Sharif Digital Repository

Different compositions of TiO2–BaTiO3 nanocomposites are synthesized with various weight ratios for dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) applications. TiO2 and BaTiO3 nanoparticles (NPs) are synthesized by sol-gel and solvothermal methods, respectively and are employed as the photoanode electrodes. BaTiO3 NPs have pure cubic perovskite crystal structure with an average size of 20-40 nm, while TiO2 NPs show pure anatase phase with 15-30 nm size. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of the cells is first attained by controlling the thickness of the films for light harvesting improvement. The fabricated DSSC composed of pure BaTiO3 NPs with an optimal thickness of 25 μm shows... 

Herein, we report the impact of single- and co-doping of nanoparticle TiO2 films with carbon and nitrogen on the photovoltaic characteristics of their corresponding dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) devices. Different DSCs with various compositions of the photoanode electrodes are fabricated to study their structural and electronic properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We find that the interstitial nitrogen atoms for single N doping have a greater impact on the band gap energy (Eg) than the substitutional (to Ti) carbon... 

Different structures of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were fabricated with various compositions and arrangement modes of the photoanodes. The solvothermally grown TiO2 nanoparticles and sol-gel derived spherical TiO2 and BaTiO3 particles were employed as the active and scattering layers of DSCs. TiO2 nanoparticles and spherical particles had pure anatase structure with particle size of 15-30 nm and 200-400 nm, respectively, whereas 300-800 nm BaTiO3 particles showed cubic perovskite structure. The efficiency improvement of mono-layer cells made of TiO2 nanoparticles (i.e., 7.22%) was achieved by light harvesting mechanism. Further enhancement of photovoltaic performance was achieved by... 

This paper is an extension of an earlier work on electron correlations in semiconducting GaAs-based quasi-one-dimensional quantum wires. The extension was twofold. First, we developed the Singwi, Tosi, Land, and Sölander (STLS) scheme for multisubband structures. Secondly, we developed the multisubband ladder approximation diagrammatic technique. By using the results obtained for the spin symmetric and spin antisymmetric interpolarization and intrapolarization potentials, we calculate the corresponding electron-electron effective potentials. Our results for a two-subband model show that these effective potentials have an attractive part implying the occurrence of s-wave and p-wave pairings,... 

This article presents results of an investigation on age-hardening behavior of superalloy AEREX 350. Microhardness testing was employed to evaluate the age-hardening response of the alloy while optical, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy techniques were used to characterize the major phases formed during the aging process. No significant hardening was found in solution-treated samples aged at temperatures up to about 680 °C. Aging at 700 °C up to 950 °C, however, caused a characteristic hardening response. This hardening was concurrent with the formation of γ', an ordered phase with L12 structure, as fine precipitate distributed throughout the fcc matrix. In the temperature range... 

In this paper, results of an investigation on the strain hardening responses of superalloy MP35N with two average grain sizes of 38 and 1 μm, during room temperature tensile testing are reported. The microstructural evolution of the deformed samples was studied using optical and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The strain hardening behavior of the 38 μm material was rather similar to that previously reported for low stacking fault energy (SFE) fee alloys. The plastic behavior of the fine grain material, however, was unexpected. In the strain range of 0.1-0.4, the work hardening rate of the fine grain size sample was evidently lower than that of the large grain size... 

Long-time interaction of dewetting nanodroplets is investigated using a long-wave approximation method. Although three-dimensional (3D) droplets evolution dynamics exhibits qualitative behavior analogous to two-dimensional (2D) dynamics, there is an extensive quantitative difference between them. 3D dynamics is substantially faster than 2D dynamics. This can be related to the larger curvature and, as a consequence, the larger Laplace pressure difference between the droplets in 3D systems. The influence of various chemical heterogeneities on the behavior of droplets has also been studied. In the case of gradient surfaces, it is shown how the gradient direction could change the dynamics. For a... 

Mesoscopic hydrodynamic equations are solved to investigate late-stage evolution of thin liquid films over step topographies. Different geometrical parameters including step height and initial position and configuration of resultant masses of dewetting (droplets) are probed to find their effects on the mass evolution of the system. Our results indicate that increasing the step height and locating the droplets close to the step enhance the dynamics and accelerate smaller droplet collapse  

In this paper, the reduced master equation which is a fast simulation method of spin dependent transport in ferromagnetic single electron transistors is presented, for first time. This simulation method follows steady state master equation in which all charge states of the system are considered, whereas charge states are decreased in reduced master equation. This method is based on two degrees of electron freedom which are charge and spin. This is applied in the condition that orthodox tunneling theory is applicable to calculate the tunneling rate of electrons through barriers. The comparison between the I-V characteristics of a ferromagnetic single-electron transistor by following the... 

Employing a biharmonic boundary integral method with linear elements, coarsening dynamics of nanodroplets on topographical step heterogeneity is investigated. It is shown that the step height and droplet configuration have an influential effect on the dynamics. Increasing the step height slows down the process while locating the droplets close to the step boosts the coarsening rate. Considering a slip boundary condition enhances the dynamics and reveals a transition in the droplet migration direction. Our results reveal that increasing the surface wettability weakens the dynamics. Various types of the disjoining pressure over the step are also considered and their effects on the coarsening... 

LiCoO2 nanopowders, one of the most important cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, were synthesized via a modified sol-gel process assisted with triethanolamine (TEA) as a complexing agent. The influence of three different chelating agents including acrylic acid, citric acid, and oxalic acid on the size and morphology of particles was investigated. Structure and morphology of the synthesized powders were characterized by thermogravimetric/ differential thermal analyses (TG/DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results indicate that the powder processed with TEA and calcinated at 800 °C had an excellent hexagonal ordering of α-NaFeO2 -type (space... 

Microchannels are at the forefront of today's cooling technologies. They are widely being considered for cooling of electronic devices and in micro heat exchanger systems due to their ease of manufacture. One issue which arises in the use of microchannels is related to the small length scale of the channel or channel cross-section. In this work, the maximum heat transfer and the optimum geometry for a given pressure loss have been calculated for forced convective heat transfer in microchannels of various cross-section having finite volume for laminar flow conditions. Solutions are presented for 10 different channel cross sections: parallel plate channel, circular duct, rectangular channel,... 

The asymmetric transmission (AT) has attracted wide attention due to its novel applications. In this paper, we propose and investigate a tunable polarization-dependent intrinsically chiral graphene metasurface composed of split ring arrays in terahertz (THz) region. The resonance frequency of the structure is sensitive to the graphene chemical potential. Circular conversion dichroism (CCD) of the proposed structure is tunable and is reached to 0.36. Our work paths a new approach to propose some other compact and on-chip polarization-dependent structures in THz region. Furthermore, our proposed structure could be a useful segment in polarization-dependent systems. © 2019 Elsevier B.V