Sharif Digital Repository

The light-scattering effect in the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) was studied by controlling TiO2 phase composition and morphology by fabrication of double-layer cells with different arrangement modes. The starting material for preparation of TiO2 cells was synthesized by an aqueous sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopic analyses revealed that TiO2 nanoparticles had particle size ranging between 18 and 44 nm. The optical property and band gap energy of TiO2 nanoparticles were studied through UV-Vis absorption. The indirect optical band gap energy of anatase and rutile nanoparticles was found to be 3.47 and 3.41 eV, respectively. The... 

In the present work, we focused on simultaneously control electron injection and electron transport, in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), aided by introducing Cr3+ and CNTs into a TiO2 photoanode, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that, Cr 3+ and CNTs were successfully incorporated into the TiO2 lattice without forming secondary phases. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that Cr introduction has perfectly balanced the amount of anatase and rutile phases in order to accomplish a more efficient cell. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images showed deposited films to have a porous morphology composed of nanoparticles and TiO2 nanoparticles... 

Coiled carbon nanotubes (CCNTs) have increasingly become a vital factor in the new generation of nanodevices and energy-absorbing materials due to their outstanding properties. Here, the multiobjective optimization of CCNTs is applied to assess their mechanical properties. The best trade-off between conflicting mechanical properties (e.g., yield stress and yield strain) is demonstrated and the optimization of the geometry enables us to find the astonishing CCNTs with a stretchability of 400%. These structures have been recognized for the first time in the field. We derived several highly accurate analytical equations for the yield stress and yield strain by the implementation of... 

Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology experiences a remarkably rapid growth toward commercialization with certified efficiency of over 25%, along with the outstanding breakthrough in the development of SnO2. Owing to the wide bandgap, high electron mobility, chemical stability, and low photocatalytic activity, SnO2 has been the rising star to serve as electron transporting layer (ETL). More importantly, the low-temperature fabrication process (<200 °C) enables SnO2 a promising candidate for the industry, making it compatible with the plastic substrates and large-scale production, which is crucial for the flexible and scalable devices fabrication. In this review, the processing methods... 

Toroidal transformers are widely used in various low power applications such as switching circuits. Optimal design of these transformers involves solution of a series of non-linear electromagnetic equations. In this paper, application of the Lagrange method in optimal design of toroidal transformers is discussed. The objective function was selected to be the sum of cost of active material including copper and iron. Technological and practical limitations are imposed in the optimization routine. Thermal problems are among the most important issues with regard to transformers. The thermal model presented in this paper is based on a lumped-parameter model, which gives the temperature at various... 

Herein, we demonstrate a facile low temperature chemical bath deposition approach to deposit a light scattering layer on a nanostructured mesoporous TiO2 bottom layer in a dye-sensitized solar cell architecture. Large TiO2 nanoparticles were formed on the top surface of photoanode electrodes via hydrolysis of TiCl4 at 70 °C. We controlled the size and agglomeration of these TiO2 nanoparticles by altering the concentration of TiCl4 in the chemical bath during the hydrolysis process. Electron microscope images revealed that mono-dispersed scattering particles having uneven surfaces with diameters between 100 to 300 nm formed on the mesoporous titania layer. The scattering behavior of the... 

In this study, a reliable and predictive model namely, least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) was developed to predict dye removal efficiency. Four LS-SVM models have been developed and tested using more than 630 series of experimental data which were obtained from our previous paper. These data consist of adsorbate type, adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, salt, absorbance time and dye removal efficiency. Direct Red 31 (DR31), Direct Green 6 (DG6) and Acid Blue (AB92) were used as a model dyes. The results show that the developed model is more accurate and reliable with the average absolute relative deviation of 0.678%, 0.877%, 0.581% and 0.978% for single systems and... 

The meshless element-free Galerkin method was generalized and an algorithm was developed for 3D dynamic modeling of deformable bodies in real time. The efficacy of the algorithm was investigated in a 3D linear viscoelastic model of human spleen subjected to a time-varying compressive force exerted by a surgical grasper. The model remained stable in spite of the considerably large deformations occurred. There was a good agreement between the results and those of an equivalent finite element model. The computational cost, however, was much lower, enabling the proposed algorithm to be effectively used in real-time applications  

These days, considering the importance of reliability in industries, utilities’ role for preparing high levels of reliability becomes more important. This can be done by adding numbers of switches and Tie switches which impose high expenses to system. These expenditures should be provided by customers. Level of reliability in different points of network is different. So customers which pay more, receive higher level of reliability. If a customer raises its payment, utility change the location of switches in order to raise level of reliability of that customer. all customers change their payment and then utility fixes the switches at a point that all customers reach their favorable... 

Atomic Bonded Cross-chain Debt (ABCD) is the first non-custodial smart-contract-independent cross-chain atomic bond. Theoretical aspects of ABCD have been presented in the International Conference on Blockchain Technology and Applications (ICBTA) and won the best presentation award. It is the first time a demo of Atomic Bonded Cross-chain Debt is presented. © 2021 IEEE  

In this study, zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) as a metal-organic framework (MOF) and its hybrid nanocomposites based on graphene oxide (GO) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized by facile method at an ambient temperature. The sufficiency of GO and CNT substrates as the main components of the composites to grow nanoscale MOFs and increase dispersive forces were investigated. The characteristics of the MOF and hybrid nanocomposites were studied using FTIR, SEM, XRD, BET and TGA techniques. The prepared nanomaterials applied as adsorbents to remove malachite green (MG) as a cationic dye from colored wastewater. The removal rates of the hybrid nanocomposites were greater than that... 

In this study, the causes of failure in gas turbine burner tips were investigated. For this purpose, two burner tips used in a petrochemical company with different failure evidence as well as service times were inspected. These parts showed signs of deterioration such as multiple cracks, corrosion, and wear following 4000 h and 8000 h operations. The examinations included chemical composition analysis using optical emission spectroscopy (OES), stereo-, optical-, and scanning electron microscopy studies, and macro/micro-hardness measurements. These investigations revealed high thermal stresses to be the main failure cause of the burner tips. Moreover, due to flame inclination, a local... 

Herein, magnetic metal-organic framework nanocomposite (ZIF-8@SiO2@MnFe2O4) was synthesized. The ultrasound-assisted simultaneous adsorption of Malachite Green (MG) and Methyl Orange (MO) as cationic and anionic dyes onto ZIF-8@SiO2@MnFe2O4 magnetic microporous nanocomposite (MMNC) as a novel adsorbent was investigated. The FTIR, FESEM, TEM, XRD, BET and VSM were used to characterize the prepared adsorbent. The analysis of dyes concentration in a binary mixture was investigated using zero-order and first order derivative spectrophotometry. The individual effects and possible interactions between the various parameters were investigated by response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized... 

We introduce a new scheme for determining radiation pressure coupling to microresonator devices. It is shown that for the input pump powers there exists a threshold value for instability behavior. Radiation pressure can couple mechanical modes of a cavity to it's optical modes, leading to parametric oscillation instability. Here we present an approximate analysis of such nonlinear effect with Hamilton's least action principle. Our Lagrangian includes no interaction term, but interaction between optical and mechanical modes has been taken into account through integration limit. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

Discrete multitone (DMT) modulation is used for the efficient transmission of data over nonideal channels. By nonideal channel, we mean that the channel with the frequency response is not flat. Also the noise is present in this kind of channel. In recent years, optimization of filter banks for the DMT systems is considered. Recent researches focused on the orthonormal filter banks have shown that the principal component filter bank (PCFB) is optimal for this application. We focus on one class of biorthogonal filter banks and find the optimum solution for this class. We also have shown that the performance of this structure is better than the optimum orthonormal filter bank. © 2003 IEEE  

Rapid advancements in industry and the demand for control systems have widely brought the use of servo systems in great attention. Hence, investigation of various servo motors and their industrial applications is significant. Today, servo systems are often used to control the speed, position and torque in machine tools and robots. Servo motors are capable of performing the control commands, with high accuracy and speed. High acceleration, power factor, stability, durability, thermal and other environmental robustness along with their ability of controlling the torque in a wide range of speeds leads the practical engineer towards the choice of servo motors for control purposes in industry. In... 

Zirconium based metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) are promising candidates for photocatalytic wastewater treatment due to their excellent properties such as high chemical and thermal stability and high photodegradation ability. Herein, we report a novel porous TiO2/ZrO2 photocatalyst derived from UiO-66 and Titania hybrids. UiO-66 nanoparticles was synthesized through solvothermal method and utilized as catalyst support to grow TiO2 particles on its surface. The prepared Titania/MOF nanocomposite was calcined to obtain porous TiO2/ZrO2 photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants from colored wastewater under LED visible light. The prepared materials were fully characterized with... 

An experimental investigation of the shock-buffet phenomenon subject to unsteady pitching supercritical airfoil around its quarter chord has been conducted in a transonic wind tunnel. The model was equipped with pressure taps connected to the fast response pressure-transducers. Measurements were conducted at different free-stream Mach number from 0.61 to 0.76. The principle goal of this investigation was to experimentally discuss the shock-buffet criterion over a SC(2)-0410 supercritical pitching related to the hysteresis loops of total drag and trailing edge pressure, the behaviour of the shock wave foot location, the pressure distribution over the upper surface, and by implementing the... 

From 1970s, studies have been conducted on the hydraulic design of stepped spillways and many empirical formulas were developed. Despite the simple geometry of these spillways, their hydraulic behavior is complicated. As a result, for many cases, the physical models are studied to verify the design. Numerical simulation is considered as a tool to reduce the laboratory tests, in order to save time and money. Furthermore, the parameters which are not investigated or measured in physical models could be evaluated. In this paper, the results of numerical simulations are compared with the results of physical models and empirical formulas for the spillway of Renwick dam studied in a 1/8 scale... 

The graphics processing unit (GPU) is the most promising candidate platform for achieving faster improvements in peak processing speed, low latency and high performance. The highly programmable and multithreaded nature of GPUs makes them a remarkable candidate for general purpose computing. However, supporting non-graphics computing on graphics processors requires addressing several architectural challenges. In this paper, we focus on improving performance by better hiding long waiting time for transferring data from the slow global memory. Furthermore, we show that the proposed method can reduce power and energy. Reduction in access time to off-chip data has a noticeable role in reducing...