Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, for the first time, the effect of air quenching on the microstructural and electrical properties of (In, Nb) co-doped TiO2 was investigated. The FE-SEM images showed that the air quenching has no effect on microstructure of co-doped TiO2. However, air quenching affected the electrical properties so that the dielectric constant in the frequency of 1 kHz at room temperature sharply enhanced from 21*103 to 26*104 and the dielectric loss surprisingly decreased from 0.6 to 0.1. This incredible improvement in the dielectric properties is attributed to the electron-pined defect dipoles which has been activated through air quenching. © 2020 Elsevier B.V  

Up to now, attempts for developing coarse-grained SnO2-based varistors which exhibit high nonlinearity property at lower voltage have become a challenge without any prominent result because of its unknown grain growth mechanism. In this study, the effect of CuO addition to SnO2-based varistors as a grain growth enhancer additive on microstructural development, grain growth kinetics, and electrical properties was investigated. The characterization of grain growth kinetics showed that CuO addition encouraged grain growth and enhanced the grains size as it could be seen in the activation energy which decreased from 594 kJ/mol to 364 kJ/mol. In the samples with a low amount of CuO, the solute... 

In this research, fine-grained SnO2-based varistors with a simple microstructure and the mean grain size of 0.8 µm were obtained by the microwave sintering method. The breakdown electric field measured for these varistors was 12 kV/cm that is 3 times higher than the conventional-sintered varistors. The high nonlinear coefficient (60) and low leakage current density (9 µA/cm2) were achieved in fine-grained SnO2 varistors. The fine-grained SnO2 varistors appropriately clamped pulse current surges and the calculated value of the clamping voltage ratio of these varistors was 2. The excellent electrical properties and protective effect of fine-grained SnO2 varistors showed that these varistors... 

Up to now, multifunctional varistor-capacitor materials were based on TiO2, even though these materials failed to have practical applications. For the first time, in this research, multifunctional varistor-capacitor properties are observed in the CuO-doped SnO2-CoO-Sb2O3 system. The XRD analysis showed that this system has a single phase microstructure. SEM images indicated that the CuO addition resulted in a better densification and larger grain size. The very low electric breakdown field of the CuO-doped SnO2-CoO-Sb2O3 system (12 V/mm, similar to TiO2), is a consequence of coarse-grained microstructure. This varistor had a suitable surge withstand capability as well. The colossal... 

This research focused on making novel low-voltage SnO2 varistors by CuO addition on conventional high-voltage SnO2 varistors. Moreover, the withstand surge capability of samples was studied. The results showed that CuO addition enhances grain growth of SnO2 and coarse-grained SnO2 varistors with simple microstructures were acquired in 1 mol% CuO-doped sample. This coarse-grained SnO2 varistor presented a high nonlinear coefficient (23) and low leakage current density (23 µA/cm2) with low breakdown field value of 0.6 kV/cm. Despite the large grain size, the low residual voltage ratio (2.3) was obtained for this sample compared to the CuO-free sample. The decrease in grain electric resistivity... 

One of the significant drawbacks of SnO2 varistors compared to their old counterpart, ZnO varistors, in high-voltage applications is their higher sintering temperature. Although the researchers have been attempting to lower the sintering temperature by employing new techniques, the obtained varistors do not show an acceptable capability to absorb surge currents. In this research, by optimizing the Bi2O3 amount added to the well-known SnO2 varistor system, the sintering temperature of varistors reduced to 1250 °C. It is for the first time that the reduction in sintering temperature of SnO2 varistors was accompanied not only with maintaining the nonlinearity of the obtained varistors, but also... 

In this research, the microstructure, dielectric, and non-Ohmic properties of (Cr, Nb) co-doped SnO2 ceramics, (Cr0.5, Nb0.5)xSn1-xO2 with x% = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, and 10.0, as a colossal dielectric material and a prospective alternative to co-doped TiO2 ceramics were studied. The X-ray diffraction results indicated that in all compositions, the cassiterite phase was achieved without any secondary phases. Moreover, field-emission secondary electron microscopy showed that the microstructure of samples has different morphologies including typical grains, enlarged grains and prism-like grains microstructure for various sintered samples. The maximum dielectric constant (2737) accompanied by... 

In this research, effects of two-step sintering parameters, such as first and second step sintering temperatures (T1 and T2, respectively) and soaking time in the second step, on microstructure and electrical properties of ZnO varistors have been studied. In addition, slow rate of grain growth in the second step of sintering has also been investigated. Near fully dense (higher than 99%) and sub-micron grain size (1-0.75 μm) ZnO varistors have been fabricated by different two-step sintering cycles. Decreasing T1 and T2 result in longer necessary time in the second step to reach near full density with smaller final grain size. The superior electrical properties of varistors (VB: 2050-1022 V/mm... 

In this research, full density, single phase microstructure (in the XRD and SEM detection limits), and fine-grained SnO2 varistors with an average grain size of 0.65 μm was acquired at low temperature by the two-step sintering technique. The sintering temperature was successfully decreased from 1300 °C in the normal sintering to 1150 °C and 1100 °C of respectively the first and the second stage in the two-step sintering. The mechanism of grain growth suppression of the two-step sintered samples was discussed and it was suggested that in addition to triple point junction, solute drag and/or nano-secondary phases contribute to cease the grain growth. These SnO2 varistors exhibited ultra-high... 

In this research, for the first time, SnO2-based varistors were fabricated via spark plasma sintering technique (SPS) and the microstructure and electrical properties of these varistors were investigated. Furthermore, the effect of post-annealing temperature in oxygen atmosphere on electrical properties of the SPSed samples was studied. The SPS process was performed at the sintering temperatures of 600, 650, and 700 ᵒC for 15 min with a maximum pressure of 90 MPa under vacuum condition. The SPSed sample which was sintered at 650 ᵒC possessed maximum density of 98% and the ultra-fine-grained microstructure with the mean grain size of 380 nm. Surprisingly, all SPSed samples exhibited Ohmic... 

Quantum metrology employs nonclassical systems to improve the sensitivity of measurements. The ultimate limit of this sensitivity is dictated by the quantum Cramér–Rao bound. On the other hand, the quantum speed limit bounds the speed of dynamics of any quantum process. We show that the speed limit of quantum dynamics sets a fundamental bound on the minimum attainable phase estimation error through the quantum Cramér–Rao bound, relating the precision directly to the underlying dynamics of the system. In particular, various metrologically important states are considered, and their dynamical speeds are analyzed. We find that the bound could, in fact, be related to the nonclassicality of... 

Growth of the world population, increasing demand for fossil fuel consumption and consequently increasing threat of global warming, has extended the need for production and use of clean fuels and normal hydrogen is an important utility in the production of clean fuels. In this paper, a mathematical optimization method is applied which is based on non-linear programming of superstructure for minimizing the consumption of hydrogen. The method considers all the pressure constraints and is suited for revamping industrial systems. The optimum placement of new equipments like purification unit has been also considered. It is tried to verify the method adopted, in addition, an industrial case study... 

A pH-responsive drug delivery system based on core shell structure of mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) and chitosan-PEG copolymer was prepared and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and high-resolution transmission microscope (HR-TEM) techniques. In order to improve compatibility MSN and drug, mesoporous nanosilica was modified by 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane. The release of erythromycin (a macrolide antibiotic) as a model drug was investigated in two pHs, 7.4 and 5.5  

Magnesia-dolomite refractories have advantages such as stability in the basic environments, clean steel production, high corrosion resistance, proper covering in the cement furnace, and low production costs. However, their application is restricted due to low hydration resistance. In this research, the effects of nano and micro alumina particles on the microstructure, sintering behavior, and properties of magnesia-dolomite refractories were studied. For this purpose, MgO-CaO refractories were formulated using dolomite and magnetite and 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt percentage nano and micro alumina were added to the formulation. Phase and microstructure analysis of the samples were performed using...