Sharif Digital Repository

Antibacterial activity of sol-gel synthesized Ag-TiO2 nanocomposite layer (30nm) deposited on rough anatase (a) TiO2 thin film (~200nm in thickness) was investigated against Escherichia coli bacteria, in dark and also in exposure to UV light. The nanocomposite thin films were transparent with a surface plasmon resonance absorption band at a wavelength of 410nm. The metallic silver nanoparticles with an average diameter of 30nm and fcc crystalline structure were self-accumulated on surface of a mesoporous and aqueous TiO2 layer with a capillary pore structure having a pore radius of 3.0nm. By adding the silver nanoparticles in the TiO2 layer, recombination of the photoexcited electron-hole... 

In this study, the crystallisation of nano hydroxyapatite (HA) films on stainless steel 316L was studied. The film was prepared by sol-gel technique. The process was started with preparation of an HA sol. After aging of the sol at room temperature, a stainless steel 316L substrate was dip coated and then was heat treated from 350 to 450°C at different periods of time in air. The crystallisation behaviour and the transformation-temperature-time diagram of HA films were achieved and analysed using the avrami equation. The results showed that the crystallisation of HA began at 250°C and was increased up to 450°C. The obtained HA film showed a nanostructure character with a suitable crystalinity... 

Multi-Walled Carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) films were obtained by Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition method and coated by palladium sputtering process. Raman spectroscopy was used to study alteration in quality of the carbon nanotubes after the sputtering process. Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that hydrogenation process can reduce the C{double bond, long}O to C-O and also produce O-H bond. Furthermore, the electrical resistance measurement for Pd/MWNTs films was performed in a chamber with 1% hydrogen gas in a constant dry air flow. Hydrogen sensing behavior of the films was investigated at 50 °C. Pd/MWCNTs films presented an irreversible gas response to hydrogen in the... 

In this study TiO2 nanotubular fibers were prepared and subsequently loaded with CdS nanoparticles to obtain visible light activate nanofibers with modified structure. Preparation of TiO2 fibers was based on templating method and Liquid phase deposition technique (LPD) with cellulose fibers as templates. Using LPD, thickness of the TiO2 layer could be controlled precisely by adjusting the reaction conditions, therefore after removal of the template, the resulting material has a fibrous structure, mimicking the cellulose fibers shape. CdS nanoparticles were synthesized by thermochemical growth method and attached to TiO2 fibers through impregnation method. The pure composite nanofibers were... 

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... 

In this paper, the structure of a wall jet deflected by a baffle along with the trajectory of particles has been studied. This baffle is used to produce a stable deflected surface jet, thereby deflecting the high-velocity supercritical stream away from the bed to the surface. An elliptic relaxation turbulence model (ν̄2-f model) has been used to simulate this submerged flow. In recent years, the ν̄2- f turbulence model has become increasingly popular due to its ability to account for near-wall damping without use of damping functions. In addition, it has been proven that the ν̄2- f model is superior to other Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) methods in many flows where complex flow... 

In this work, an experimental and theoretical study has been conducted to investigate the permeability reduction due to CaSO4 scale deposition in packed column porous media. Permeability reduction by calcium sulphate deposition follows a systematic trend considering various important parameters that are affected in this complex process. Hence, a novel dimensionless model has been proposed for the prediction of permeability reduction rate with high accuracy. The developed model is based on the data obtained from glass bead and carbonate grain packed column at low pressure. The proposed model was validated with Berea sandstone cores data at high pressure (100-20,678 kPa), various flow rates... 

In this study, nanostructure zinc oxide (ZnO) films with different thicknesses were sprayed on glass substrates by controlling deposition time. Morphology and roughness of the films were investigated with scanning electron and atomic force microscopes as well as X-ray diffractometer. Considering with structure and surface roughness, two different growth modes as a function of spray time were determined: lateral and vertical modes which were illustrated schematically. Optical properties including photoluminescence, transmission, optical band gap and refractive index as a function of film's thickness and structure were studied. It was observed that the average transmittance is more than 80% in... 

In this study, graphene materials have been synthesized with solid camphor (C10H16O) and methane gas as carbon precursors using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique at a temperature range of 900-1000 °C for a period of 45 min over copper nanoparticles. Influence of the carbon precursors upon the shape, number of layers and yield of the synthesized graphene samples has been investigated. In this venue, the compounds synthesized were functionalized with oxygen groups and impregnated by cobalt and molybdenum active phases. Moreover, the total metal loading and Co/Mo weight ratio of prepared compounds were adjusted to their industrial nominal values of 10% and 0.33,... 

Combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) play an important role in electricity production throughout the world. Their energy efficiency is relatively high and their production rates of greenhouse gases are considerably low. In a country like Iran with huge oil and gas resources, most CCPP's use natural gas as primary fuel and diesel as secondary fuel. In this study, effect of using diesel instead of natural gas for a selected power plant will be investigated in terms of exergy, economic and environmental impacts. The environmental evaluation is performed using life cycle assessment (LCA). In the second step, the operation of the plant will be optimized using exergy and economic objective... 

Asphaltene precipitation and deposition within the reservoir formation is one of the main concerns during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes especially during the gas injection. In the current study, different aspects of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) injection in the reservoir, was thoroughly examined. The feasibility of using these gases as the injection gas was explored using Bayesian network-based screening method. After recombination and preparation of the live crude oil, precipitation of asphaltene using vanishing interfacial tension (VIT) method and core flooding experimentation was examined. Besides, swelling test was utilized to investigate the effect of CO2 and N2... 

A hierarchical core-shell structure composed of ZnO nanotubes/MnO2 nanosheets was fabricated via a two-step electrochemical deposition procedure on the surface of a 3D graphene network (3DGN) as a free-standing monolithic electrode. In the first step, ZnO nanorod arrays were grown on the surface of a 3DGN followed by electrochemical deposition of MnO2 nanosheets in the next step, which caused the inner parts of initial ZnO nanorods to etch away and resulted in the formation of ZnO nanotubes (ZnO NTs). The highly porous interconnected graphene backbone offers very high conductivity and a large accessible surface area. On the other hand, the formation of ZnO nanotubes can enhance the... 

The effect of electrostatic field on the aggregation rate and aggregate size of asphaltene particles precipitated from three different crude oil samples suspended in a mixture of toluene and n-heptane (a model oil) was investigated. An electrode-embedded glass micro-model utilizing a high-voltage direct current power supply was utilized in this study. The asphaltene particle size and the rate of aggregation under the electric field were monitored using a high-resolution optical microscope and the average aggregate size for asphaltene particles was estimated using image processing software. To investigate the effects of structural parameters on asphaltene aggregation rate, aggregate size and... 

The present study examined the effect of nanoparticle size and geometry on filter cake buildup during dynamic filtration using experimental and modeling approaches. A dynamic filtration setup was proposed and designed to test cross-flow circulation against a synthetic core at a constant differential pressure. The proposed mathematical model considers the critical deposition boundary of the porous media for particles along with drag, lift, friction, buoyancy, permeate, and electrostatic forces. The comprehensive model response allowed investigation of the aggregation and shape of nanoparticles at different cross-flow inclinations. The drag and lift force coefficients and moment of inertia of... 

The present research work aims to employ plasma focus in order to deposit molybdenum (Mo) on the 304 stainless steel substrate. The processing parameters were shot numbers as well as the distance of substrate from the anode tip. Stereo, atom force microscopy (AFM) and field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were used to study the deposited coatings. Microhardness measurements were also performed on the coatings. Results indicated that the plasma focus can be successfully applied to deposit Mo anode on the stainless steel substrate. The coatings contained discrete pores with sizes varying by processing parameters. The... 

There have been recent reports on the formation of single-halide perovskites, CH3NH3PbX3 (X=Cl, Br, I), by means of vapor-assisted solution processing. Herein, the successful formation of mixed-halide perovskites (CH3NH3PbI3−xXx) by means of a vapor-assisted solution method at ambient atmosphere is reported. The perovskite films are synthesized by exposing PbI2 film to CH3NH3X (X=I, Br, or Cl) vapor. The prepared perovskite films have uniform surfaces with good coverage, as confirmed by SEM images. The inclusion of chlorine and bromine into the structure leads to a lower temperature and shorter reaction time for optimum perovskite film formation. In the case of CH3NH3PbI3−xClx, the optimum... 

The effect on the thermal parameters of superconducting transition-edge bolometers produced on a single crystalline SrTiO3 (STO) substrate with and without a CeO2 buffer layer was investigated. Metal-organic deposition was used to deposit the 20-nm CeO2 buffer layer, whereas RF magnetron sputtering was applied to fabricate 150-nm-thick superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) thin film. The critical transition temperature for both of the YBCO films was 90 K, and the transition width was ∼1.9 K. The bolometers fabricated from these samples were characterized with respect to the voltage phase and amplitude responses, and the results were compared with that of simulations conducted by applying a... 

A green and simple synthesis method based on a two-step chemical vapor deposition approach has been developed to synthesize transition metal dichalcogenides flakes. With non-toxic precursor such as transition metal oxides and elemental sulfur, large-area, strong photoluminescent and uniform MoS2 nanoflakes were produced at a relatively low growth temperature (650 °C). Controlling the layer number and morphology was achieved only by precursor concentration without any oxide impurity revealed by SEM, PL and Raman spectroscopy. This method can be used to make wide range of metal chalcogenides such as ZnS, SnS2, PtS2 and PdS2  

Recent strategies to locally deliver antimicrobial agents to combat implant-associated infections—one of the most common complications in orthopedic surgery—are gaining interest. However, achieving a controlled release profile over a desired time frame remains a challenge. In this study, we present an innovative multifactorial approach to combat infections which comprises a multilayer chitosan/bioactive glass/vancomycin nanocomposite coating with an osteoblastic potential and a drug delivery capacity. The bioactive drug-eluting coating was prepared on the surface of titanium foils by a multistep electrophoretic deposition technique. The adopted deposition strategy allowed for a high... 

A recently developed two-level undercut-profile substrate (2LUPS), containing two levels of plateaus connected by a curved wall with an undercut profile, enables self-forming filaments in a coated conductor during physical line-of-sight deposition of buffer and superconducting layers. In the present study, the 2LUPS concept is applied to a commercial cube-textured Ni-5at.%W tape, and the surface of the 2LUPS coated with two Gd2Zr2O7 buffer layers using chemical solution deposition is examined. Except for narrow regions near the edge of upper plateaus, the plateaus are found to be covered by strongly textured Gd2Zr2O7 buffer layers after dip coating and sintering