Sharif Digital Repository

Models play an important role in fuel cell design and development. One of the critical problems to overcome in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is the water management. In this work a steady state, two-dimensional, isothermal model in a single PEM fuel cell using individual computational fluid dynamics code was presented. Special attention was devoted to the water transport through the membrane which is assumed to be combined effect of diffusion, electro-osmotic drag and convection. The effect of current density variation distribution on the water content (λ) in membrane/electrode assembly (MEA) was determined. In this work the membrane heat conductivity is considered as a... 

LLC-LC resonant converter is a suitable circuit topology to design switched-mode power supplies for wide-output-voltage and wide-output-load applications. In this paper, a design procedure is introduced to optimize this converter. Unlike soft switching techniques for pulse width modulated converters, which usually apply an active auxiliary circuit to reduce switching losses and EMI, in the proposed converter, not only such circuits are not used, but also all of the parasitic elements are merged to the converters main components. Zero-voltage switching (ZVS) operation is realized for all power devices under all operating conditions. Thus, this converter is a suitable choice for... 

Equations of state based on the statistical associating fluid theory for potentials of variable range (SAFT-VR) and the perturbed chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) have been used to model the PVT behavior of ionic liquids and the solubility of H2S in six imidazolium-based ionic liquids. The studied systems included [bmim][PF6], [hmim][PF6], [bmim][BF4], [hmim][BF4], [bmim][NTF2] and [hmim][NTF2] at various temperatures and pressures.For pure components, parameters of the models have been obtained by fitting the models to experimental data on liquid densities; the average relative deviation between the calculated and experimental densities for ionic liquids is less than... 

Ce-doped ZnO and pure ZnO nanocomposite thin films with different Ce/Zn ratios (0, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 at.%) have been prepared by sol-gel method at optimum annealing temperature of 500 °C. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis spectrophotometry. According to our XPS data analysis, there are three major metal ions namely Ce3+, Ce4+ and Zn 2+ that coexist on the surface. The XRD measurements indicate that the ZnO thin films have a hexagonal wurtzite structure, and CeO2 crystallites formed in the Ce-doped ZnO nanocomposite thin films. Photoelectrochemical property of the samples was studied by three... 

The electrochemical oxidation of sumatriptan on the surface of carbon paste electrode modified with multi-walled carbon nanotube and cobalt methyl-salophen complex is studied by using cyclic voltammetry and polarization studies. The results indicate that the drug is irreversibly oxidized in a one electron oxidation mechanism. It was found that the peak potential shifted negatively with increasing pH, confirms that H + participate in the oxidation process. The electrode is shown to be very effective for the detection of sumatriptan in the presence of other biological reductant compounds. The prepared modified electrode exhibits a very good resolution between the voltammetric peaks of... 

A nanocomposite of silica-polydiphenylamine doped with silver nanoparticles (Ag-SiO2-PDPA) was successfully synthesized by the sol-gel process. For its preparation, PDPA was mixed with butanethiol capped Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and added to the silica sol solution. The Ag NPs were stabilized as a result of their adsorption on the SiO2 spheres. The surface characteristic of nanocomposite was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In this work the Ag-SiO2-PDPA nanocomposite was employed as an efficient sorbent for micro-solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE) of some selected pesticides. An amount of 15 mg of the prepared sorbent was used to extract and... 

Developments of sensitive, rapid, and cheap systems for identification of a wide range of biomolecules have been recognized as a critical need in the biology field. Here, we introduce a simple colorimetric sensor array for detection of biological thiols, based on aggregation of three types of surface engineered gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The low-molecular-weight biological thiols show high affinity to the surface of AuNPs; this causes replacement of AuNPs' shells with thiol containing target molecules leading to the aggregation of the AuNPs through intermolecular electrostatic interaction or hydrogen-bonding. As a result of the predetermined aggregation, color and UV-vis spectra of AuNPs... 

Bacterial toxicity of graphene nanosheets in the form of graphene nanowalls deposited on stainless steel substrates was investigated for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative models of bacteria. The graphene oxide nanowalls were obtained by electrophoretic deposition of Mg2+-graphene oxide nanosheets synthesized by a chemical exfoliation method. On the basis of measuring the efflux of cytoplasmic materials of the bacteria, it was found that the cell membrane damage of the bacteria caused by direct contact of the bacteria with the extremely sharp edges of the nanowalls was the effective mechanism in the bacterial inactivation. In this regard, the Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria with an... 

In this work, the selectivity coefficients of ionic liquids in liquid-liquid systems were correlated and predicted by the NRTL, UNIQUAC, and Wilson-NRF Gibbs free energy models and also by an artificial neural network system. The three thermodynamic models need six binary interaction parameters between solvent(1)-solvent(2), solvent(1)-ionic liquid, and solvent(2)-ionic liquid pairs in obtaining the selectivity of ionic liquid in liquid-liquid systems. Also, the selectivity coefficients of ionic liquids were modeled using an artificial neural network system. In the proposed neural network system, temperature, molecular weight of ionic liquid, molecular weight of solvents, and mole fractions... 

Molybdenum oxide nanostructures were synthesized utilizing the solution combustion method where the ammonium molybdate powder and an organic additive were used as precursors. Different organic additives including ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG 200), sorbitol and urea were used as surfactants in order to investigate the effect of additive structure on morphology and particle size of products. Also various reaction parameters such as the additive/Mo molar ratio, concentration of metal ion in solution, pH of the reaction, and temperature of the synthesis media were changed to study effects on product morphology and size. Outcomes were characterized by... 

A highly sensitive and simple indirect spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of inorganic mercury (Hg2 +) in aqueous media. The method is based on the inhibitory effect of Hg2 + on the activity of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in the oxidation of ascorbic acid by hydrogen peroxide followed by the reduction of Au3 + to Au-NPs by unreacted ascorbic acid and the measurement of the absorbance of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak of gold nanoparticles (at 530 nm) which is directly proportional to the concentration of Hg2 +. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 1-220 ng mL- 1. Limits... 

Frequent air pollution episodes have been reported for Tehran, Iran, mainly because of critically high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The composition and sources of these particles are poorly known, so this study aims to identify the major components and heavy metals in PM2.5along with their seasonal trends and associated sources. 24-hour PM2.5samples were collected at a main residential station every 6 days for a full year from February 2014 to February 2015. The samples were analyzed for ions, organic carbon (including water-soluble and insoluble portions), elemental carbon (EC), and all detectable elements. The dominant mass components, which were determined by means of... 

In the present study, the potential of doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX)-loaded electrospun chitosan/cobalt ferrite/titanium oxide nanofibers was studied to investigate the simultaneous effect of hyperthermia and chemotherapy against melanoma cancer B16F10 cell lines. The cobalt ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized via microwave heating method. The titanium oxide nanoparticles were mixed with cobalt ferrite to control the temperature rise. The synthesized nanoparticles and nanofibers were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. The DOX loading efficiency and in vitro drug release of... 

Currently PM2.5 is a major air pollution concern in Tehran, Iran due to frequent high levels and possible adverse impacts. In this study, which is the first of its kind to take place in Tehran, composition and sources of PM2.5 and carbonaceous aerosol were determined, and their seasonal trends were studied. In this regard, fine PM samples were collected every six days at a residential station for one year and the chemical constituents including organic marker species, metals, and ions were analyzed by chemical analysis. The source apportionment was performed using organic molecular marker-based CMB receptor modeling. Carbonaceous compounds were the major contributors to fine particulate mass... 

Measurement of extremely new phenomena during the interaction of laser pulses with terawatt and higher power and picoseconds with plasmas arrived at drastically different anomalies in contrast to the usual observations if the laser pulses were very clean with a contrast ratio higher than 108. This was guaranteed by the suppression of prepulses during less than dozens of ps before the arrival of the main pulse resulting in the suppression of relativistic self-focusing. This anomaly was confirmed in many experimental details, and explained and numerically reproduced as a nonlinear force acceleration of skin layers generating quasi-neutral plasma blocks with ion current densities above 1011... 

TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by the sol - gel process using 2-hydroxylethy- lammonium formate as an ionic liquid. Nanoparticles were crystallized at various temperatures (300-700°C). The products were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption - desorption isotherms and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. It was found that the resulting TiO2 nanoparticles had good thermal stability either to resist collapse or the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation during heat treatment. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocrystalline TiO2 was evaluated by the degradation of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) which is commonly used as a textile dye. The results showed that the... 

Platinum content of two commercial spent reforming catalysts were extracted in aqua-regia solutions under atmospheric pressure and at temperatures up to 100 °C. Three factors, including presence of coke, catalyst particle size, and impeller agitation speed were first tested to study the relative importance of mass-transfer resistances during Pt extraction reaction. Catalyst particle sizes < 100 μm and agitation speeds > 700 rpm eliminated the internal and external mass-transfer resistances, respectively. The effect of other factors, including HNO3-to-HCl volume ratio, liquid-to-solid mass ratio, and the reaction temperature on the extraction rate of platinum were then examined. Pt extraction... 

We have investigated hydrogen sensing properties of electrodeposited Pd clusters on macroporous silicon substrates. Porous layer was prepared by electrochemical etching of p-type silicon (100) wafer in organic electrolyte DMF (dimethylformamide) diluted by HF (%95 Vol. %). The deposition of Pd was carried out by linear voltammetry (LV) technique. This technique was taken for reduction of palladium ions in the potential range from 0.4 V to -1 V vs. SCE, at the scan rate of 20 mV s-1. Some samples were annealed at 300°C for an hour in air to study the effect of heat treatment on their gas sensitivity. Surface structural and chemical properties of the samples were characterised using Scanning... 

Background: The bio-oxidation of ferrous iron is a potential industrial process in the regeneration of ferric iron and the removal of H2S in combustible gases. Bio-oxidation of ferrous iron may be an alternative method of producing ferric sulfate, which is a reagent used for removal of H2S from biogas, tail gas and in the pulp and paper industry. For practical use of this process, this study evaluated the optimal pH and initial ferric concentration. pH control looks like a key factor as it acts both on growth rate and on solubility ofmaterials in the system. Results: Process variables such as pH and amount of initial ferrous ions on oxidation by A. ferrooxidans and the effects of process... 

Chondroitinase ABCI (cABCI) is a drug enzyme that can be used to treat spinal cord injuries. Due to low thermal stability of cABCI, this enzyme was immobilized on Fe3O4 nanoparticle to increase its thermal stability. The size and morphology, structure and magnetic property of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles were characterized by the analyses of SEM, XRD and VSM, respectively, and FTIR spectroscopy was employed to confirm the immobilization of cABCI on the surface of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The results indicated that the optimum conditions for pH, temperature, cABCI-to-Fe3O4 mass ratio and incubation time in immobilization process were 6.5, 15 °C, 0.75 and 4.5 h, respectively, and about 0.037 mg cABCI...