Sharif Digital Repository

An attempt was made to combine μ-solid phase extraction and headspace single drop microextraction techniques and use their advantages for trace determination of some volatile organic compounds in aqueous samples. After performing the two-step preconcentration approach, the desired analytes were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A resorcinol-formaldehyde-based xerogel was used as the extraction medium in the μ-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) method. Then, the extracted BTEX was eluted with a rather large amount of methanol. To remove the laborious process including solvent evaporation and further reconstitution, which is usually accompanied by loss of analytes and accuracy,... 

In this study, organic aerogels were synthesized by the sol-gel polycondensation of mixed cresol with formaldehyde in a slightly basic aqueous solution. Carbon aerogels and xerogels are generated by pyrolysis of organic aerogels. The novel sol-gel-based micro-solid-phase extraction sorbent, resorcinol-formaldehyde xerogel, was employed for preconcentration of some selected herbicides. Three herbicides of the aryloxyphenoxypropionate group, clodinafop-propargyl, haloxyfop-etotyl, and fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, were extracted from aqueous samples by micro-solid-phase extraction and subsequently determined by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. The effect of different parameters influencing the... 

We report the rheological properties of ferro-fluid (FF) containing iron oxide nano-particles. At first, a FF was synthesized by using chemical co-precipitaton[1]. The microstructure study using SEM revealed that the FF contained nano-particles with the mean particle size of 35nm. The XRD study revealed that we have well crystallized structures of magnetite; they appeared to be approximately single crystalline structures. The rheological results proved that the FF has non Newtonian behavior, it is a shear thinning fluid in all magnetic fields, Moreover, the magnetic field increases the viscosity in a definite shear rate due to the nano-particles agglomerations and formation of chain-like... 

The present article deals with super-swelling behavior of crosslinked homopolymer of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid, poly(AMPS), in binary mixtures of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and various polar solvents including water, mono-, and polyhydric alcohols, and amide solvents such as N-methyl pyrrolidone. Extraordinary phase transition sequences including a new unusual swelling phenomenon, referred to as "overentrant" swelling, was observed for this polymeric organogel in the solvent/DMSO mixtures. The swelling behaviors were preliminarily explained based on the major interactions involved in the solvation process and dielectric constant of the swelling media. It was established that... 

In this article, a multiscale modeling procedure is implemented to study the effect of interphase on the Young's modulus of CNT/polymer composites. For this purpose, a three-phase RVE is introduced which consists of three components, i.e., a carbon nanotube, an interphase layer, and an outer polymer matrix. The nanotube is modeled at the atomistic scale using molecular structural mechanics. Moreover, three-dimensional elements are employed to model the interphase layer and polymer matrix. The nanotube and polymer matrix are assumed to be bonded by van der Waals interactions based on the Lennard-Jones potential at the interface. Using this Molecular Structural Mechanics/Finite Element... 

In this study, a fast and sensitive flow injection μ-solid phase extraction (FI-μ-SPE) technique based on an electrospun polyaniline (PANI) nanocomposite in conjunction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed. The PANI-based nanocomposite was synthesized by electrospinning of a solution containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/PANI. The majority of PVA template was subsequently removed from the whole PVA/PANI nanofibers blend by exposing the electrospun nanocomposite to hot water. The homogeneity, porosity and characterization of the electrospun nanofibers were investigated by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Due to... 

In the present work, a new micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) sorbent as an extracting medium based on core-shell nanofibers was synthesized by electrospinning. The core-shell nanofibers of polyvinylpyrrolidone-Polybutylene terephthalate/polypyrrole (PVP-PBT/PPy) were electrospun and subsequently, modified hollow nanofibers were prepared by removing the central PVP moiety. Moreover, conventional PBT/PPy was also prepared for the comparison purposes. The homogeneity and the porous surface structure of the core-shell nanofibers were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The applicability of the fabricated nanofibers-coating was examined by immersed μ-SPE of some selected triazine... 

A high-throughput micro-solid-phase extraction device based on a 96-well plate was constructed and applied to the determination of pesticide residues in various apple samples. Butyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were copolymerized as a monolithic polymer and placed in the cylindrically shaped stainless-steel meshes of 96-micro-solid-phase extraction device and used as an extracting unit. Before the micro-solid-phase extraction, microwave-assisted extraction was employed to facilitate the transfer of the pesticide residues from the apple matrix to liquid media. Then, 1 mL of the aquatic samples was transferred into the 96-well plate and the 96-micro-solid-phase extraction... 

In this study, a multivariate-based strategy was developed for simultaneous determination of thirteen carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent combined with gas chromatography (GC). The extraction technique is based on the strong affinity between citrate-capped AuNPs and PAHs. Furthermore, characterization of AuNPs was performed by UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. A rotatable central composite design (CCD) combined with multiple linear regression (MLR) was used for designing the extraction procedure and developing models using the GC peak areas of 13... 

The present study demonstrates HEMA-grafted nanodiamond (ND-HEMA)/acrylate-terminated polyurethane-acrylate diluents (APUA) composites as promising materials for bone implant applications. Neat APUA and APUA composites containing ND-HEMA at different loadings up to 2 wt% were prepared by an in situ polymerization method. Morphological analysis demonstrated that ND-HEMAs were actually in the form of tightly bound aggregates which led to formation of big agglomerates at a concentration of 2 wt%. It was also suggested that ND-HEMAs were preferentially localized in the continuous soft domain of APUA; however it interacted by both soft and hard domains. Moreover, ND-HEMAs caused considerable... 

In this study, maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene microporous flat-sheet membranes were prepared via a thermally induced phase separation method with a mixture of dibutyl phthalate and dioctyl phthalate as a diluent. The effects of the polymer composition and coagulation bath temperature on the morphology and performance of the fabricated membranes were investigated. The hydrophilicity results of the membranes demonstrated that membrane modification reduced the water contact angle by about 45°, whereas the pure water flux was enhanced about four times. The antifouling behavior of the fabricated membranes was also investigated in a membrane bioreactor. The results show that the pure water... 

A magnetic nanocomposite consisting of nanoparticles–polybutylene terephthalate (MNPs–PBT) was electrospun and used as an extracting medium for an on-line μ-solid phase extraction (μ–SPE)–high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) set–up with an ultraviolet (UV) detection system. Due to the magnetic property of the prepared nanofibers, the whole extraction procedure was implemented under an external magnetic field to enhance the extraction efficiencies. The developed method along with the synthesized nanocomposite were found to be appropriate for the determination of trace levels of selected drugs including furosemide, naproxen, diclofenac and clobetasol propionate in the urine sample.... 

Thermal cracking is the prevalent type of distress experienced by asphalt pavements in cold regions. It is widely assumed that when thermal stresses induced in the pavement exceed the tensile strength of the asphalt surface layer, cracking occurs; however, the role of thermal fatigue should not be ignored. To better describe the low-temperature (LT) performance properties of modified asphalt binders, a new parameter, normalised tensile stress (NTS), was defined in this research. NTS values were compared with bending beam rheometer (BBR), direct tension (DT) and semi-circular bending (SCB) fracture test results. The m-value parameter of the BBR test specifies the type of asphalt binder. This... 

A dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction (D-μ-SPE) procedure coupled with surfactant-enhanced spectrofluorimetric detection was developed for determination of ofloxacin and lomefloxacin from biological and environmental samples. The D-μ-SPE procedure was performed using magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticle grafted multi-walled carbon nanotube as an efficient adsorbent. The main factors affecting the signal enhancement (including surfactant concentration and pH) and extraction efficiency (including pH, extraction time, sample volume, amount of magnetic adsorbent, and desorption conditions) were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration curves were linear (R2 0.9995) over... 

Solvent extraction of rare earths from nitrate leach liquor of apatite using mixtures of tributyl phosphate (TBP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was studied. The effects of nitrate and hydrogen ion concentration of the aqueous phase as well as the composition and concentration of extractants in the organic phase on the extraction behavior of lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and yttrium were investigated. The distribution ratio of REEs increases by increasing the nitrate concentration in aqueous phase and concentration of extractants in organic phase, but the hydrogen ion concentration in aqueous phase has a decreasing effect. Yttrium as a heavy rare earth is more sensitive to... 

Thermal cracking is the prevalent type of distress experienced by asphalt pavements in cold regions. It is widely assumed that when thermal stresses induced in the pavement exceed the tensile strength of the asphalt surface layer, cracking occurs; however, the role of thermal fatigue should not be ignored. To better describe the low-temperature (LT) performance properties of modified asphalt binders, a new parameter, normalised tensile stress (NTS), was defined in this research. NTS values were compared with bending beam rheometer (BBR), direct tension (DT) and semi-circular bending (SCB) fracture test results. The m-value parameter of the BBR test specifies the type of asphalt binder. This... 

Natural silk fibroin (SF) polymer has biomedical and mechanical properties as a biomaterial for bone tissue engineering scaffolds. Freeze-dried porous nanocomposite scaffolds were prepared from silk fibroin and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as a bioactive reinforcing agent by a phase separation method. In order to fabricate SF/TiO2 scaffolds, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt% of the TiO2 were added to the SF. The phase structure, functional groups and morphology of the scaffolds were evaluated using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques, respectively. Porosity of the scaffolds was measured by Archimedes' Principle. In addition,... 

In this research, an attempt was made toward synthesizing a sol–gel–based silica aerogel and its subsequent coating on a copper wire by phase separation of polystyrene. Adaption of this new approach enabled us to coat the metallic wire with powder materials. The use of this method for coating, led to the formation of a porous and thick structure of silica aerogel. The coated wire was placed in a needle and used as the sorbent for in–tube solid phase microextraction of chlorobenzenes (CBs). The superhydrophobicity of sorbent on extraction efficiency was investigated by using different ratios of tetraethylorthosilicate/methyltrimethoxysilane. The surface coated with the prepared silica aerogel... 

Thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposites incorporating carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets were prepared through melt blending and compression molding, and the compounding process was optimized taking into account the different physical properties of one-dimensional carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional graphene nanoplatelets. Filler dispersion was further improved in the case of carbon nanotubes by noncovalent surface modification using a specific surfactant. The well-dispersed nanofillers favored enhanced phase separation in the thermoplastic polyurethane, leading to a better microstructure, which is able to improve the load transfer and maximize the tensile and viscoelastic... 

Biodegradable acrylate-terminated polyurethane/acrylate (APUA) filled with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT-HEMA) was prepared by in situ free radical crosslinking. CNT-HEMA enhanced crystallinity of soft domain and caused more phase separation between hard and soft domains of APUA. Tensile testing showed a considerable improvement in elastic modulus (∼160%) and tensile strength (∼30%) at 1 wt% loading. Morphological features of APUA induced by nanotubes were found to be dominant on mechanical properties of APUA/CNT-HEMA. CNT-HEMA increased water contact angle of APUA; however, wettability of APUA/CNT-HEMA maintained in acceptable range for biomedical...