Role of sodium decoration on the methane storage properties of BC3 nanosheet

First-principles calculations including dispersion correction are carried out to investigate pristine and Na-decorated graphene-like BC₃ (h-BC₃) for their application as methane storage materials. Structural optimization shows that the methane is physisorbed on the pristine sheet via van der Waals forces with adsorption energy of ?2.7 kcal/mol. It was found that unlike the pristine graphene, sodium decorated sheet can effectively interact with the CH₄ molecule, so that each metal atom bound on sheet may adsorb up to four CH₄. Furthermore, no bond dissociation was observed for the adsorption of CH₄ on Na-decorated h-BC₃, which means that decorated sheet can act as a storage device for methane safety storage. The results indicate that decoration of the Na atom on surface of sheet induces significant changes in electronic properties of the sheet and its E _g is unchanged after adsorption of CH₄ molecules. Theoretical methane storage capacity of Na-decorated BC₃ nanosheet could approach 18.1 wt%.     

Sensing behavior of BN nanosheet toward nitrous oxide: A DFT study

In order to develop a sensor for the detection of toxic N₂O molecules, the interaction of pristine and Aldoped BN nanosheets with an N₂O molecule was investigated using density functional theory calculations. It was found that unlike the pristine sheet, the Al-doped sheet can effectively interact with the N₂O molecule so that its electronic properties and conductivity are dramatically changed. Webelieve that replacing a B atom of the BN sheet with an Al atom may be a good strategy for improving the sensitivity of these nanosheets toward N₂O, which cannot be trapped and detected by the pristine sheet.     

Bounded complexes of cotorsion sheaves

We provide a necessary and su?cient condition which ensure that every flat quasi-coherent sheaf has finite cotorsion dimension. Also, we will show that every locally noetherian scheme with a dualizing complex has this requirement.     

Network of nano-droplets by a tri-block polymer

Mixtures of oil in water nano-droplets with two molecular weights of a tri-block polymer was studied by quasi elastic light scattering and small angle X-ray scattering. The results showed that the size and interaction of droplets didn’t change with increase of the tri-block polymer length but the order parameters increased. The increase of length of the tri-block biopolymer changed the dynamics of the droplets. A network formation is resulted with increase of the amount of tri-block polymer in the microemulsions.     

Numerical feasibility study of utilizing nanofluids in laminar natural convection inside enclosures

Laminar natural convective heat transfer of nanofluids inside an enclosure is numerically investigated considering the thermal dispersion effect of the nanoparticles. Feasibility of applying nanofluids instead of pure liquids in natural convective, which is a discrepancy issue between the previous numerical and experimental works, is examined. Results confirm the previous experimental results of general deterioration in heat transfer rate. Discussions, justifications and correlations for average Nusselt number are presented.     

Functionalization of BN nanosheet with N2H4 may be feasible in the presence of Stone–Wales defect

Following recent experimental works, herein we investigated chemical functionalization of a BN graphene-like sheet with hydrazine (N₂H₄) molecule based on the density functional theory. We found that the functionalization of the pristine sheet is not possible; while the presence of some structural defects such as Stone–Wales is essential to make it feasible. Functionalization energy of the defected sheet is calculated to be in the range of ?6.1 to ?7.4 kcal/mol at B3LYP/6-31G (d) level. Based on the obtained results, the functionalized BN sheet is found to be more soluble in water in comparison with the pristine sheet which is in good agreement with previous experimental reports. Also, it was found that the electronic properties of the defected sheet are slightly changed upon the chemical functionalization.