Synthesis of high aspect ratio ZnO nanowires with an inexpensive handcrafted electrochemical setup

In this work, high aspect ratio zinc oxide nanowires are synthesized using templated one-step electrodeposition technique. Electrodeposition of the nanowires is done using a handcrafted electronic system. Nuclear track-etched polycarbonate membrane is used as a template to form the high aspect ratio nanowires. The result of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy shows that nanowires with a good crystallinity and an aspect ratio of more than 30 can be achieved in a suitable condition. The height of electrodeposited nanowires reaches to about 11 μm. Based on the obtained results, high aspect ratio ZnO nanowires can be formed using inexpensive electrodeposition setup with an acceptable quality.     

Enhanced ionic conductivity in PEO/PMMA glassy miscible blends: Role of nano‐confinement of minority component chains

AC impedance spectroscopy was used to investigate the ionic conductivity of solution cast poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends doped with lithium perchlorate. At low PEO contents (below overlap weight fraction w^*), ionic conductivities are almost low. This could be due to nearly distant PEO chains in blend, which means ion transportation cannot be performed adequately. However, at weight fractions well above w^*, a significant increase in ionic conductivity was observed. This enhanced ionic conductivity mimics the PEO segmental relaxation in rigid PMMA matrix, which can be attributed to the accelerated motions of confined PEO chains in PMMA matrix. At PEO content higher than 20 wt % the conductivity measured at room temperature drops due to crystallization of PEO. However by increasing temperature to temperatures well above the melting point of PEO, a sudden increase of conductivity was observed which was attributed to phase transition from crystalline to amorphous state. The results indicate that some PEO/PMMA blends with well enough PEO content, which are structurally solid, can be considered as an interesting candidate for usage as solid‐state electrolytes in Lithium batteries. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 2065–2071, 2010     

An augmented subgradient method for minimizing nonsmooth DC functions

Computational Optimization and Applications - A method, called an augmented subgradient method, is developed to solve unconstrained nonsmooth difference of convex (DC) optimization problems. At...     

Study of complex formation between 18-crown-6 and diaza-18-crown-6 with uranyl cation (UO2 2+) in some binary mixed aqueous and non-aqueous solvents

The complexation reaction between UO₂ ²⁺ cation with macrocyclic ligand, 18-crown-6 (18C6), was studied in acetonitrile–methanol (AN–MeOH), nitromethane–methanol (NM–MeOH) and propylencarbonate–ethanol (PC–EtOH) binary mixed systems at 25 °C. In addition, the complexation process between UO₂ ²⁺ cation with diaza-18-crown-6 (DA18C6) was studied in acetonitrile–methanol (AN–MeOH), acetonitrile–ethanol (AN–EtOH), acetonitrile–ethylacetate (AN–EtOAc), methanol–water (MeOH–H₂O), ethanol–water (EtOH–H₂O), acetonitrile–water (AN–H₂O), dimethylformamide–methanol (DMF–MeOH), dimethylformamide–ethanol (DMF–EtOH), and dimethylformamide–ethylacetate (DMF–EtOAc) binary solutions at 25 °C using the conductometric method. The conductance data show that the stoichiometry of the complexes formed between (18C6) and (DA18C6) with UO₂ ²⁺ cation in most cases is 1:1 [M:L], but in some solvent 1:2 [M:L₂] complex is formed in solutions. The values of stability constants (log K_f) of (18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) and (DA18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) complexes which were obtained from conductometric data, show that the nature and also the composition of the solvent systems are important factors that are effective on the stability and even the stoichiometry of the complexes formed in solutions. In all cases, a non-linear relationship is observed for the changes of stability constants (log K_f) of the (18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) and (DA18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) complexes versus the composition of the binary mixed solvents. The stability order of (18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) complex in pure studied solvents was found to be: EtOH > AN ≈ NM > PC ≈ MeOH, but in the case of (DA18C6 · UO₂ ²⁺) complex it was : H₂O > MeOH > EtOH.     

Unique substituted 3-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazino[1,2-a]benzimidazole-1-carboxamides generated by Ugi 3CC using bifunctional starting material

2-(2-Formyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)acetic acid, as a bifunctional formyl-acid was prepared in four steps. This compound underwent one-pot reaction with primary amines, and alkyl isocyanides under Ugi conditions. A series of novel 3-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazino[1,2-a]benzimidazole-1-carboxamides were obtained in moderate to excellent yields.     

A comparative study of AgX (X = Cl(-), Br(-), I(-) and N(3)(-)) solid-phase reactors for flow-injection determination of cyanide in electroplating wastewater.

In this study, a rapid flow injection-flame atomic absorption spectrometry for cyanide detection was developed. Different AgX (where X is Cl(-), Br(-), I(-) and N(3)(-)) solid-phase reagents (SPR) were tested for indirect determination of cyanide. In a single-line FIA system, the cyanide was allowed to react with AgX SPR, which in turn changed Ag ions in AgX to silver cyanide complexes in a sodium hydroxide carrier stream. The eluent containing the analyte as silver cyanide complexes was measured by FAAS. The calibration curve was linear up to 30 mg l(-1) with a detection limit of 0.05 mg l(-1) for cyanides. The sampling rate and the relative standard deviation were <1.09% and >200 h(-1), respectively. The method was applied to the determination of cyanide in electroplating wastewater.     

Characteristic studies for fast detection of a wide energy range of alpha particles in polycarbonate detectors

Parametric investigations were carried out on electrochemical etching (ECE) process of Lexan polycarbonate (PC) detector. Outstanding experimental results showing the enlargement of the registration energy range of α-particle tracks of the PC and decrease of ECE time are presented in this paper.In the experiment, major parameters such as etching solution and ECE conditions are focused. Ethylene diamine is applied as an additional chemical agent to increase the bulk etching rate (V_B) which is maintained below a critical value . By using mixture of KOH, CH₃OH (methanol), NH₂(CH₂)₂NH₂ (ethylene diamine) and H₂O and applying interval-based ECE process in total duration of 70 min, expanded α-registration range of 0.5–4.7 MeV have been achieved, as well alpha track diameters decrease with increasing of alpha particle energy. In this process the density of background tracks also decreases comparably. In this paper, electric current is introduced as an effective ECE parameter for improving detection efficiency of low α-particles energy in the PC.     

Synthesis of 4′-[3-methyl-5-thioxo-1H-1,2,4-triazol-4(5H)-yl]-2′,5′-diphenyl-2′,4′-dihydro spiro[indolin-3,3′[1,2,4]triazol]-2-one derivatives

In this paper 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction has been studied. An efficient synthesis of 4′-[3-methyl-5-thioxo-1H-1,2,4-triazol-4(5H)-yl]-2′,5′-diphenyl-2′,4′-dihydro spiro(indolin-3,3′[1,2,4]triazol)-2-one derivatives using triethylamine in MeCN at room temperature is reported. The structures of the obtained compounds were confirmed by means of elemental analysis, MS and spectral (IR, ¹H, and ¹³C NMR) methods.     

Electrospun titania sol–gel‐based ceramic composite nanofibers for online micro‐ solid‐phase extraction with high‐performance liquid chromatography

Titanium(IV) tetraisopropoxide was employed as a metal oxide sol–gel precursor to prepare ceramic composite nanofibers by the electrospinning system. To facilitate this process and obtain the desired nanofibers with higher aspect ratios and surface area, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) was added to the sol of titania. Four ceramic nanofibers sheets based on titania were prepared while each sheet contained different transition metals such as Fe‐Mn, Fe‐Ni, Fe‐Co, and Fe‐Mn‐Co‐Ni. The scanning electron microscope images showed good homogeneity for all the prepared ceramic composites with a diameter range of 100–250 nm. The sorption efficiency was investigated by a micro‐solid‐phase extraction setup in online combination with high‐performance liquid chromatography for the determination of naproxen and clobetasol. All the prepared composites exhibited comparable efficiencies for the desired analytes and the type of metal showed insignificant effect. For the selected composite with Fe‐Mn, the linearity of the analytes was in the range of 1–1000 μg/L and the limit of detection values were found to be 2 and 0.3 μg/L for naproxen and clobetasol, respectively. The developed method was extended to the analysis of urine and blood plasma samples and acceptable relative standard deviations were obtained at two concentration levels.     

A Lagrangian decomposition approach for the pump scheduling problem in water networks

Dynamic pricing has become a common form of electricity tariff, where the price of electricity varies in real time based on the realized electricity supply and demand. Hence, optimizing industrial operations to benefit from periods with low electricity prices is vital to maximizing the benefits of dynamic pricing. In the case of water networks, energy consumed by pumping is a substantial cost for water utilities, and optimizing pump schedules to accommodate for the changing price of energy while ensuring a continuous supply of water is essential. In this paper, a Mixed-Integer Non-linear Programming (MINLP) formulation of the optimal pump scheduling problem is presented. Due to the non-linearities, the typical size of water networks, and the discretization of the planning horizon, the problem is not solvable within reasonable time using standard optimization software. We present a Lagrangian decomposition approach that exploits the structure of the problem leading to smaller problems that are solved independently. The Lagrangian decomposition is coupled with a simulation-based, improved limited discrepancy search algorithm that is capable of finding high quality feasible solutions. The proposed approach finds solutions with guaranteed upper and lower bounds. These solutions are compared to those found by a mixed-integer linear programming approach, which uses a piecewise-linearization of the non-linear constraints to find a global optimal solution of the relaxation. Numerical testing is conducted on two real water networks and the results illustrate the significant costs savings due to optimizing pump schedules.