Sharif Digital Repository

Hydrodynamically fully developed flow of power-law fluids under combined action of electroosmotic and pressure gradient forces in rectangular microreactors is analyzed considering heterogeneous catalytic reactions. The Poisson-Boltzmann, Cauchy momentum, and concentration equations are considered in two dimensions and after being dimensionless are numerically solved applying a finite difference algorithm. Variation of axial concentration gradient, and axial and horizontal mass diffusions are taken into account as well. To accomplish a more general analysis, the velocity distribution is obtained by solving continuity and Cauchy momentum equations and is not considered as an average axial... 

In this paper, dynamic modeling and control problem for transfer of a sloshing liquid container suspended through rigid massless links from a team of quadrotors are investigated. By the proposed solution, pose of the slung container and fluid sloshing modes are stabilized appropriately. Dynamics of the container-liquid-quadrotors system is modeled by Euler-Lagrange method. Fluid slosh dynamics is included using multi-mass-spring model. According to derived model, a proper control law is designed for a system with three or more quadrotors. Implementing the proposed control law, quadrotors can control pose of the container, directions of the links and liquid sloshing modes simultaneously.... 

The Eulerian methods are susceptible to generate the nonphysical spurious currents in the multiphase flow simulations near the interfaces. This paper presents a new Eulerian method to accurately simulate the velocity fields, especially near the multiphase flow interfaces and prevents the numerical results from generating the nonphysical currents. A Eulerian central difference finite-volume scheme equipped with the suitable numerical dissipation terms is used to simulate incompressible multiphase flows. The interface is captured by Flux Corrected Transport-Volume of Fluid method (FCT-VOF). Increasing the accuracy near the sharp gradients, such as interface, the conservative form of... 

In this study, a theoretical analysis is performed to assess the interaction of freestream disturbances with a plane normal shock considering real gas effects. Such effects are important in a field with high velocities and high temperatures. To perform the theoretical analysis, the downstream disturbances field is expressed as a mathematical function of the upstream one by incorporating real gas effects in the formulation. Here, the linearized one-dimensional perturbed unsteady Euler equations are used for the classification of the downstream/upstream disturbances field and the linearized one-dimensional perturbed Rankine-Hugoniot equations are applied to provide a relationship between the... 

In this study, a theoretical analysis is performed to assess the interaction of freestream disturbances with a plane normal shock considering real gas effects. Such effects are important in a field with high velocities and high temperatures. To perform the theoretical analysis, the downstream disturbances field is expressed as a mathematical function of the upstream one by incorporating real gas effects in the formulation. Here, the linearized one-dimensional perturbed unsteady Euler equations are used for the classification of the downstream/upstream disturbances field and the linearized one-dimensional perturbed Rankine-Hugoniot equations are applied to provide a relationship between the... 

We examine the olfactory discrimination of left- and right-handed enantiomers of chiral odorants based on the odorant-mediated electron transport from a donor to an acceptor of the olfactory receptors embodied in a biological environment. The chiral odorant is effectively described by an asymmetric double-well potential whose minima are associated to the left- and right-handed enantiomers. The introduced asymmetry is considered an overall measure of chiral interactions. The biological environment is conveniently modeled as a bath of harmonic oscillators. The resulting spin-boson model is adapted by a polaron transformation to derive the corresponding Born-Markov master equation with which we... 

Molecular dynamics simulations of four ionic liquids (ILs) based on the [Tf2N] bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion, and imidazolium cations with different alkyl side chains have been performed. These simulations investigate the influence of butyl side chain elimination, tail amine functional addition, and C2 methylation on the dynamics and transport properties of this family of ionic liquids at 400 K. In our earlier work (J. Chem. Eng. Data, 2014, 59, 2834-2849), a suite of thermodynamic quantities and microscopic structures of these ILs were studied by classical molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations. In this work, the dynamics of the ILs are studied by calculating... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have experienced outstanding advances in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) by employing new electron transport layers (ETLs), interface engineering, optimizing perovskite morphology, and improving charge collection efficiency. In this work, we study the role of a new ultrathin interface layer of titanium nitride (TiN) conformally deposited on a mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2) scaffold using the atomic layer deposition method. Our characterization results revealed that the presence of TiN at the ETL/perovskite interface improves the charge collection as well as reduces the interface recombination. We find that the morphology (grain size) and optical properties of... 

Developing effective and priceless electrocatalysts is an indispensable requirement for advancing the efficiency of water splitting to get clean and sustainable fuels. Herein, we reported a feasible strategy for preparing a trimetallic (NiCoFe) superior electrocatalyst with a novel open-cage/3D frame-like structure for an oxygen evolution reaction (OER). It is prepared by consequent thermal treatments of a CoFe Prussian blue analogue frame/cage-like structure under an argon (CoFeA-TT) atmosphere and then electrochemical deposition of nickel-cobalt sulfide nanosheets as a shell layer on it. The electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the deposition of NiCo-S on CoFeA-TT... 

The formation damage (FD) caused by the invasion of drilling fluid severely affects reservoir performance during production. Most of the published research studies which address this type of FD have been carried out at the core or field scale. Thus, the main aim of the paper is to investigate the pore-scale mechanisms of FD induced by drilling fluids and their control with silica nanoparticles (NPs) using a microfluidic approach. The proper identification of the mechanisms of FD can lead to the proper selection of NP type and concentration as well as a suitable method to remediate FD. The micromodel was designed in a way to closely simulate the cross-flow at the wellbore surface. A... 

This work presents a novel melatonin sensor based on unfunctionalized macroporous graphene networks decorated with gold nanoparticles for the differential pulse voltammetric detection of melatonin in pharmaceutical products. Highly porous graphene structures were prepared by metallic template-assisted chemical vapor deposition, and their active surface area and electrocatalytic activity were improved by electrochemical deposition of gold nanoparticles (50-250 nm) on their struts. The graphene-gold electrodes present a highly sensitive performance toward electro-oxidation of melatonin with a wide linear range of 0.05-50 μM, a low detection limit of 0.0082 μM (3σ/m), and a significant... 

In this article, the synthesis, characterization, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements are reported for ferrocene-terminated oligophenyleneimine (OPI_Fc) and ferrocene-terminated conjugation-broken oligophenyleneimine (CB-OPI_Fc) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) in two different electrolytes, namely, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium-bis (trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl) imide (EMITFSI) ionic liquid and tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (Bu4NPF6) in acetonitrile (0.1 M solution). The SAMs were synthesized on Au surfaces by the sequential imine condensation reactions. CV was used to investigate the kinetics of electron transfer (ET) to the ferrocene, and it was observed that the standard ET rate... 

Fullerene derivatives with a strong electron-accepting ability play a crucial role in enhancing both the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, most of the used fullerene molecules are based on [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), which limits the device performance due to difficulties in preparing high-quality and uniform thin films. Herein, solution-processable azahomofullerene (AHF) derivatives (abbreviated as AHF-1 and AHF-2) are reported as novel and effective electron-transport layers (ETLs) in p-i-n planar PSCs. Compared to the control PCBM ETL-based PSCs, the devices based on AHFs exhibit higher photovoltaic performances, which is... 

Nonprecious and effective electrocatalyst development is an essential requirement for boosting water-splitting efficiency to obtain clean and sustainable fuels for future renewable energy demands. Herein, we reported an ultrafast and feasible strategy for constructing an S-doped bimetallic iron/nickel oxy(hydroxide) (S-(Fe/Ni)OOH) as a superior electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). It is prepared by consequent electroplating of nickel nanocone arrays (NiNCAs) on carbon cloth (CC) and stainless-steel mesh (SSM) and then formation of S-(Fe/Ni)OOH layers on them by ultrafast one-step oxidation solution-phase method in the solution of Fe3+ and sodium thiosulfate at room... 

Engineering earth-rich, high-efficiency, and nonprecious electrocatalysts is an essential demand for water electrolysis to obtain clean and sustainable fuels. In this research, novel hybrid electrocatalysts based on coupling a hierarchical porous NiCo-mixed metal sulfide with a nanosheet structure (denoted as NiCoS) and a novel three-dimensional (3D) mesoporous open-cage/framelike structure of CoFeS are designed for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this regard, the single-step synthesis of a cobalt iron Prussian blue analog (CoFe PBA) frame/cagelike structure was performed without any etching step. Following a comparative study, CoFe PBA precursors were converted and doped with S, Se, and... 

Growing demands for clean and renewable energy technologies have sparked broad research on the development of highly efficient and stable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this regard, in the present work a three-dimensional Fe2TiO5/nitrogen-doped graphene (denoted as 3D FTO/NG) hybrid electrocatalyst was synthesized via a facile in-situ process using a hydrothermal method. Structural characterization of the prepared nanocomposite is performed by various techniques e.g. field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra (XPS),... 

Increasing energy demands for pollution-free and renewable energy technologies have stimulated intense research on the development of inexpensive, highly efficient, and stable non-noble metal electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this study, a superior OER performance was achieved using a tri-metallic (Zn, Co, Ni) high-performance electrocatalyst. We successfully fabricated a peony-flower-like hierarchical ZnCo2O4 through an additive-free hydrothermal reaction followed by heat treatment. Then NiCo-LDH (layered double hydroxides) nano-flakes was electrodeposited on the ZnCo2O4/GCE surface to prepare NiCo-LDH/ZnCo2O4/GCE which was used as electrode for OER. The structure and... 

We report a first principles study on the electronic and transport properties of bilayer armchair graphene nanoribbons (BLAGNRs) containing Stone-Wales (SW) defect. It is shown that in the presence of SW defect in BLAGNRs, some electron localization occurs in defect atoms and degradation of transmission is observed in specific energy regions. The strength of electron localization is dependent on the symmetry of SW defect. In case of symmetric SW defect, stronger electron localization leads to sharper dip in its transmission spectrum in comparison with the broad dip in the transmission spectrum of the BLAGNR containing asymmetric SW defect. The effect of electron localization is also evident... 

Semiconductor photoelectrodes for water oxidation that absorb visible light usually have poor electronic transport properties and small optical absorption coefficients near their absorption edge. Therefore, innovative designs that lead to significant optical absorption in relatively thin layers of these compounds are highly desirable. Here, using full-field electromagnetic optical simulations, we demonstrate that a monolayer of resonant-size BiVO4 spheres can provide enhancement up to a factor of two in solar light absorption relative to dense planar layers. In this monolayer, BiVO4 spheres do not need to be interconnected; therefore, such monolayers are flexible and their fabrication...