Sharif Digital Repository

Titania thin film system containing noble metallic nanoparticles such as Au, Ag, and Cu have been prepared by utilizing radio frequency reactive magnetron cosputtering method. The structural and morphological properties of the thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Surface chemical composition of the films was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Optical properties of the TiO 2 annealed films containing Au, Ag, and Cu metallic nanoparticles were investigated by UV-visible spectrophotometry showing surface plasmon resonance of the metals. The photocatalytic activity of all synthesized samples annealed at 600 °C in an Ar +... 

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... 

Inkjet printing of colloidal metals is an attractive method for direct patterning of electrically conductive structures and interconnects in electronic devices, owing to low-cost, low-waste and simplicity of the process. In the present work, mixtures of well-dispersed silver nanoparticles and ethylene glycol were prepared for the inkjet printing process. Three different surfactants including PVP, MSA and AOT were added to study the stability of the nanosilver colloids. The effect of high-intensity ultrasonic treatment and temperature on the rheological properties was investigated utilising a rheometer in plate-plate geometry. It is shown that the viscosity of the ink increases with... 

A simple and effective procedure is proposed for spectrophotometric determination of catecholamines; Dopamine (1), L-Dopa (2) and Adrenaline (3). It was found that the reduction of Ag+ to silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) by these catecholamines in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a stabilizing agent produced very intense surface plasmon resonance peak of Ag-NPs. The plasmon absorbance of the Ag-NPs allows the quantitative spectrophotometric detection of the catecholamines. The calibration curves derived from the changes in absorbance at λ = 440 nm were linear with concentration of Dopamine, Levodopa and Adrenaline in the range of 3.2×10-6- 2.0x10-5 M, 1.6x10-7 - 1.0×10-5 M,... 

In this work, the silver particle absorption and antibacterial activity of cotton fabric when modified by low temperature plasma were investigated. The modification consisted of plasma pre-functionalization followed by one-step wet treatment with silver nitrate solution. Oxygen and nitrogen were used as the working gases in the system, and the results were compared. The results showed that nitrogen plasma-treated samples can absorb more silver particles than oxygen-treated samples, and thus the antibacterial activity of the samples in this case, which was analyzed by the counting bacteria test, was increased considerably  

The development of cheaper electrocatalysts for fuel cells is an important research area. This work proposes a new, simpler and low-cost approach to develop nanostructured silver electrocatalysts by using natural cellulose as a template. Silver was deposited by reduction of Ag complexes on the surface of cellulose fibers, followed by heat removal of the template to create self-standing nanostructured silver fibers (NSSFs). X-Ray diffraction (XRD) showed fcc silver phase and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) demonstrated that the surface was partially oxidized. The morphology of the fibers consisted of 50 nm nanoparticles as the building blocks, and they possessed a specific surface area... 

Stochastic parameters of self-agglomerated metallic nanoparticles on a dielectric film surface were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. In this regard, the rough surfaces including the nanoparticles were analyzed and characterized using structure function, roughness exponent and power spectrum density of the AFM profiles and their gradients, for different metal concentrations and heat treatment temperatures. The diffusion parameters, such as activation energy, of the nanoparticles initially accumulated on the surface into a porous and aqueous silica thin film were obtained using the AFM spectral analysis of the profiles and their gradients. It was found that the tip... 

Electrochemical oxidation of l-ascorbic acid on polycrystalline silver in alkaline aqueous solutions is studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and impedance spectroscopy (IS). The anodic electro-oxidation starts at -500 mV versus SCE and shows continued anodic oxidation in the cathodic half cycle in the CV regime signifying slowly oxidizing adsorbates. Diffusion coefficient of ascorbate ion measured under both voltammetric regimes is around 1.4 × 10-5 cm2 s-1. Impedance spectroscopy measures the capacitances associated with double layer and adsorption around 50 μF cm-2 and 4 mF cm-2 as well as the adsorption and decomposition resistances (rates). © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All... 

Rheological behavior of agglomerated silver nanoparticles (~ 40 nm) suspended in diethylene glycol over a wide range of volumetric solids concentrations (φ{symbol} = 0.11-4.38%) was studied. The nanoparticle suspensions generally exhibited a yield pseudoplastic behavior. Bingham plastic, Herschel-Bulkley and Casson models were used to evaluate the shear stress-shear rate dependency. Analyzing the effect of silver concentrations on the yield stress and viscosity of the suspensions followed an exponential form, revealing an increase in the degree of interparticle interactions with increasing solid concentrations. Fractal dimension (Df) was estimated from the suspension yield stress and... 

Oxygen reduction on a polycrystalline silver electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The reaction occurred by a two-electron pathway. The steps in the mechanism were observed in the cyclic voltammograms recorded with different scan rates. The intermediates formed in the steps were detected by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy  

Two types of nanosized photocatalyst, TiO 2 P-25 and ap/Ag/AgBr/TiO 2, were used for decolorization of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) in dark, visible light (V-L), and UV media. Under UV and V-L, the effect of three possible photodegradation processes of AB92 including photocatalytic degradation, self-photosensitization, and direct photolysis were studied. Results showed that in UV/photocatalysts, photocatalytic degradation is the major process for photodecolorization. However, in the presence of TiO 2, self-photosensitization has the major role under V-L. Because of the presence of AgBr as photoactive center in ap/Ag/AgBr/TiO 2, the main process is the photocatalytic degradation in V-L. By using... 

Visible light-active BiOCl/BiVO4/mordenite and Ag/BiOCl/BiVO4 nanocomposite with a p–n heterojunction structure were prepared. Mordenite nanocrystals were synthesised using the hydrothermal method. Deposition and reduction methods were utilised to modify the Zeolite surface. The photocatalytic activities of the heterojunctions were investigated by scanning the change of Acid blue 92 (AB92) concentration under visible irradiation. The nanocomposites demonstrated improved efficiency for dye photodegradation. The activities are due to strong oxidative ability and efficient charge separation and transfer through the BiOCl/BiVO4 p–n junction. The photogenerated electron-holes react with species... 

Ag@Pt nanoparticles synthesized with different Ag/Pt mass ratios utilizing ultrasonic treatment method. These materials were supported on Vulcan XC-72 and utilized as cathode in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The morphology of this material characterized through the x-ray diffraction (XRD), induced coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) as well as; high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques. To begin with, it was proven that, the prepared Ag@Pt/C catalyst possessed a core–shell nanostructure. The electrochemical properties of this material investigated through the Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and... 

Scattering particles constitute a key light trapping solution for thin film photovoltaics where either the particles are embedded in the light absorbing layer or a thick layer of them is used as a reflector. Here we introduce a monolayer of wavelength-scale core-shell silica@Ag particles as a novel light trapping strategy for thin film photovoltaics. These particles show hybrid photonic-plasmonic resonance modes that scatter light strongly and with small parasitic absorption losses in Ag (<1.5%). In addition, their scattering efficiency does not vary significantly with the refractive index of the surrounding medium. A monolayer of these particles is applied as the top-scattering layers in a... 

A novel visible-light-driven Ag3VO4/Ag3PO4/Ag photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via an anion-exchange reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-vis diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of prepared catalysts were evaluated by degradation of acid blue 92 (AB92) aqueous solutions under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic results indicated that the synthesized Ag3VO4/Ag3PO4/Ag hybrid displays a significantly enhanced activity in degradation of acid blue 92 under visible light compared with pure Ag3VO4. The improved... 

By using graphene nanosheets decorated with Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs-G) as an effective approach for the surface modification of pyrolytic graphite electrode (PGE), a sensing platform was fabricated for the sensitive voltammetric determination of Azathioprine (Aza). The prepared AgNPs-G nanosheets were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis and Raman spectroscopy techniques. The electrochemical behavior of Aza was investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry. Comparing to the bare PGE, a remarkable enhancement was observed in the response characteristics of Aza on the surface of the modified electrode (AgNPs-G/PGE) as well as a noticeable... 

The plasmonic effects of infiltrated silver (Ag) nanoparticles, with different contents, inside a nanostructured TiO2 film on the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are explored. The synthesized Ag nanoparticles are immobilized onto deposited TiO2 nanoparticles by a new strategy using 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), a bifunctional linker molecule. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images show that monodispersed Ag and polydispersed TiO2 nanoparticles have an average diameter of 12 ± 3 nm and 5 ± 1 nm, respectively. Moreover, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis reveals that Ag nanoparticles were successfully functionalized and capped with... 

We describe a nanocomposite prepared from polydopamine, silver nanoparticles, and polypyrrole (PDA-Ag-PPy) that can be used for the microextraction in packed syringe (MEPS) of tricyclic antidepressants from urine samples. The PDA-Ag-PPy composite was prepared in-situ by the reduction of silver ion - doped PPy during oxidative polymerization of dopamine. The PDA-Ag coatings on the nanoribbon – shaped PPy represent a highly porous, inorganic–organic hybrid nanomaterial that has a wide range of applications. The nanocomposite was characterized by FTIR and scanning electron microscopy. It is shown to be an efficient sorbent for the MEPS of the tricyclic antidepressants amitriptyline, imipramine... 

The main aim of the present study was to enhance the degradation capacity of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) by visible-light-active Ag3PO4 nanocomposites based on g-C3N4 and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs). The nanocomposites were fabricated through a tunable in situ deposition method. The properties of the resulting samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity results revealed that the Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 heterojunction inorganic/organic composite exhibited an improvement in both efficiency and the rate of AB92 photodegradation in comparison with the others. The enhanced photocatalytic... 

Organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells have attracted considerable interest due to their high efficiency and low fabrication cost. Au and Ag are usually used as the back contact metals but have limitations such as Au is too expensive and Ag is unstable. Here, Pt, Au, Ni, Cu, Cr and Ag were studied as the back contact electrodes for perovskite solar cells. We looked at how the work function of metals can affect their photovoltaic characteristics. The compositional and electrical characterizations were studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The general trend observed was that the shunt resistance and open-circuit voltage...