Sharif Digital Repository

The effects of various ratios of Fe/Ni/MgO and growth temperatures on yield, diameter and quality of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) confirmed that the MWCNT yield depends on Fe/Ni ratio with the following order; Fe0.5 Ni0.5 > Fe > Fe0.75 Ni0.25 > Fe0.25 Ni0.75 > Ni. The results indicated that there is an optimum temperature (940 °C) for the MWCNT growth both from quality and quantity (yield) aspects as compared to other temperatures. Moreover, the changes on Fe/Ni to MgO ratio for the MWCNT growth revealed that Fe/Ni/MgO with the ratio of 17.5/17.5/65 had the highest quality and surface area as compared to the other ratios. The... 

The effects of HCl, HNO3, H2SO4 and HF acids on the purification and the electrochemical hydrogen storage of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied. The MWCNTs were synthesized on Fe-Ni catalyst by thermal chemical vapor deposition method. The X-ray diffraction and thermal gravimetric analysis results indicated that the MWCNTs purified by HF acid had the highest impurities as compared with the other acids. The N2 adsorption results at 77 K indicated that all the samples were mainly mesoporous and the purified MWCNTs by HF acid had the highest surface area as compared with the other acids. The hydrogen storage capacities of the purified MWCNTs by the following acids were in... 

Nickel-dimethylglyoxime complex (NiDMG) modified nickel electrode (Ni/NiDMG) showed a catalytic activity towards methanol oxidation in NaOH solution. The modified electrode prepared by the dimethylglyoxime anodic deposition on Ni electrode in the solution containing 0.20 mol L-1 NH4Cl + NH4OH (pH 9.50) and 1.0 × 10-4 mol L-1 dimethylglyoxime. The modified electrode conditioned by potential recycling in a potential range of 100-700 mV (vs. SCE) by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline medium (0.10 M NaOH). The results show that the NiODMG film on the electrode behaves as an efficient catalyst for the electrooxidation of methanol in alkaline medium via Ni(III) species formed on the electrode with the... 

The crystallization behavior of fluorphlogopite, a glass-ceramic in the MgO-SiO2-Al2O3-K2O-B 2O3-F system, was studied by substitution of Li 2O for K2O in the glass composition. DTA, XRD and SEM were used for the study of crystallization behavior, formed phases and microstructure of the resulting glass-ceramics. Crystallization kinetics of the glass was investigated under non-isothermal conditions, using the formal theory of transformations for heterogeneous nucleation. The crystallization results were analyzed, and both the activation energy of crystallization process as well as the crystallization mechanism were characterized. Calculated kinetic parameters indicated that the appropriate... 

Effect of NaF on crystallization kinetics, microstructure, and mechanical properties of mica glass ceramics were investigated by the differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and microhardness tests. Non-isothermal DTA experiments showed that the crystallization activation energies of base glasses are changed in the range of 235-246 KJ/mol, while the crystallization activation energies of samples with addition of NaF are changed in the range of 263-367 KJ/mol. The increase of crystallization temperature is helpful for the increase of aspect ratio, and the microstructure of the glass ceramics becomes interconnected, which contributes... 

Non-isothermal differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to study the nucleation and crystallization behavior of mica glass-ceramics with LiF as nucleating agent. The models enabled establishing the kinetic parameters for crystal growth of individual phases. The activation energies for crystal growth were found to be in the range of 161-301 KJ/mol, 416-424 KJ/mol, and 583-1011 KJ/mol for base glasses, samples with substitution of Li2O for K2O and samples with addition of LiF, respectively. Formation of transparent glass-ceramics from studied glass-samples has been investigated. Transparency is assumed to occur in the... 

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with diameter of about 50 nm were synthesized using thermal chemical vapor deposition. We have investigated the influence of Mg doping to the MWCNTs on its hydrogen storage property. TEM micrographs showed that Mg was attached to the MWCNTs and discontinuous arrangement of the carbon walls was recognized in the MWCNTs. According to XPS and BET analyses, the surface functional groups and pore size of the Mg-MWCNTs are increased by interactions between the Mg and the MWCNT's outer walls. The electrochemical discharging curves of the MWCNTs and Mg-doped MWCNTs revealed that the hydrogen storage capacity was 363 and 450 mAhg -1, respectively. Volumetric... 

Using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), the present study focuses on their electrochemical hydrogen storage capacities. The results showed that the hydrogen desorption process is composed of two steps with voltages around -0.75 and -0.15 V. Hydrogen adsorption at -0.15 V took place at temperatures above 30 °C, and the amount of energy required for adsorbing hydrogen was 1.68 eV. The hydrogen storage capacity increased with increasing electrolyte temperature from 30 to 60 °C in both steps. The hydrogen storage capacity of the MWCNTs treated at different atmospheres showed that the decrease in the graphitization of MWCNTs led to the increase in hydrogen adsorption. The results also... 

Electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol on a nickel disc electrode coated with nickel dimethyglyoxime complex (NiDMG), conditioned by potential recycling in a potential range of 100-700 mV (versus SCE) is studied by cyclic voltammetry in alkaline medium (0.10 M NaOH). The results show that the NiODMG layer formed at the surface of electrode behaves as an efficient electrocatalyst for the oxidation of methanol in alkaline medium via Ni(III) species with the cross exchange reaction occurring through out the layer at a low concentration of methanol. A plausible mechanism was proposed for catalytic oxidation of methanol at this modified electrode. Moreover, the effects of various parameters such... 

The electrochemical corrosion behavior of finemet alloy at various heat treatment temperatures was investigated. Thermal behavior and structural changes were studied using differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry, respectively. The electrochemical corrosion of amorphous and annealed samples was investigated in 0.10 M NaOH solution using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and linear sweep voltammetery. Changes in morphology of the samples before and after corrosion were characterized using optical microscope. The results showed that structural relaxation and nanocrystallization during the heat treatment improved corrosion behavior of the alloy. The heat-treated alloy at... 

We report a study on hydrogen storage in Ca, Co, Fe, Ni, and Pd decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by using two techniques: volumetric and electrochemical. The results showed that hydrogen molecules are adsorbed on the defect sites and transported to the spaces between adjacent carbon via diffusion through both defect sites and opened tips into the layers. Hydrogen storage capacity can be improved in the decorated MWCNT by Co, Fe, Ni, and Ca metals in two approaches: (i) H2 adsorption via Kubas interaction and (ii) dissociation of H2 molecules on the metal particles. The results reveal that Pd are more effective catalyst for hydrogen storage process. It was found that... 

Hydrogen storage capacities of raw, oxidized, purified and Fe-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied by electrochemical method. Based on transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopic data, thermal oxidation removed defective graphite shells at the outer walls of MWCNTs. The analysis results indicated that the acid treatment dissolved most of the catalysts and opened some tips of the MWCNTs. Thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry results illustrated that by oxidation and purification of MWCNTs, the weight loss peak shifts toward a higher temperature. N2 adsorption isotherms of the purified and oxidized MWCNTs showed an increase in N2... 

A novel intelligent semi-active control system for an eleven degrees of freedom passenger car's suspension system using magnetorheological (MR) damper with neuro-fuzzy (NF) control strategy to enhance desired suspension performance is proposed. In comparison with earlier studies, an improvement in problem modeling is made. The proposed method consists of two parts: a fuzzy control strategy to establish an efficient controller to improve ride comfort and road handling (RCH) and an inverse mapping model to estimate the force needed for a semi-active damper. The fuzzy logic rules are extracted based on Sugeno inference engine. The inverse mapping model is based on an artificial neural network... 

Using CNG as an additive for gasoline is a proper choice due to higher octane number of CNG enriched gasoline with respect to that of gasoline. As a result, it is possible to use gasoline with lower octane number in the engine. This would also mean the increase of compression ratio in SI engines resulting in higher performance and lower gasoline consumption. Over the years, the use of simulation codes to model the thermodynamic cycle of an internal combustion engine have developed tools for more efficient engine designs and fuel combustion. In this study, a thermodynamic cycle simulation of a conventional four-stroke spark-ignition engine has been developed. The model is used to study the... 

With the declining energy resources and increase of pollutant emissions, a great deal of efforts has been focused on the development of alternatives for fossil fuels. One of the promising alternative fuels to gasoline in the internal combustion engine is natural gas [1-5]. The application of natural gas in current internal combustion engines is realistic due to its many benefits. The higher thermal efficiency due to the higher octane value and lower exhaust emissions including CO2 as a result of the lower carbon to hydrogen ratio of the fuel are the two important feature of using CNG as an alternative fuel. It is well known that computer simulation codes are valuable economically as a cost... 

Gaining insight into possible vibratory responses of dynamical systems around their stable equilibria is an essential step, which must be taken before their design and application. The results of such a study can significantly help prevent instability in closed-loop stabilized systems by avoiding the excitation of the system in the neighborhood of its resonance. This paper investigates nonlinear oscillations of a rotary inverted pendulum (RIP) with a full-state feedback controller. Lagrange’s equations are employed to derive an accurate 2-DoF mathematical model, whose parameter values are extracted by both the measurement and 3D modeling of the real system components. Although the governing... 

A suction-controlled ring device has been developed to continuously measure the coefficient of lateral soil pressure in deformable unsaturated soil samples from the at-rest to the active condition under application of increasing vertical pressure and controlled matric suction. The device incorporates a thin aluminum specimen ring equipped with horizontal strain gages for recording the lateral soil strains. In addition, a sensor recording water volume changes is utilized to continuously monitor the degree of saturation of the soil sample during tests. The matric suction within the soil texture is controlled using the axis translation technique. In order to verify the performance of the ring... 

We introduce a new smooth, non-toxic, biocompatible method for cross-linking of gum tragacanth (GT), a polysaccharide of natural origin, in order to serve as a new supporting matrix for immobilization systems. The modified gum is used as a matrix for the catalysis of the conversion of benzyl penicillin to 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) by means of Escherichia coli ATCC11105 with penicillin G acylase (PGA) activity. The results show that GT beads can not only serve as a proper matrix for immobilization, but show enhanced hydrolysis rate and stability compared to other immobilization systems used for this reaction. This signifies the potential of GT as a biocompatible matrix for...