Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, a thermal method was used to synthesize spinel NiCo2O4 and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)@NiCo2O4 with an average size 50 nm and 20 nm, respectively. Addition of CNTs into NiCo2O4 noticeably increases the active surface area compared to pure spinel NiCo2O4. SEM analyses showed that the morphologies are spherical in both pure and composite samples. Uniform CNTs@NiCo2O4 nanoparticles exhibit high specific capacitance of 210 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 and a good retention capacity of 92.70% after 2500 cycles, which shows a considerable improvement compared to NiCo2O4. Additionally, an exceptional rate capability of about 73.2% was obtained at 50 A g−1. Such remarkable electrochemical performance... 

A 3D continuum code coupled with a kinetic Monte Carlo module has been developed for the simulation of Ni electrocrystallization in the initial stages of nucleation and growth. Mass transfer in solution was controlled by a finite-difference code which is distributed over an irregular nanoscale grid system in vertical direction to the substrate. Deposition events such as surface diffusion, chemisorption and crystallization in the system were considered in a KMC module that processes the output of a diffusion-controlled scheme in probability functions to model electrodeposition process on surface. Electrochemical data of this simulation was simultaneously generated according to analytical... 

Here in, for the first time, we report a new and simple procedure for preparing reduced graphene oxide/nickel-cobalt double layered hydroxide composite on the nickel foam (Ni-Co LDH/rGO/NF) via a fast and simple two-step electrochemical method including potentiostatic routes in the presence of CTAB as a cationic surfactant. Graphene oxide coated nickel foam prepared by simple immersion method. After that, the prepared electrode reduced electrochemically to obtain rGO/NF electrode. Finally, the rGO/NF electrode was used as cathode for electrodeposition of Ni-Co LDH in the presence of CTAB as cationic surfactant. The prepared electrodes were characterized by field emission scanning electron... 

In this study, initially graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were synthesized by an electrochemical technique and hierarchical porous TiO2 were made by a sol – gel method. Subsequently, GQDs/hierarchical porous TiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by two different methods for the purpose of comparison: spin coating (SC) and electrophoretic (EP) deposition. The GQDs/hierarchical porous TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by various analytical methods including field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and... 

Abstract: Here, the synthesis of TiO2 rutile nanorod arrays (TiO2 NRs) decorated with bimetallic gold–palladium cocatalyst nanoparticles (AuPd NPs) is described. The modified photoelectrode was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). AuPd–TiO2 NRs (AuPd–TiO2) demonstrate high photocatalytic activity for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. The tailored structure of AuPd–TiO2 depicts a boosted photocurrent of 3.36 mA cm−2 under AM 1.5 illumination... 

In this study, adsorption of important pollutant cations on the surface of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was investigated by density functional theory. The calculations indicated that N6 cavity surrounded by triazine units is the most probable adsorption site on this surface. The structural optimizations also predicted a planar surface for Cr3+, and Ni2+/g-C3N4 systems while the structure of the surface for other systems indicated a considerable distortion with strong dependency on the cation size. Also, g-C3N4 surface exhibited the high adsorption energies for Cr3+, As3+, and Sb3+ ions in the gas phase. However, formation energies of the metal-aquo complexes of these cations indicated... 

The present study reports a simple electrochemical approach to the fabrication of a new nanocomposite containing PtPd nanoflowers (NFs) promoted with two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets (NSs) structure cuprous oxide (Cu2O) supported on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (PtPd-NFs/Cu2O-NSs/rGO). Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, Raman spectroscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used for characterization of the PtPd-NPs/Cu2O-NPs/rGO. SEM images showed that vertical-standing arrays of Cu2O with an edge length up to 1 μm and thickness of about 20 nm are electrodeposited on the surface of rGO film. Also, PtPd needle-like NFs with visible and... 

High performance Fe-Gd-P tri-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (1 at% for each dopant) were successfully synthesized by a modified sol–gel method. Various analytical and spectroscopic techniques were carried out to determine the physicochemical properties of the prepared samples, including XRD, EDX, FESEM, BET, FTIR, XPS, PL, EIS and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of prepared samples were evaluated by photo degradation of methyl orange (MO) and 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) as model pollutants under visible light irradiation. Effects of each dopant on different properties of TiO2 nanoparticles were investigated. Results show that Gd and P doping enhances TiO2 surface... 

We fabricated a high rate capability supercapacitor based on fluorine-doped graphene-carbon nanotubes aerogel network (G-CNT-F). Based on the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data, the fluorination decreases the charge transfer resistance of graphene sheets, while CNTs act as spacer in the 3D structure. Therefore, both treatments improved the electrochemical properties of the resulted aerogel. Based on the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and XPS results, these excellent performances are attributed to semi-ionic bonds between fluorine and carbon. The specific capacitance of the graphene aerogel showed 78% decrease, when discharge current increases from 2 to 40 mA, while the... 

Herein, we report the impact of light scattering mechanism on photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical performance of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) devices composed of TiO2 nanoparticles and hollow cubes. DSCs are designed by two different light scattering modes (i.e., mode I in form of single layer electrode containing nanoparticles and hollow cubes and mode II in the form of double layer electrode comprising active and scattering layers made of nanoparticles and mixtures of nanoparticles and hollow cubes, respectively). The synthesized anatase-TiO2 hollow cubes (200–400 nm) and nanoparticles (15–30 nm) are employed to enhance the optical length and light harvesting of photoanodes,... 

In this research pure HA and HA-ZrO2-TiO2 nanocomposite coatings (named HZT coatings) were successfully synthesized by merging two usual electroplating methods. In order to deposit pure HA coating a particular saline solution of Calcium and Phosphate was prepared with pH = 4.2, thermodynamically rich of hydroxyapatite. XRD and FTIR studies prove the synthesis of hydroxyapatite during electrodeposition process. To synthesize composite coatings with rational molar ratios of composite agents to matrix, two different concentrations of ZrO2-TiO2 suspensions were added to Ca-P solution at the pH = 4.2 and electrodeposition process done similar to pure HA sample. XRD, FTIR and FESEM (EDS) analyses... 

Here in, for the first time, we report a new and simple procedure for preparing reduced graphene oxide/nickel-cobalt double layered hydroxide composite on the nickel foam (Ni-Co LDH/rGO/NF) via a fast and simple two-step electrochemical method including potentiostatic routes in the presence of CTAB as a cationic surfactant. Graphene oxide coated nickel foam prepared by simple immersion method. After that, the prepared electrode reduced electrochemically to obtain rGO/NF electrode. Finally, the rGO/NF electrode was used as cathode for electrodeposition of Ni-Co LDH in the presence of CTAB as cationic surfactant. The prepared electrodes were characterized by field emission scanning electron... 

Recent research interest in two-dimensional (2D) materials has led to an emerging new group of materials known as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which have significant electrical, optical, and transport properties. MoS2 is one of the well-known 2D materials in this group, which is a semiconductor with controllable band gap based on its structure. The hydrothermal process is known as one of the scalable methods to synthesize MoS2 nanostructures. In this study, the gas sensing properties of flower-shaped MoS2 nanoflakes, which were prepared from molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) by a facile hydrothermal method, have been studied. Material characterization was performed using X-ray... 

Herein, enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) performance is reported by combining the merits of the dye loading of TiO2 nanoparticles and light scattering, straight carrier transport path, and efficient electron collection efficiency of TiO2 cubes. We fabricate DSC devices with various arrangement styles and compositions of the electrodes in the forms of monolayer and double layer films. For this purpose, the solvothermal synthesized TiO2 cubic particles (100-600 nm) are employed as the scattering layer, whereas TiO2 nanoparticles (15-30 nm) synthesized via a combination of solvothermal and sol-gel routes are used as the active layer of devices. We improve the photovoltaic... 

Hydrogen bonds are the dominant motif for organizing the three-dimensional structures of biomolecules such as carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and proteins, and serve as templates for proton transfer reactions. Computations, gas-phase acidity measurements, and pKa determinations in dimethyl sulfoxide on a series of polyols indicate that multiple hydrogen bonds to a single charged center lead to greatly enhanced acidities. A new class of Brønsted acids, consequently, is proposed. © 2009 American Chemical Society  

The electro-oxidation of methanol on nickel and nickel-copper alloy modified glassy carbon electrodes (GC/Ni and GC/NiCu) in a 1 M NaOH solution at different concentrations of methanol was studied by the method of ac-impedance spectroscopy. Two semicircles in the first quadrant of a Nyquist diagram were observed for electro-oxidation of methanol on GC/Ni corresponding to charge transfer resistance and adsorption of intermediates. Electro-oxidation of methanol on GC/NiCu shows negative resistance in impedance plots as signified by semi-circles terminating in the second quadrant. The impedance behavior shows different patterns at different applied anodic potential. The influence of the... 

Interaction of the DNA thymine base with Cu+ and Zn3+ was studied to explore: a) The metal binding energy (MIA) of thymine with Cu+ and Zn2+ and b) The possible correlation between charge transfer and MIAs. The gas-phase Cu+ and Zn2+ affinities of thymine, as well as the Mulliken charges, on the complexed metal cations were both determined at the same computational level, including the density functional level and employing the hybrid B3LYP exchange correlation potential in connection with the 6-311++G (d,p) basis set. All the molecular complexes were obtained by interaction between the most stable tautomer of thymine and two transition mono and divalent (Cu+, Zn2+) metal ions. To probe all...