Influence of barium titanate nanofiller on PEO/PVdF-HFP blend-based polymer electrolyte membrane for Li-battery applications

Organic-inorganic hybrid membranes based on poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) 6.25 wt%/poly(vinylidene fluoride hexa fluoro propylene) [P(VdF-HFP)] 18.75 wt% were prepared by using various concentration of nanosized barium titanate (BaTiO₃) filler. Structural characterizations were made by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which indicate the inclusion of BaTiO₃ in to the polymer matrix. Addition of filler creates an effective route of polymer-filler interface and promotes the ionic conductivity of the membranes. From the ionic conductivity results, 6 wt% of BaTiO₃-incorporated composite polymer electrolyte (CPE) showed the highest ionic conductivity (6 × 10^?3 Scm^?1 at room temperature). It is found that the filler content above 6 wt% rendered the membranes less conducting. Morphological images reveal that the ceramic filler was embedded over the membrane. Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) of the CPE sample with 6 wt% of the BaTiO₃ shows high thermal stability. Electrochemical performance of the composite polymer electrolyte was studied in LiFePO₄/CPE/Li coin cell. Charge-discharge cycle has been performed for the film exhibiting higher conductivity. These properties of the nanocomposite electrolyte are suitable for Li-batteries.     

An unsteady thermal investigation of a wetted longitudinal porous fin of different profiles

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The unsteady thermal behavior of a porous longitudinal fin in a fully wet circumstance in the existence of convection as well as radiation effect is...     

Dye-sensitized solar cells concocted with dyes extracted from fresh and dried leaves of Henna using different solvents

Optical and Quantum Electronics - Nowadays, world is moving from conventional energy sources to non-conventional energy sources like solar energy, wind power, hydropower and those energy sources...     

Novel arylpyridine‐based 1,3,4‐oxadiazoles: Synthesis,antibacterial, and anti‐inflammatory evaluation

In view of developing novel bioactive compounds, a series of 2‐(5‐[2‐methyl‐6‐arylpyridin‐3‐yl]‐1,3,4‐oxadiazol‐2‐ylthio)‐1‐arylethanones (6a–n) were designed and synthesized in good yield. Novel compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial and anti‐inflammatory activities. All synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bascillus subtilis, Eschericia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. Compounds 6a , 6b , 6c , 6h , and 6i displayed the highest antibacterial activity with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 6.25–12.5 μg/mL in comparison with the standard Ciprofloxacin. The results of anti‐inflammatory activity of carrageenan‐induced footpad edema assay indicated that tested compounds exhibited remarkable anti‐inflammatory activity with percentage of inhibition of 63.9–70.1% (potency 96.8–106.20% of indomethacin activity) after 3 hr. Particularly, 6c – e and 6j – l were found to be excellent inhibitors of inflammation, with potential higher than that of the standard, Indomethacin.     

Competition between binary fission,ternary fission,cluster radioactivity and alpha decay of 281Ds

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The competition between different decay modes such as binary fission, ternary fission, cluster and alpha decay modes finds an important role in...     

Micro-total analysis system for virus detection: microfluidic pre-concentration coupled to liposome-based detection

An integrated microfluidic biosensor is presented that combines sample pre-concentration and liposome-based signal amplification for the detection of enteric viruses present in environmental water samples. This microfluidic approach overcomes the challenges of long assay times of cell culture-based methods and the need to extensively process water samples to eliminate inhibitors for PCR-based methods. Here, viruses are detected using an immunoassay sandwich approach with the reporting antibodies tagged to liposomes. Described is the development of the integrated device for the detection of environmentally relevant viruses using feline calicivirus (FCV) as a model organism for human norovirus. In situ fabricated nanoporous membranes in glass microchannels were used in conjunction with electric fields to achieve pre-concentration of virus–liposome complexes and therefore enhance the antibody–virus binding efficiency. The concentrated complexes were eluted to a detection region downstream where captured liposomes were lysed to release fluorescent dye molecules that were then quantified using image processing. This system was compared to an optimized electrochemical liposome-based microfluidic biosensor without pre-concentration. The limit of detection of FCV of the integrated device was at 1.6 × 10⁵ PFU/mL, an order of magnitude lower than that obtained using the microfluidic biosensor without pre-concentration. This significant improvement is a key step toward the goal of using this integrated device as an early screening system for viruses in environmental water samples.     

On smooth reformulations and direct non-smooth computations for minimax problems

Minimax problems can be approached by reformulating them into smooth problems with constraints or by dealing with the non-smooth objective directly. We focus on verified enclosures of all globally optimal points of such problems. In smooth problems in branch and bound algorithms, interval Newton methods can be used to verify existence and uniqueness of solutions, to be used in eliminating regions containing such solutions, and point Newton methods can be used to obtain approximate solutions for good upper bounds on the global optimum. We analyze smooth reformulation approaches, show weaknesses in them, and compare reformulation to solving the non-smooth problem directly. In addition to analysis and illustrative problems, we exhibit the results of numerical computations on various test problems.     

New hexaphosphane ligands 1,3,5-C6H3{p-C6H4N(PX2)2}3 [X = Cl, F, C6H3OMe(C3H5)]: synthesis, derivatization and palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes

A novel dodecachlorohexaphosphane, 1,3,5-C(6)H(3)[p-C(6)H(4)N(PCl(2))(2)](3) (1) was synthesized by reacting 1,3,5-tris(4'-anilino)benzene with phosphorus trichloride. Fluorination of 1 with SbF(3) produces 1,3,5-C(6)H(3)[p-C(6)H(4)N(PF(2))(2)](3) (2). The derivatization of chlorohexaphosphane with an aryloxy substituent and its palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes are also described.     

Investigations on Different Decay Modes of Darmstadtium

Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters - We have studied the competition between different decay modes such as binary, ternary, cluster radioactivity and alpha decay. The competition between...     

Anti-corrosive property of bioinspired environmental benign imidazole and isoxazoline heterocyclics: A cumulative studies of experimental and DFT methods

In the present study, four imidazoline (IDZ) and four isoxazolines (ISO) heterocyclics differing in the nature of methoxy (-OCH₃) and aromatic (phenyl and naphthyl) moieties are synthesized, characterized and evaluated as corrosion inhibitors for mild steel in acidic solution of 1 M HCl. Results showed that imidazoline based heterocyclic compounds are better corrosion inhibitors than isoxazoline based heterocyclics and both classes of compounds showed inhibition efficiency of more than 85% at 20 mgL⁻¹ concentration. Results further showed that inhibitors containing methoxy, phenyl, and naphthyl moieties showed higher protection efficiency as compared to the inhibitors without these moieties. PDP Study revealed that investigated IDZs and ISOs acted as mixed type inhibitors and their adsorption on the metallic surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. All the experimental results were corroborated by density function theory (DFT) based quantum chemical calculations. Numerous DFT based indices calculated for neutral as well as protonated forms of the IDZs and ISOs in order to get better insight about metal-IDZs/ISOs interactions. Outcomes of the DFT analysis showed that protonated (cationic) form of the all the inhibitors are more strongly adsorbed on the metallic surface as compared to their neutral form.