Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, nano/microstructured-conducting polypyrrole has been prepared on Cu/Au interdigital electrode surfaces by using constant potential amperometry technique. The Fe(II) ions were used as catalyst and X = ClO4 -, pTs-, Cl-, TCA-, DS-, DBS- was implemented as anion dopants. The morphologies of the films were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope. A remarkable dependence was observed between the type of anion dopant and the morphology of polypyrrole (PPy). The sensing behavior of the PPy-X sensor has been studied toward acetone, methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, nitromethane, propylamine, pyridine, and gas mixtures of aliphatic alcohols. The responses... 

A simple and practical approach is introduced for the deposition of CuI as an inexpensive inorganic hole-transport material (HTM) for the fabrication of low cost perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by gas–solid phase transformation of Cu to CuI. The method provides a uniform and well-controlled CuI layer with large grains and good compactness that prevents the direct connection between the contact electrodes. Solar cells prepared with CuI as the HTM with Au electrodes displays an exceptionally high short-circuit current density of 32 mA cm−2, owing to an interfacial species formed between the perovskite and the Cu resulting in a long wavelength contribution to the incident photon-to-electron... 

This paper presents a design methodology for class-J monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers (PAs). Theoretical derivations of optimum load impedances, output power, efficiency, and maximum bandwidth are described in presence of nonlinear drain-source resistance of transistors (RDS). A procedure is developed for ideal transistor sizing where transistors are concurrently stabilized and sized to achieve the maximum power-added efficiency (PAE). A 3.5-7 GHz, 0.5-W class-J PA is implemented in a 0.1-μm AlGaAs-InGaAs pHEMT technology to check the accuracy of the proposed approach. With chip dimensions of 1.57 × 1.29 mm2, the PA achieves 56% average PAE over the frequency... 

In this paper, performance of class-J mode power amplifiers (PAs) is studied when a second-harmonic voltage component is added to the input node of the device. Theoretical formulations for the optimum load impedances, output power, and drain efficiency are developed for this case, and it is shown that the inclusion of a proper second-harmonic voltage at the gate node of the transistor improves the drain efficiency and output power. To check the accuracy of the theoretical analyses and the simulation results, a proof-of-concept 1-GHz 0.65-W class-J PA is fabricated in a 0.25-μm AlGaAs-InGaAs pHEMT technology. The nonlinear gate-source capacitor (CGS) of the transistor is employed to generate... 

This paper presents the design and implementation of a distributed class-J power amplifier (DJPA) in a 0.25-μm AlGaAs-InGaAs pHEMT technology. Class-J mode of operation is introduced in design of distributed power amplifiers (DPAs) to achieve high power added efficiencies (PAEs) over wide frequency ranges. Extensive load-pull (LP) and source-pull (SP) simulations are performed to show that class-J PAs are less sensitive to proper termination of higher order harmonics, and high PAE and output power can be obtained even if the second, third, fourth, and fifth harmonics comprise a real impedance. This is essential in DPAs as the higher order harmonics of the frequencies at lower side of the... 

This study presents a comprehensive framework for evaluating renewable and non-renewable power plants' performance using the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and emergy analysis. The emergy analysis is used to consider the free ecosystem services in the sustainability of the systems as a supplement to the LCA. The results indicate that the wind and photovoltaic power plants have the best performance in terms of the LCA analysis, while the wind and combined cycle power plants have the highest emergy sustainability index. The best scenario is chosen under a two-objective optimization problem, including the single score and emergy sustainability as objective functions. Here, the wind power plant is... 

This study presents a comprehensive framework for evaluating renewable and non-renewable power plants' performance using the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and emergy analysis. The emergy analysis is used to consider the free ecosystem services in the sustainability of the systems as a supplement to the LCA. The results indicate that the wind and photovoltaic power plants have the best performance in terms of the LCA analysis, while the wind and combined cycle power plants have the highest emergy sustainability index. The best scenario is chosen under a two-objective optimization problem, including the single score and emergy sustainability as objective functions. Here, the wind power plant is... 

Modern turbine blades are cooled by air flowing through internal cooling passages. Three-Dimensional numerical simulation of these blade cooling passages is too time-consuming because of their complex geometries. These geometrical complexities exist as a result of using various kinds of cooling technologies such as rib turbulators (inline, staggered, or inclined ribs), pin fin, 90 and 180 degree turns (both sharp and gradual turns, with and without turbulators), finned passage, by-pass flow and tip cap impingement. One possible solution to simulate such sophisticated passages is to use the one-dimensional network method, which is presented in the current work. Turbine blade cooling channels... 

Bi2O3 compositions were prepared to investigate the effect of rare earth metal oxides as co-dopants on phase stability of bismuth oxide. Compositions containing 9-14 mol% of Y2O3 and Er2O3 were synthesized by solid state reaction. The structural characterization was carried out using X-ray powder diffraction. The XRD results show that the samples containing 12 and 14 mol% total dopants had cubic structure, whereas the samples with lower dopant concentrations were tetragonal. Comparing the lattice parameters of the cubic phases of (Bi 2O3)0.88(Y2O3) 0.06(Er2O3)0.06 and (Bi 2O3)0.86(Y2O3) 0.07(Er2O3)0.07 revealed that lattice parameter decreases by increasing the dopant concentration. The XRD... 

This paper presents a methodology for the design of Ka/Q-band monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) high-power amplifiers (HPAs). Design techniques are introduced to reduce chip area and to improve bandwidth (BW). These techniques are applied to the design of a 31-39-GHz 5-W HPA implemented on a 0.1-μm AlGaAs-InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT (pHEMT) technology. With chip dimensions of 3.35 × 3.2 mm2, the HPA achieves 24% average power-added efficiency (PAE) over the frequency band, while maintaining an average 22-dB small-signal gain. A balanced high-power amplifier (BPA) is also presented, which combines the power of two 5-W HPA cells to deliver peak 8.5-W output power (Pout) in the... 

This paper presents two integrated concurrent dual-band class-J power amplifiers (PAs) in AlGaAs-InGaAs pHEMT technology. Design flexibility of class-J space is employed to explore the availability of a dual-band PA where the center frequency of the second band is twice the center frequency of the first band (f2=2f1). The theoretical formulations are developed for f2=2f1 case, for which it is not feasible to obtain high efficiencies using class-F-1, class-F, and other high-efficiency modes. A proof of concept 5/10-GHz class-J PA is manufactured in a 0.1- μm GaAs pHEMT technology. The proposed PA delivers 26.9- and 26-dBm output power with peak power added efficiencies (PAEs) of 49% and 46%... 

In this paper, the class-J mode of operation is investigated when sinusoidal, half-sinusoidal (HS), triangle, pulse, and reduced conduction angle voltage waveforms are shaped at the gate node of the transistor. Output power, maximum power-added efficiency (PAE), large signal gain (LSG), and load-pull contours are presented and compared for each input signal. It is shown that PAE of a class-J power amplifier (PA) is improved when an HS voltage is realized at the gate node of the transistor. This enhancement can also be observed for a pulse input with 20% duty cycle, however, at the expense of reduced output power and LSG. A proof-of-concept, two-stage class-J PA is designed and fabricated in... 

This paper presents the theoretical introduction and experimental validation of the "Class-J2 Mode Power Amplifier," which provides higher efficiency and output power compared with conventional class-J mode counterpart. This mode of operation is realized by injection of the second-harmonic current to drain node of a class-J power amplifier (PA) to reduce the 45° phase shift between drain current and voltage signals. Similar to class-J PAs, the second-harmonic impedance of class-J2 PAs is purely reactive to simplify the design of the output matching network. The auxiliary second-harmonic injection circuit comprises a transistor biased in class-B mode followed by a class-C biased amplifier to... 

In this paper, two output matching networks (OMNs) are proposed for integrated class-J and class-J-1 mode power amplifiers (PAs). The first MN provides the required load impedances of the class-J mode (i.e., Z(f0) = Ropt + j Ropt and Z(2 f0) = -j (3π/8)Ropt), where as the second MN realizes the optimal impedances of class-J-1 PAs (i.e., Z(f0) = Ropt - j Ropt and Z(2 f0) = j (3π/8)Ropt ). Detailed theoretical analyses are presented for each MN, and the values of matching components (i.e., inductors and capacitors) are obtained in terms of Ropt. Analytical derivations are verified by simulation results, while bandwidth and loss performances of each MN are also characterized. Two... 

Recently, class-J₂ operation mode has been proposed in the literature for high-efficiency power amplifier (PA) design. It has been shown that the output power (Pout) of a class-J₂ PA can be 1.5 dB higher than Pout of a class-J counterpart, whereas the theoretical drain efficiency of the class-J₂ mode can be as high as 83%. This paper is devoted to introduce and characterize the class-J₂₃ mode of operation, which is the generalized form of the class-J₂ mode and provides a new design space to realize highly efficient PSs. In this new PA mode, the third-harmonic voltage is also included in the drain voltage of the transistor to increase the drain efficiency up to 95.4% in theory. Design space... 

Recently, class-J₂ operation mode has been proposed in the literature for high-efficiency power amplifier (PA) design. It has been shown that the output power (Pout) of a class-J₂ PA can be 1.5 dB higher than Pout of a class-J counterpart, whereas the theoretical drain efficiency of the class-J₂ mode can be as high as 83%. This paper is devoted to introduce and characterize the class-J₂₃ mode of operation, which is the generalized form of the class-J₂ mode and provides a new design space to realize highly efficient PSs. In this new PA mode, the third-harmonic voltage is also included in the drain voltage of the transistor to increase the drain efficiency up to 95.4% in theory. Design space... 

We have investigated the influence of perovskite morphology on slow and fast charge transport in the perovskite solar cells. Solar cells with different perovskite cuboid sizes (50-300 nm) have been fabricated using various methylammonium iodide concentrations. Both the low-frequency capacitance and hysteresis are maximum for the cell with the largest perovskite grains (300 nm). The low-frequency capacitance is about three orders of magnitude greater than the intermediate frequency capacitance, indicating the great role of ions on the slow responses and hysteresis. The measurement of open-circuit voltage decay indicates that for the large grains of 300 nm up to 70% of Voc remains across the... 

Biological cell studies have many applications in biology, cell manipulation, and diagnosis of diseases such as cancer and malaria. In this study, Inverse Finite Element Method (IFEM) combined with Levenberg-Marquardt optimization algorithm has been used to extract and characterize material properties of mouse oocyte and embryo cells at large deformations. Then, the simulation results have been validated using data from experimental works. In this study, it is assumed that cell material is hyperelastic, isotropic, homogenous, and axisymmetric. For inverse analysis, FEM model of cell injection experiment implemented in Abaqus software has been coupled with Levenberg-Marquardt optimization... 

In natural gas pressure boosting stations, air coolers are used to reduce the gas temperature. Pressure drop as an essential factor in determining the energy performance of any pressure boosting station has a significant impact on the overall performance of the gas transmission. In this paper, a laboratory pilot is designed to investigate the effect of pressure drop reduction on the use of heating pipes at the air coolers. In addition, as a case for a gas pressure boosting station, its impact over energy performance index and pressure drop parameter has been calculated through simulating. The results show, implemented PHP tubes in an air cooler, lead to reduce tube length and improve...