Preparation of self-assembled porous flower-like nanostructured magnetite (Fe3O4) electrode material for supercapacitor application

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Nanostructured electrode materials for supercapacitors have attracted research interest due to their high power density and long cycle life. Herein, porous...     

Convective Instability in Superposed Fluid and Porous Layers with Vertical Throughflow

A closed form solution to the convective instability in a composite system of fluid and porous layers with vertical throughflow is presented. The boundaries are considered to be rigid-permeable and insulating to temperature perturbations. Flow in the porous layer is governed by Darcy–Forchheimer equation and the Beavers–Joseph condition is applied at the interface between the fluid and the porous layer. In contrast to the single-layer system, it is found that destabilization due to throughflow arises, and the ratio of fluid layer thickness to porous layer thickness, , too, plays a crucial role in deciding the stability of the system depending on the Prandtl number.     

Ferromagnetic Convection in a Rotating Ferrofluid Saturated Porous Layer

The effect of Coriolis force on the onset of ferromagnetic convection in a rotating horizontal ferrofluid saturated porous layer in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field is studied. The boundaries are considered to be either stress free or rigid. The modified Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy equation with fluid viscosity different from effective viscosity is used to characterize the fluid motion. The condition for the occurrence of direct and Hopf bifurcations is obtained analytically in the case of free boundaries, while for rigid boundaries the eigenvalue problem has been solved numerically using the Galerkin method. Contrary to their stabilizing effect in the absence of rotation, increasing the ratio of viscosities, Λ, and decreasing the Darcy number Da show a partial destabilizing effect on the onset of stationary ferromagnetic convection in the presence of rotation, and some important observations are made on the stability characteristics of the system. Moreover, the similarities and differences between free–free and rigid–rigid boundaries in the presence of buoyancy and magnetic forces together or in isolation are emphasized in triggering the onset of ferromagnetic convection in a rotating ferrofluid saturated porous layer. For smaller Taylor number domain, the stress-free boundaries are found to be always more unstable than in the case of rigid boundaries. However, this trend is reversed at higher Taylor number domain because the stability of the stress-free case is increased more quickly than the rigid case.     

Hydrothermal synthesis, characterization and Raman studies of Eu activated Gd2O3 nanorods

Eu³⁺ (8 mol%) activated gadolinium oxide nanorods have been prepared by hydrothermal method without and with surfactant, cityl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) studies reveal that the as-formed product is in hexagonal Gd(OH)₃:Eu phase and subsequent heat treatment at 350 and 600 °C transforms the sample to monoclinic GdOOH:Eu and cubic Gd₂O₃:Eu phases, respectively. The structural data and refinement parameters for cubic Gd₂O₃:Eu nanorods were calculated by the Rietveld refinement. SEM and TEM micrographs show that as-obtained Gd(OH)₃:Eu consists of uniform nanorods in high yield with uniform diameters of about 15 nm and lengths of about 50-150 nm. The temperature dependent morphological evolution of Gd₂O₃:Eu without and with CTAB surfactant was studied. FTIR studies reveal that CTAB surfactant plays an important role in converting cubic Gd₂O₃:Eu to hexagonal Gd(OH)₃:Eu. The strong and intense Raman peak at 489 cm⁻¹ has been assigned to A_g mode, which is attributed to the hexagonal phase of Gd₂O₃. The peak at ∼360 cm⁻¹ has been assigned to the combination of F_g and E_g modes, which is mainly attributed to the cubic Gd₂O₃ phase. The shift in frequency and broadening of the Raman modes have been attributed to the decrease in crystallite dimension to the nanometer scale as a result of phonon confinement.     

A hybrid electrochemical–thermal method for the preparation of large ZnO nanoparticles

A simple and efficient two-step hybrid electrochemical–thermal route was developed for the synthesis of large quantity of ZnO nanoparticles using aqueous sodium bicarbonate electrolyte and sacrificial Zn anode and cathode in an undivided cell under galvanostatic mode at room temperature. The bath concentration and current density were varied from 30 to 120 mmol and 0.05 to 1.5 A/dm². The electrochemically generated precursor was calcined for an hour at different range of temperature from 140 to 600 °C. The calcined samples were characterized by XRD, SEM/EDX, TEM, TG-DTA, FT-IR, and UV–Vis spectral methods. Rietveld refinement of X-ray data indicates that the calcined compound exhibits hexagonal (Wurtzite) structure with space group of P63mc (No. 186). The crystallite sizes were in the range of 22–75 nm based on Debye–Scherrer equation. The TEM results reveal that the particle sizes were in the order of 30–40 nm. The blue shift was noticed in UV–Vis absorption spectra, the band gaps were found to be 5.40–5.11 eV. Scanning electron micrographs suggest that all the samples were randomly oriented granular morphology.     

Ferromagnetic Convection in a Heterogeneous Darcy Porous Medium Using a Local Thermal Non-equilibrium (LTNE) Model

The combined effects of vertical heterogeneity of permeability and local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) on the onset of ferromagnetic convection in a ferrofluid saturated Darcy porous medium in the presence of a uniform vertical magnetic field are investigated. A two-field model for temperature representing the solid and fluid phases separately is used. The eigenvalue problem is solved numerically using the Galerkin method for different forms of permeability heterogeneity function Γ(z) and their effect on the stability characteristics of the system has been analyzed in detail. It is observed that the general quadratic variation of Γ(z) with depth has more destabilizing effect on the system when compared to the homogeneous porous medium case. Besides, the influence of LTNE and magnetic parameters on the criterion for the onset of ferromagnetic convection is also assessed.     

Synthesis, structural and transport properties of nanocrystalline La1−xBaxMnO3 (0.0≤x≤0.3) powders

Nanocrystalline La_1−xBa_xMnO₃ (0.0≤x≤0.3) manganites have been prepared by a simple and instantaneous solution combustion method, which is a low temperature initiated synthetic route to obtain fine-grained powders with relatively high surface area. The phase purity and crystal structure of the combustion products are carried out by powder X-ray diffraction. The as-made nanopowders are in cubic phase. On calcination to 900 °C, barium doped manganites retain cubic phase, whereas barium free manganite transformed to rhombohedral phase. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) results revealed that the combustion-derived compounds are agglomerated with fine primary particles. The doped manganites have surface area in the range 24-44 m²/g. The surface area of the manganites increases with barium content, whereas it decreases on calcination. Both undoped and doped lanthanum manganites show two active IR vibrational modes at 400 and 600 cm⁻¹. The low temperature resistivity measurements have been carried out by four-probe method down to 77 K. All the samples exhibit metal-insulator behaviour and metal-insulator transition temperature (T_M-I) in the range 184-228 K and it is interesting to note that, as the barium content increases the T_M-I shifts to lower temperature side. The maximum T_M-I of 228 K is observed for La_0.9Ba_0.1MnO₃ sample.     

Convective Instability of Oldroyd-B Fluid Saturated Porous Layer Heated from Below using a Thermal Non-equilibrium Model

The linear stability of a viscoelastic fluid saturated densely packed horizontal porous layer heated from below and cooled from above is investigated by considering the Oldroyd-B type fluid. A generalized Darcy model, which takes into account the viscoelastic properties, is employed as momentum equation and a two-field model is used for energy equation each representing solid and fluid phases separately. Linear stability analysis suggests that, there is a competition between the processes of viscous relaxation and thermal diffusion that causes the first convective instability to be oscillatory rather than stationary. Analytical expression for the occurrence of oscillatory onset is obtained, and it is found that the necessary condition for the existence of the same is Λ < 1. Besides, the effect of viscoelastic parameters and the thermal non-equilibrium on the stability of the system is analyzed.     

Thermoluminescence response in gamma and UV irradiated Dy2O3 nanophosphor

Low temperature solution combustion method was employed to synthesize Dy₂O₃ nanophosphors using two different fuels (sugar and oxalyl dihydrazine (ODH)). Powder X-ray diffraction confirm pure cubic phase and the estimated particle size from Scherrer's method in sugar and ODH fuel was found to be 26 and 78 nm, respectively, and are in close agreement with those obtained using TEM and W–H plot analysis. SEM micrographs reveal porous, irregular shaped particles with large agglomeration in both the fuels. An optical band gap of 5.24 eV and 5.46 eV was observed for Dy₂O₃ for sugar and ODH fuels, respectively. The blueshift observed in sugar fuel is attributed to the particles size effect. Thermoluminescence (TL) response of cubic Dy₂O₃ nanophosphors prepared by both fuels was examined using gamma and UV radiations. The thermoluminescence of sugar used samples shows a single glow peak at 377 °C for 1–4 kGy gamma irradiations. When dose is increased to 5 kGy, two more shouldered peaks were observed at 245 and 310 °C. However, in TL of ODH used samples, a single glow peak at 376 °C was observed. It is observed that TL intensity is found to be more in sugar used samples. In UV irradiated samples a single glow peak at 365 °C was recorded in both the fuels with a little variation in TL intensity. The trapping parameters were estimated by different methods and the results are discussed.     

Changes in the Onset of Double-Diffusive Local Thermal Nonequilibrium Porous Convection Due to the Introduction of a Third Component

Transport in Porous Media - The two-temperature model of local thermal nonequilibrium is employed to study the onset of convection in a triply diffusive fluid-saturated porous medium. The Darcy...