Dependence of magnetic properties and microstructure of mechanically alloyed Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 on soaking time

Possible soaking-time effects on the magnetic and microstructural properties of polycrystalline samples of Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ have been studied. Nanosize powder produced by mechanical alloying was sintered at 800 °C with various soaking times. All samples showed the signature peak of Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ even with one hour of soaking time. The size distributions show a slow growth of microstructural evolution related to density, porosity and also to the magnetic hysteresis loops. Within these distributions it is observed that the formation of multi-domains is not possible and probably there are the regions of superparamagnetic and single-domain grains. From the permeability studies, it is believed that the rise of the magnetic moment on the B sites give rise to the total saturation magnetization with increase of soaking time. The hysteresis loop of one-hour soaking time showed paramagnetic behavior dominating while longer soaking times showed ferromagnetic behavior starting to dominate. The coercivity was observed to increase with soaking time, signaling the increase of the anisotropy fields which was attributed to the shape anisotropy and also to the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. By correlating the morphology, phase analysis, permeability and hysteresis loops results, it is believed that there was an increase in number of crystalline-growth regions which together formed a total mass of mixed superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic grains with the latter starting to dominate the samples.     

Modified thermal evaporation process using GeO2 for growing ZnO structures

In the current work, zinc oxide (ZnO) nano/microstructures are synthesized using a modified thermal-evaporation process by introducing germanium oxide (GeO₂) powder mixed with metallic Zn powder as the raw material. Without the use of any catalyst and oxygen flow in the furnace system, GeO₂ is utilized to provide an oxygen source for the growth of ZnO structure. The samples are treated by different temperatures ranging from 500 to 900 °C. Morphology, phase structure, and photoluminescence properties are investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrometer. The structures and morphologies of the samples were found to vary with growth temperature. The XRD diffraction peaks show that the films grown at temperature from 600 to 800 °C consist of hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structures. Room-temperature PL measurement revealed ZnO spectra representing two bands: near-band-edge emission in the ultraviolet (UV) region and broad deep-level emission centered at about 500 nm. The strong UV emission in the PL spectra indicates that the GeO₂ supplies sufficient oxygen for formation of ZnO structures with few oxygen vacancies. The growth mechanism and the roles of GeO₂ for formation of ZnO structures are discussed in detail.     

Effects of nonhomogeneous nanofluid model on convective heat transfer in partially heated square cavity with conducting solid block

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, the conjugate natural convection in a square cavity filled with $$\hbox {Al}_2\hbox {O}_3$$ –water nanofluid with an inner...     

Fully Depletion of Advanced Silicon on Insulator MOSFETs

Scaling of the transistor has been tremendous successful in the beginning with reduction of the gate oxide thickness and increase of doping concentration. Moving into smaller dimension, those are not enough to overcome the short channel effect. Starting with changing in materials and followed by device architecture is needed which require fully depletion operation. This article reviews the fully-depletion operation of thin body of silicon on insulator of advanced MOSFETs.     

Spectral ellipsometry as a method for characterization of nanosized films with ferromagnetic layers

Nanosized films with ferromagnetic layers are widely used in nanoelectronics, sensor systems and telecommunications. Their properties may strongly differ from those of bulk materials that is on account of interfaces, intermediate layers and diffusion. In the present work, spectral ellipsometry and magnetooptical methods are adapted for characterization of the optical parameters and magnetization processes in two- and three-layer Cr/NiFe, Al/NiFe and Сr(Al)/Ge/NiFe films onto a sitall substrate for various thicknesses of Cr and Al layers. At a layer thickness below 20 nm, the complex refractive coefficients depend pronouncedly on the thickness. In two-layer films, remagnetization changes weakly over a thickness of the top layer, but the coercive force in three-layer films increases by more than twice upon remagnetization, while increasing the top layer thickness from 4 to 20 nm.     

Kinetics for the Removal of Paraquat Dichloride from Aqueous Solution by Activated Date (Phoenix dactylifera) Stone Carbon

For the adsorption of Paraquat dichloride (1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridyl dichloride) from synthetic aqueous solutions, batch experiments were carried out to study the kinetics of Paraquat dichloride onto calcium oxide activated date (Phoenix dactylifera) stone carbon powder (particle size dia. about 0.85 mm). Studies were conducted at various initial concentrations of 75 mg/L, 100 mg/L, and 125 mg/L of Paraquat dichloride with 8.0 g/L of adsorbent dose. The equilibrium time was found to be 140 minutes. Maximum removal was observed at pH 9.0. The regression analysis for the experimental data showed that the removal kinetic profiles followed a pseudo-second order kinetic models for all initial concentrations, pH, temperature, and salinity of sorbate. The experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. Thermodynamic parameters, such as standard change in Gibbs free energy, standard change in enthalpy, and standard change in entropy, were evaluated, indicating that the overall adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous in nature.     

Mixing Behavior of Cationic Hydrotropes with Anionic Surfactant Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate

Mixing behavior of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with cationic hydrotropes aniline hydrochloride (AH), o-toluidine hydrochloride (o-TH), and p-toluidine hydrochloride (p-TH) have been studied using conductivity at different temperatures. Critical micelle concentration for different mixing mole fractions, their ideal values, and different interaction parameters have been estimated. All the parameters show nonideal behavior with synergistic interactions. Thermodynamic parameters are also calculated for these systems.     

Effect of Conduction in Bottom Wall on Darcy–Bénard Convection in a Porous Enclosure

Conjugate natural convection-conduction heat transfer in a square porous enclosure with a finite-wall thickness is studied numerically in this article. The bottom wall is heated and the upper wall is cooled while the verticals walls are kept adiabatic. The Darcy model is used in the mathematical formulation for the porous layer and the COMSOL Multiphysics software is applied to solve the dimensionless governing equations. The governing parameters considered are the Rayleigh number (100 ≤ Ra ≤ 1000), the wall to porous thermal conductivity ratio (0.44 ≤ K _r ≤ 9.90) and the ratio of wall thickness to its height (0.02 ≤ D ≤ 0.4). The results are presented to show the effect of these parameters on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics. It is found that the number of contrarotative cells and the strength circulation of each cell can be controlled by the thickness of the bottom wall, the thermal conductivity ratio and the Rayleigh number. It is also observed that increasing either the Rayleigh number or the thermal conductivity ratio or both, and decreasing the thickness of the bounded wall can increase the average Nusselt number for the porous enclosure.     

Sucrose ester micellar-mediated synthesis of Ag nanoparticles and the antibacterial properties

Ag nanoparticles with diameter in the range of 10–25 nm had been synthesized using a simple sucrose ester micellar-mediated method. Ag nanoparticles were formed by adding AgNO₃ solution into the sucrose ester micellar solution containing sodium hydroxide at atmospheric condition after 24 h of aging time. Trace amount of dimethyl formamide (DMF) in the sucrose ester solution served as a reducing agent while NaOH acted as a catalyst. The produced Ag nanoparticles were highly stable in the sucrose ester micellar system as there was no precipitation after 6 months of storage. The as-synthesized Ag nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and UV–vis spectroscopy (UV–vis). Formation mechanism of Ag nanoparticles in the micellar-mediated synthesis is postulated. The antibacterial properties of the Ag nanoparticles were tested against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Gram-positive) and Aeromonas hydrophila (Gram-negative) bacteria. This work provides a simple and “green” method for the synthesis of highly stable Ag nanoparticles in aqueous solution with promising antibacterial property.     

Evaluation of discharge behavior of lithium ion cells

This paper presents a mathematical model based on a porous-electrode theory to describe the discharge of a lithium ion cell. The expression for the electrostatic cell potential has been obtained by subtracting the overpotential at the front of the anode from the overpotential at the back of the cathode plus the integral of the solution phase electrostatic potential in the cathode and the separator. The resulting expression is used to plot the cell potential against time and is compared with experimental results using parameter values from the literature. Paper presented at the International Conference on Functional Materials and Devices 2005, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 6 – 8, 2005.