Sharif Digital Repository

Adsorption of Cr (VI) from aqueous solution was studied using a continuous fixed bed column which is packed with a new micro-porous composite particle developed in this study. This composite particle is composed of silica porous particle in which acrylamide is polymerized within the pore regions of the silica particles. The composite particle was supposed to maintain the mechanical properties of polyacrylamide as efficient absorbent to serve appropriately in the continuous processes. In order to enhance the adsorption capacity of the composite particle, it was modified with ethylenediamine. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and... 

The simultaneous control of the molecular weight, separation, and purification of polyvinyl acetate was achieved using a cobalt-mediated radical polymerization (CMRP) in a packed column with silica gel particles (PC-CMRP). The controlled radical polymerization of VAc in the packed columns was evaluated from the linear time dependence of Ln[M]0/[M], linear increase of molecular weight with the increase in conversion, and narrow molecular weight distribution. PC-CMRP method was used to produce high-purity polymers with controlled molecular weight and narrow molecular weight distribution without requiring additional purification steps. The high ability of silica gel particles to adsorb free... 

A 1:1 molar ratio of the cobalt and manganese salts of p-amino benzoic acid supported on silica gel is an effective catalyst for the oxidation of various organic compounds in reasonable yields using molecular oxygen. The catalyst can be reused several times  

Chitosan based polyseudorotaxane was designed as a pH-responsive supramolecular polymeric shell around the mesoporous silica-coated magnetic graphene oxide (Fe3O4@GO@mSiO2). It was used for doxorubicin delivery at cancerous tissue in a controlled manner. The core-shell nanocarrier was formed due to electrostatic interaction between chitosan and carboxylated surface of Fe3O4@GO@mSiO2. The maximum release occurred at pH 5.5 (pH of endosomes) because the shell collapsed at this pH. The drug nanocarrier has potential application in tumor therapy due to good pH-sensitive behavior, improved solubility and high colloidal stability in... 

In the present work, we report a chemically modified polyacrylamide/silica nanoporous composite adsorbent for the removal of reactive black 5 (RB5) azo dye from aqueous solutions. The composite adsorbent was synthesized in a packed bed and modified by ethylenediamine (EDA). The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transformation infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), thermoporometry, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) method and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Mechanical stability of the adsorbent was examined in a packed bed by following the back-pressure of the column. Pore diameter of the composite adsorbent in dry and wet states was estimated to be about 18.71 nm and... 

In this study, chemical durability of metallic copper nanoparticles dispersed in sol-gel silica thin films was investigated by exposing the films to air after a reduction process. At first, heat treatment in air for 1 h produced silica films containing crystalline cupric oxide nanoparticles agglomerated on the film surface. Subsequently, reduction of the oxidized films in a reducing environment of N2-H2 for another 1 h at temperatures of 400, 500 and 600 °C resulted in the formation of crystalline metallic Cu nanoparticles diffused in the silica matrix. The time evolution of the surface plasmon resonance absorption peak of the reduced Cu nanoparticles was studied after the reduction... 

Small strain shear modulus, Gmax, is one of the most important parameters for the characterization of the behavior of earth structures subjected to static or dynamic loading conditions. This research presents an experimental laboratory study on the effect of non-plastic fines content and hydraulic hysteresis on the Gmax of unsaturated sandy soils. In this regard, clean Firoozkuh No. 161 silica sand which is classified as poorly graded sand was mixed with different percentages of non-plastic Firoozkuh silt. A set of bender element tests were carried out using two modified triaxial devices. The modifications on these two apparatus were to add HAV ceramic discs for air–water control of... 

Amorphous barium titanate nanothin films were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating method. According to transmission spectrum, the refractive index and optical band gap of nanothin films have been determined. High transmission spectrum without any fluctuation in visible wavelength region was recorded. Experimental results indicated that the surface morphology of prepared nanothin films were improved and as a result of that, a better optical properties, less optical losses and higher band gap width were obtained in contrast with other reported data. It was found that optical propagation loss of BaTiO3 nanothin film was much lower than normal polycrystalline BaTiO3 thin film. It seems to us that,... 

In recent years, pozzolana are being increasingly used in different types of concretes and mortars. This investigation aims to evaluate the effect of replacing 7, 14, 21, and 28% cement (by weight) with silica fume (SF), granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS), zeolite, and fly ash (FA) under elevated temperatures. Forty mix designs were built with various water-to-cement ratios and plasticizers. Three hundred and six specimens were prepared, and the flexural, uniaxial compression and tensile tests were performed on specimens after exposure to elevated temperatures between 25°C and 900°C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) test was then performed on the two series of specimens. Accordingly, the... 

Dielectric scattering particles have widely been used as embedded scattering elements in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) to improve the optical absorption of the device. Here we systematically study rodlike and spherical core-shell silica@Ag particles as more effective alternatives to the dielectric scattering particles. The wavelength-scale silica@Ag particles with sufficiently thin Ag shell support hybrid plasmonic-photonic resonance modes that have low parasitic absorption losses and a broadband optical response. Both of these features lead to their successful deployment in light trapping in high-efficiency DSCs. Optimized rodlike silica@Ag@silica particles improve the power conversion... 

Under solvent free conditions between 40-50 °C, BF3.SiO 2, a mild solid acid catalyst, is applied to regio-chemo and stereoselective Claisen-Schmidt condensation. The procedure is very simple and the products are isolated with an easy workup in good to excellent yields  

Bactericidal activity of high concentration Ag nanoparticles immobilized on surface of an aqueous sol-gel silica thin film was investigated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Size of the surface nanoparticles was estimated in the range of 35-80 nm by using atomic force microscopy. Due to accumulation of the silver nanoparticles at near the surface (at depth of 6 nm and about 40 times greater than the silver concentration in the sol), the synthesized Ag-SiO2 thin film (with area of 10 mm2) presented strong antibacterial activities against E. coli and S. aureus bacteria with relative rate of reduction of the viable bacteria of 1.05 and 0.73 h-1 for initial... 

The authors have synthesized a superhydrophobic silica aerogel by using a sol-gel technique. The material is shown to be an efficient sorbent for needle trap microextraction of chlorobenzenes. Hydrophobicity affects the performance of the sorbent as shown by altering the ratio between tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltrimethoxysilane when synthesizing the sorbent. The observed contact angle (which is >150°) underpins the superhydrophobic properties of the aerogel. The microstructure of the sorbent was investigated by BET adsorption, revealing a surface area above 1000 m2 g−1. The sorbent was applied to needle trap extraction of chlorobenzenes from aqueous samples, and their... 

With the passage of time and more advanced societies, there is a greater emergence and incidence of disease and necessity for improved treatments. In this respect, nowadays, aptamers, with their better efficiency at diagnosing and treating diseases than antibodies, are at the center of attention. Here, in this review, we first investigate aptamer function in various fields (such as the detection and remedy of pathogens, modification of nanoparticles, antibiotic delivery and gene delivery). Then, we present aptamer-conjugated nanocomplexes as the main and efficient factor in gene delivery. Finally, we focus on the targeted co-delivery of genes and drugs by nanocomplexes, as a new exciting... 

This work develops a systematic uncertainty quantification framework to assess the reliability of prediction delivered by physics-based material models in the presence of incomplete measurement data and modeling error. The framework consists of global sensitivity analysis, Bayesian inference, and forward propagation of uncertainty through the computational model. The implementation of this framework on a new multiphase model of novel porous silica aerogel materials is demonstrated to predict the thermomechanical performances of a building envelope insulation component. The uncertainty analyses rely on sampling methods, including Markov-chain Monte Carlo and a mixed finite element solution of... 

In recent decades, utilizing of water-based muds (WBMs) in drilling oil and gas wells is ever increasing comparing to oil-based muds and synthetic-based muds due to the lower environmental issues. However, the main drawbacks with WBMs are rheological properties inefficiency and shale swelling which have caused attentions turn to improvement of WBMs’ rheological properties. In this study, the effects of various nanoparticles (NPs) namely titanium dioxide (TiO2), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and zinc oxide (ZnO) on improving rheological properties and shale recovery rate of a WBM sample at two temperatures (25 and 50 °C) were investigated. The concentrations of NPs in the base mud were set at 0.01,... 

Aperiodic perforated graphene layers were synthesized and used in fabrication of optical nanocavity absorbers. Chemical vapor deposition-grown graphene (Gr) layers were exposed to oxygen plasma etching to obtain the perforated graphene (pGr). The fabricated pGr/SiO2 (68 nm)/Ag (150 nm) nanocavity could present significant higher optical absorption, especially at around 530 nm wavelength region, as compared to a benchmark Gr/SiO2 (68 nm)/Ag (150 nm) sample. The effect of pore size of the pGr layer on the absorption property of the nanocavity has been studied by both experimental and numerical methods. The dependence of the absorption property of the nanocavity on the incident angles of... 

A surface to separate oil–water mixtures is a global concern and highly needed particularly in oil industries. The present study was conducted to create a novel superhydrophilic/superoleophobic nanocomposite coating on the stainless-steel mesh for the aim of oil/water separation. Different hydrophilic resins along with PFOA as oleophobic agent with 15 flours in its chemical structure and various oxide nanoparticles containing SiO2 and TiO2 at different concentrations were studied to achieve superhydrophilic/superoleophobic surface. The fabricated nanocomposites were fully characterized via field-emission scanning microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier-transform... 

This paper presents a compact and cost effective method for on-chip separation of silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles (SMNPs) with different hydrodynamic size. Three types of SMNPs (Fe3O4@SiO2) with the same magnetic core but with different thickness of silica shells were successfully separated using the developed microfluidic platform. The innovative aspect of the presented separation method is that the induced velocity on the three different types of SMNPs while imposed to the same magnetic field gradient in a static fluid is inversely proportional to their overall, non-magnetic volume. This is due to the enhanced Stokes’ drag force exerted on the nanoparticles (NPs) resulting from their... 

Various mixtures of surfactants and nanosilica particles were investigated to assess their influence on rising bubble hydrodynamics. For this purpose, local velocities of rising bubbles were measured experimentally. Also, the effects of concentration of three types of surface-modified silica nanoparticles on density, viscosity, and surface tension of surfactant solutions were determined. Experimental results revealed that the simultaneous presence of nanoparticles and surfactant molecules led to the decrease of local velocities of rising bubbles. The presence of nanoparticles in surfactant solutions leads to a more reduction of bubble local velocity. This could be caused by the formation of...