Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, a novel inorganic/organic hybrid pigment based on zinc cations/Ferula Asafoetida leaves extract (Zn-FALE) was synthesized, and its corrosion protection properties were investigated in a saline solution and an organic coating. Interactions of components between Zn2+ cations and FALE were assessed by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and ultraviolet-visible (UV–visible) spectroscopy. Corrosion inhibitive performance of FALE and Zn-FALE pigments in the solution phase and coating phase was studied using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). TGA and UV–visible results revealed the proper chelation between inorganic and organic components of... 

In this research, we investigate the effect of alkali metal cations including Li, Na and Cs in hydrothermal solution on the morphology, stability, and photoactivity of nanostructured TiO2 nanoflakes as a photoanode. The TiO2 nanoflakes are formed through hydrothermal treatment of Ti foil in 1.0 M LiOH, NaOH or CsOH at 100 °C for 3 h. By subsequent thermal reduction of the structure in an optimized Ar/H2 environment, conductive TiO2 nanoflakes were formed. The reduction treatment remarkably improves the photocurrent density of the TiO2 nanoflakes and has the highest impact on the sample treated in the NaOH alkali solution. For the nanoflakes produced in NaOH alkali solution, the bandgap is... 

The present research sheds new light on the development of a triple-cation quasi-two-dimensional (2D) perovskite family with the general formula of (S1−xS′x)2[Cs0.05(FA1−xMAx)0.95]3Pb4(I1−xBrx)13, in which two spacers, namely 5-ammonium valeric acid iodide (S) and tetra-n-octylammonium bromide (S′) were simultaneously incorporated. Morphology, crystal structure, optical properties, photovoltaic performance, and internal resistances of such compound were systemically studied in comparison with an analogous single-cation 2D counterpart (i.e. (S)2(FA)3Pb4I13) as a reference. X-ray diffraction set forth that the films deposited based upon these compounds had a 2D perovskite crystal structure... 

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods have been widely used around the world to improve oil production from petroleum reservoirs. Recently, the injection of the low salinity/smart water has gained popularity among the EOR methods. Different mechanisms are believed to exist during low salinity/smart water injection, including dissolution, precipitation, and ion exchange at the rock surface. In this study, a coupled geochemical-transport model is presented for the detailed analysis and investigation of the interactions between brine, sandstone and carbonate rocks. The proposed model presents the coupling of a geochemical software (PHREEQC) and a species transport model. This coupled method makes... 

Herein, a new dopant-free organic material, PV2000, as a stable hole transporting layer (HTL) for the fabrication of stable and efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is introduced. For this purpose, planar PSCs using a triple-A cation perovskite composition are fabricated and the commonly used 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) HTL is replaced by dopant-free PV2000 polymer. The characterization results disclose that the PV2000 has a great thermal stability, good hole mobility, and suitable band alignment that matches well with the valence band of triple-A cation perovskite. After proper optimization of PV2000 film thickness, a planar PSC... 

A modified carbon paste electrode was prepared by incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles with bis[bis(salicylidene-1,4-phenylenediamine)molybdenum(VI)]. A mixture of fine graphite powder with 4 wt% of TiO2 nanoparticles was applied for the preparation of the carbon paste (by dispersing in paraffin) and finally modified with a molybdenum (VI) complex. The electrocatalytic oxidation of guanine (G) was investigated on the surface of the molybdenum (VI) complex-TiO2 nanoparticle modified carbon paste electrode (MCTNMCPE) using cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), chronoamperometry (CHA) and chronocoloumetry (CHC). Using the modified electrode, the kinetics of G... 

A carbon-paste electrode (CPE) is modified by incorporating cobalt-5-nitrosalophen (CoNSal) and tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB). The mechanism of electrocatalytic oxidation of dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) at the surface of the CoNSal-modified CPE containing various percents of TOAB is thoroughly investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. In solutions of pH 5.0, in which all studies are performed, DA exists as the positively charged species whereas AA is mainly as the neutral form. Therefore, the favorable ionic interaction (electrostatic repulsion) between the cationic form of DA and the cationic surfactant (TOA+) caused increasing the overvoltage for DA and... 

In this paper, the effects of ion-pair formation on the gain dynamics of multi cavity optical automatic gain control erbium doped fiber amplifier is modelled. The inhomogeneous Cabezas simple model is used to write the rate and propagation equations for the active medium. The solution of the governing equations shows that in high concentration of the erbium ions, depending on the pumping rate, the relaxation oscillations are converted to nT-Periodic or even to chaotic behavior. Although the high concentration erbium ion in the optical amplifiers decreases the conversion efficiency and increases the threshold pump power, amplitude of the transient effects is reduced in the multi feedback-loop... 

In this work a modified form of the Ghotbi-Vera Mean Spherical Approximation model (MGV-MSA) has been used to correlate the mean ionic activity coefficients (MIAC) for a number of symmetric and asymmetric aqueous electrolyte solutions at 25 °C. In the proposed model the hard sphere as well as the electrostatic contributions to the MIAC and the osmotic coefficient of the previously GV-MSA model has been modified. The results of the proposed model for the MIAC of the electrolyte solutions studied in this work are used to directly calculate the values of the osmotic coefficients without introducing any new adjustable parameter. In the MGV-MSA model the cation diameter as well as the relative... 

In the present work, Tetrahydrofuran was produced from 1,4-butanediol by catalytically dehydration of 1,4-butanediol in contact with a catalyst. Material used as catalyst were Synthesized and natural zeolites as well as alumina and silica. Synthesized zeolites were investigated in different aspect such as pore size, cation and Si/Al ratio. Results indicated that with increasing the Si/Al ratio, the activity of the zeolite used for 1, 4-butanediol dehydration step was reduced. Furthermore, it was observed that, upon the replacement of sodium with hydrogen and ammonium cations, the conversion of the 1, 4-butanediol into tetrahydrofuran was increased. It was shown zeolites possessing smaller... 

This research provides an atomistic picture of the role of ions in modulating the microstructural features of an oil-contaminated calcite surface. This is of crucial importance for the rational design of ion-engineered waterflooding, a promising technique for enhancing oil recovery from carbonate reservoirs. Inspired by a conventional lab-scale procedure, an integrated series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to resolve the relative contribution of the major ionic constituent of natural brines (i.e., Na+, Cl-, Mg2+, Ca2+, and SO42-) when soaking an oil-bearing calcite surface in different electrolyte solutions of same salinity, namely, CaCl2, MgCl2, Na2SO4, MgSO4, and... 

Activated clay is an inexpensive substance with massive utilization for removal of unsaturated compounds on an industrial scale. The performance of activated clay in removing such compounds heavily relies on the type of pristine raw clay and acids which are used during the activation process. In this work, olefins removal from aromatic streams is reported by activated clays with two different routes of clay activation. After preliminary tests of four different natural clays, the best clay was selected due to having enhanced swelling index, cation exchange capacity, higher surface area, and better suspension stability, among others. Having activated clay with hydrochloric acid and sulfuric... 

In this study, a novel inorganic/organic hybrid pigment based on zinc cations/Ferula Asafoetida leaves extract (Zn-FALE) was synthesized, and its corrosion protection properties were investigated in a saline solution and an organic coating. Interactions of components between Zn2+ cations and FALE were assessed by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and ultraviolet-visible (UV–visible) spectroscopy. Corrosion inhibitive performance of FALE and Zn-FALE pigments in the solution phase and coating phase was studied using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). TGA and UV–visible results revealed the proper chelation between inorganic and organic components of... 

Metal halide perovskite nanoparticles have recently attracted immense interest for photodetectors due to their outstanding optical and electronic properties such as high carrier diffusion length, tunable band gap (light absorption range), and high photoluminescence (PL) efficiency. Although significant progress has been achieved in the development of perovskites, their stability is yet to be addressed. To improve the stability and quantum efficiency of FAPbI3 perovskite nanocrystals, we present a room temperature protocol to fabricate fully passivated and stable FAPbI3 nanocrystals via 2D growth in the presence of amine ligands and an excess amount of the organic cations. The crystallization... 

In this work the Ghotbi-Vera mean spherical approximation (GV-MSA) model, coupled with two different expressions for the cation-hydrated diameters, was used in predicting the mean ionic activity coefficients (MIAC) of electrolytes for a number of the mixed-solvent and mixed-salt electrolyte solutions at 25 °C. In all cases the cation diameters in solutions changed with concentration of electrolyte while the anion diameters were considered to be constant and equal to the corresponding Pauling diameters. In application of the GV-MSA model to the electrolyte systems, two different expressions were used for concentration dependency of cation-hydrated diameters, i.e., the GV-MSA1 and GV-MSA2... 

Choosing the appropriate ion exchange membrane in vanadium redox flow batteries plays an important role in achieving optimal system performance. In this article, the implementation of commercial cation exchange membranes (Nafion 115, Nafion 117, and Nafion 212), anion exchange membranes (FAP 450 and QA-PFE), and the combination of them are investigated. In this regard, the effects of membrane type, thickness, electrical conductivity, and the transfer of vanadium species at different current densities are examined carefully. In addition, the influences of the flow rate and the concentration of electrolytes are investigated using a comprehensive developed model. The model predictions are... 

In this study, the Geant4 toolkit is utilized to present a new approach for simulation of the D-T interaction. The neutron production cross-section and the energy/angle distribution of neutrons produced as the D-T data libraries are incorporated in the Geant4, and their performance is evaluated. The spectra shape of the produced neutrons of the D-T interaction simulated by the Geant4 show good agreement compared to the results of the comparative codes (i.e. MCUNED, ENEA-JSI, and DDT). However, some differences are observed, especially, in angular range of 90-95 degrees. The reason for these differences as well as the results of the proposed approach in comparison with the results of the... 

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is a good candidate for cost-effective perovskite solar cells (PSCs) due to its direct bandgap with a value of 1.4–1.5 eV. In this study, we investigate CZTS ink as an inorganic hole-transport-layer (HTL) in CsMAFAPbIBr mixed halide PSCs. We study the cell efficiency and hole extraction from the perovskite layer for different thicknesses of HTL. The optimized device exhibits better hole selectivity, and the best efficiency of the device (12.84%) is achieved for the CZTS layer with a thickness of 159 nm. The prepared samples were also tested by open-circuit voltage decay analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies. Results show that the optimized device effectively... 

Green biomaterials play a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases as well as health-related problem-solving. Typically, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical strength are requirements centered on biomaterial engineering. However, in-hospital therapeutics require an elaborated synthesis of hybrid and complex nanomaterials capable of mimicking cellular behavior. Accumulation of hazardous cations like K+ in the inner and middle ear may permanently damage the ear system. We synthesized nanoplatforms based on Allium noeanum to take the first steps in developing biological porous nanomembranes for hazardous cation detection in biological media. The...