed in the anode chamber. Laccase could catalyze the removal of RB221 and had positive effect on MFC performance as... 

Amorphous lithium metal alloys (LixM, with M=Si, Ge, Sn, …) are attractive anode materials for lithium-ion batteries owing to their high energy-storage capacity and safety characteristics. However, repeated insertion of lithium often leads to chemo-mechanical degradation of the alloy, which can severely reduce the battery capacity and cycle life. Better understanding of the chemo-mechanical response of lithium alloys is needed to guide the design of damage-resistant anode microstructures. In this work, we propose a constitutive theory that couples large, viscoplastic deformations to the insertion and extraction of lithium in amorphous electrode materials. The theory relies on the concept of... 

This study shows the growth behavior of Co-Ni alloy nanowires in AAO template. Growth of nanowires consists of four different stages namely electronucleation, steady state growth, filling of pores, and coverage of filled nanowires and forming of a film on the template surface. TEM study of nanowires showed that the nanowires possess hemispherical head due to the preferable and more rapid growth phenomenon in central section of nanowires instead of edge sides. Studies on the relations between nanowires composition and ion concentration in solution showed that growth of nanowires is a diffusion-controlled process. The compositional, structural and magnetic properties of nanowires were... 

Electrochemical oxidation of l-ascorbic acid on polycrystalline silver in alkaline aqueous solutions is studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (IS). The anodic electro-oxidation starts at -500 mV versus SCE and shows continued anodic oxidation in the cathodic half cycle in the CV regime signifying slowly oxidizing adsorbates. Diffusion coefficient of ascorbate ion measured under both voltammetric regimes is around 1.4 × 10-5 cm2 s-1. Impedance spectroscopy measures the capacitances associated with double layer and adsorption around 50 μF cm-2 and 4 mF cm-2 as well as the adsorption and decomposition resistances (rates). © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All... 

A carbon-paste electrode (CPE) modified with iron(II) phthalocyanine was used for the sensitive voltammetric determination of epinephrine (EN). The electrochemical response characteristics of the modified electrode toward EN, ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) were investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry (CV and DPV). The results show an efficient catalytic activity of the electrode for the electro-oxidation of EN, which leads to improvement of reversibility of the electrode response and lowering its overpotential by more than 100 mV. The effect of pH and potential sweep rate on the mechanism of the electrode process was investigated. The modified electrode exhibits an... 

A new modified electrode formed by carbon nanoparticle/chitosan film (CNP/CS) was used for electrocatalytic reduction of Niclosamide (NA). The electrochemical behavior of NA at the CNP/CS modified electrode was investigated in detail by the means of cyclic voltammetry. The reduction mechanism of NA, corresponds to the redox chemistry of nitro group, was thoroughly investigated. The effect of the experimental parameters e.g. potential and time of accumulation, pH of the buffered solutions and potential sweep rate on the response of the electrode was studied. The prepared electrode showed high stability and uniformity in the composite film, short response time, good reproducibility and an... 

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) introduce a promising electrochemical conversion technology to generate electricity directly from fuel oxidization. A three-dimensional (3D) numerical model is proposed to evaluate the SOFC performance by employing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach based on the finite element method. This research includes simultaneously solving momentum, energy, and mass transport equations linked with the electrochemical reactions. First, the modeling results of a SOFC system with a rectangular channel in the absence of obstacles are compared with the experimental data, showing very good agreement. The effects of different shapes and numbers of obstacles on fuel... 

Although hematite (i.e., α-Fe2O3) has been widely investigated in photoelectrochemical water oxidation studies due to its high theoretical photocurrent density, it still suffers from serious surface charge recombination and low photoelectrochemical stability. Here we report an in situ electrochemical method to form a uniform and ultrathin (i.e., 3-5 nm) passivation layer all over the pores of an optimized ∼3.2% Ti-doped α-Fe2O3 photoanode. We unveil the amorphous and defective nature of the in situ derived layer assigned to a high concentration of oxygen vacancies and intercalated potassium atoms there, i.e., the formation of Ti/K co-doped defective α-Fe2O3−x. Owing to the efficient... 

SnO2 is considered as one of the high specific capacity anode materials for Lithium-ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity of SnO2 limits its applications. This manuscript reports a simple and efficient approach for the synthesis of Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires (NWs) core and carbon shell structure which effectively enhances the electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of SnO2 nanostructures. Sb doping was performed during the vapor-liquid-solid synthesis of SnO2 NWs in a horizontal furnace. Subsequently, carbon nanolayer was coated on the NWs using the DC Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition approach. The carbon-coated shell improves the Solid-Electrolyte... 

A hierarchical superhydrophobic surface is prepared via a two-step boiling water immersion process and anodization of the treated aluminum substrate in a novel hydrophobic electrolyte of aluminum nitrate and stearic acid mixture at room temperature. The immersion time in boiling water had a significant influence on the morphology and durability of the sample. A pseudoboehmite coating is created on the aluminum surface during the boiling process, as revealed by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer results. The energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis confirmed the formation of hydrophobic coating surface after... 

In this work, a novel and facile synthesis process to fabricate single crystalline organometal halide perovskite nanowires has been successfully developed. Nanowires were grown in a high density ordered array from metal nanoclusters inside anodic aluminum oxide templates using a non-catalytic chemical vapor deposition method. Specifically, perovskite NWs were grown as a result of the reaction between methylammonium iodide (MAI) and the Pb/Sn (Pb or Sn) metal in anodic aluminum oxide templates under optimal conditions. The characterization results show that there is a reaction zone at the interface between the perovskite material and metal, at the bottom of the anodic aluminum oxide... 

Titanium is a highly reactive metal with an inclination to compose with oxygen. In order to increase its corrosion resistance and application, therefore, a thin layer of titanium oxide is produced on the surface by chemical and electrochemical methods. In the present research, titanium has been anodized in 20 M of NaOH solution under potentiostatic conditions at constant voltages of 25 and 35 V. The microstructure of the anodic layers has been studied by the use of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that the structure of the anodic layers is amorphous with low porosity and that thickness increases with an increase in anodizing voltage. The... 

Accumulative roll bonded (ARBed) AA1050 and Al-2 vol% SiCp (AMC) samples were anodized in an H2SO4 electrolyte to improve corrosion resistance. The SEM images revealed that the anodic oxide's morphology is significantly dependent on the microstructure of the ARBed bare samples, owing to high internal energy that accelerates Al consumption during anodizing process. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements and EIS evaluation showed that anodic oxide improves the corrosion resistance of both ARBed AA and AMC samples; however, the electrochemical behavior of the processed samples changed due to the formation of a complex oxide structure comprising of twisted pore channels and attack routes. ©... 

A pseudocapacitive electrode based on mesoporous manganese dioxide (MnO2) was fabricated via the anodic pulse electrodeposition method. Pulse current (PC) has many parameters that affect the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the material. PC parameters are generally divided into independent and dependent types. Independent pulse parameters consist of the time of applying current (ton), interval time with zero current (toff), and peak current density (Ip). Dependent pulse parameters include duty cycle (θ), frequency (f), and average current density (Ia). In this work, the changes of two independent parameters (ton and toff) at the constant Ip = 2 mA cm-2 on the anodic pulse... 

Clioquinol is an antifungal, antiprotozoal and an Alzheimer's disease drug with cytotoxic activity toward human cancer cells. The electrochemical behavior of clioquinol and its oxidation product was studied using cyclic, differential pulse and square-wave voltammetry over a wide pH range on a glassy carbon electrode. The results revealed that the oxidation of clioquinol is an irreversible pH-dependent process that proceeds with the transfer of one electron and one proton in an adsorption-controlled mechanism and results in the formation of a main oxidation product, which adsorbs very strongly on the glassy carbon surface. The charge transfer coefficient was calculated as 0.64. The adsorbed... 

Pulse-potential coelectrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide/zinc (rGO-Zn) nanocomposite coating is directly controlled upon a steel substrate from a one-pot aqueous mixture containing [GO-/Zn2+]δ+ nanoclusters. GO nanosheets are synthesized by modified Hummer's approach while Zn cations are produced in the solution and deposited on GO nanosheets using anodic dissolution technique. Eventually, nanoclusters are reduced to rGO-Zn film through an electrochemical process. Chemical composition, surface morphology, and corrosion resistance of the thin film are characterized. Results show that the corrosion resistance of rGO-Zn coating is approximately 10 times more than the bare steel. © 2018 S.... 

Aluminum reduction cells have benefited from point feeding technology for a long time, but there are still smelters which are using the old technology of center break and center feed system. Due to several factors this system is no longer approved and there have been a few attempts worldwide to upgrade these cells so as to implement the newer technology by applying mechanical and automation changes. In this paper we will present an attempt which was made in order to retrofit a so-called center break cell to point feeder cell. The results show that this project has decreased the energy consumption and anode effect frequency. Furthermore, there has been a significant increase in current... 

Alluring optical and electronic properties have made organometallic halide perovskites attractive candidates for optoelectronics. Among all perovskite materials, inorganic CsPbX3 (X is halide) in black cubic phase has triggered enormous attention recently owing to its comparable photovoltaic performance and high stability as compared to organic and hybrid perovskites. However, cubic phase stabilization at room temperature for CsPbI3 still survives as a challenge. Herein we report all inorganic three-dimensional vertical CsPbI3 perovskite nanowires (NWs) synthesized inside anodic alumina membrane (AAM) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. It was discovered that the as-grown NWs have...