H-point standard addition method for the selective simultaneous determination of nickel and copper using 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol in Tween 80 micellar media.

The H-point standard addition method (HPSAM) has been applied for the simultaneous determination of nickel and copper in trace levels, using 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as a chromogenic reagent in aqueous Tween 80 micellar media. Under the optimum condition, the simultaneous determinations of nickel and copper by HPSAM were performed. The absorbances at one pair of wavelengths, 548 and 579 nm, were monitored with the addition of standard solutions of copper. The method is able to accurately determine copper-to-nickel ratios of 15:1 to 1:10 (Wt/Wt). The effects of diverse ions on the determination of nickel and copper to investigate the selectivity of the method were also studied. The recommended procedure was successfully applied to some water and alloy samples.     

Spectrophotometric and AAS determination of trace amounts of cobalt after preconcentration by using alpha-benzilmonoxime-microcrystalline naphthalene.

The formed cobalt-a-benzilmonoxime complex was adsorbed onto microcrystalline naphthalene. Then it was determined by zero and first derivative spectrophotometry and by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) after dissolving into chloroform and methylisobutylketone (MIBK), respectively. Under optimum conditions, cobalt in the range of 1.0 - 20.0, 0.4 - 30.0 and 2.5 - 50.0 microg could be determined by spectrophotometry, first derivative spectrophotometry and AAS method, respectively. By the method, a preconcentration factor equal to approximately 30 for cobalt was obtained. The effect of diverse ions on the determination of 5.0 microg cobalt was also studied. The method was successfully applied to some pharmaceuticals and synthetic alloy samples.     

Regression and ANN models for estimating minimum value of machining performance

Surface roughness is one of the most common performance measurements in machining process and an effective parameter in representing the quality of machined surface. The minimization of the machining performance measurement such as surface roughness (R_a) must be formulated in the standard mathematical model. To predict the minimum R_a value, the process of modeling is taken in this study. The developed model deals with real experimental data of the R_a in the end milling machining process. Two modeling approaches, regression and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), are applied to predict the minimum R_a value. The results show that regression and ANN models have reduced the minimum R_a value of real experimental data by about 1.57% and 1.05%, respectively.     

Modification of carbon paste with congo red supported on multi-walled carbon nanotube for voltammetric determination of uric acid in the presence of ascorbic acid

A chemically modified carbon-paste electrode (CPE) is prepared by incorporating congo red (CR) immobilized on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT). The results show that CR is effectively immobilized on the surface of MWCNT under the ultrasonic agitation in aqueous solution and further incorporating the nafion. The prepared electrode, due to the electrostatic repulsions between the CR and ascorbate anion, is capable to mask the response of the ascorbic acid (AA) completely and provide an effective method for the detection of minor amounts of uric acid (UA) in the presence of high concentrations of AA. On the other hand, an increase in the microscopic area of the electrode by addition of MWCNT together with the electrocatalytic activity caused to a significant enhancement in the voltammetric response to UA. Optimization of the amounts of composite modifier in the matrix of CPE is performed by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric measurements. The modified electrode shows a linear response to UA in the range of 1.0 × 10⁻⁷–1.0 × 10⁻⁴ M with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10⁻⁸ M. The electrode exhibits excellent accuracies for the determination of UA in the presence of high concentrations of AA (a recovery of 97.6%). The response of the electrode toward sulfhydryl compounds such as cysteine, penicillamine, and glutathione is not considerable. This reveals a good selectivity for the voltammetric response toward UA. The effective electrocatalytic property, ability for masking the voltammetric responses of the other biologically reducing agents, ease of preparation, and surface regeneration by simple polishing together with high reproducibility and stability of the responses make the modified electrode suitable for the selective and sensitive voltammetric detection of sub-micromolar amounts of UA in clinical and pharmaceutical preparations.     

Experimental and numerical study of swirling subcooled flow boiling of water in a vertical annulus

In this paper, the effect of making swirling flow inside an annulus on the subcooled boiling heat transfer has been studied and discussed both experimentally and numerically. The Eulerian-Eulerian model and control volume technique have been used for numerical modeling of the problem. The experimental results show that the critical heat flux values are enhanced by making swirling flow. The experimental and numerical results also indicate that by making swirling flow inside the annulus, the subcooled boiling heat transfer coefficients are increased. Moreover, the experimental and numerical values of the boiling heat transfer coefficients show good agreement with each other.     

A noble method for molten carbonate fuel cells electrolyte manufacturing

An economic process for manufacturing of molten carbonate fuel cells was developed. This process consisted of fabricating the matrix by simply cutting it from a highly porous part with the geometry like an insulator brick, brush painting of the cathode layer followed by sintering and deposition of anode layer through thermal spray process. In order to manage the electrolyte content in the matrix and electrodes, coating of outer surfaces of the produced matrix with alumina slurry provided the required pores with small size at the interfaces with the electrodes. The polarization curves of the cells with alumina slurry coating and without it were not significantly different. The produced layer with small pores at the matrix outer surfaces caused the vaporization of the molten carbonate salt electrolyte to be reduced from 22.9% to 14.4% of initially infiltrated in salt weight content within 100 h of heat treating at 650 °C. This is at the same time to have the benefit of larger supply of electrolyte due to the application of highly porous matrix.     

H-Point Standard Addition Method for Simultaneous Determination of Palladium and Cobalt

The H-point standard addition method (HPSAM) has been applied to simultaneous determination of palladium and cobalt at trace levels, using 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) as a chromogenic reagent. Palladium and cobalt at neutral pH levels form green colored neutral complexes with PAN which are soluble in aqueous sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micellar media and can be monitored spectrophotometrically. Simultaneous determination of cobalt and palladium by HPSAM were performed spectrophotometrically and under optimum conditions. Absorbances at the two pairs of wavelengths, 597 and 650 nm or 566 and 612nm, were monitored while adding standard solutions of cobalt or palladium, respectively. The method is able to accurately determine a cobalt/palladium ratio of between 5:1 and 1:30 (wt/wt). The accuracy and reproducibility of the determination method for various known amounts of cobalt and palladium in their binary mixtures were evaluated. The effects of diverse ions on the determination of cobalt and palladium to investigate the selectivity of the method were also studied. The recommended procedure was applied to real water samples and synthetic sample solutions.     

Excellent photocatalytic reduction of nitroarenes to aminoarenes by BiVO4 nanoparticles grafted on reduced graphene oxide (rGO/BiVO4)

A novel heterogeneous composite material based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) was prepared and characterized by various techniques such as powder XRD, HRTEM, EADX, UV–Vis‐DRS, FT‐IR, Raman, BET and XPS analyses. The characterization results reveal that the rGO well decorated by BiVO₄. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) shows the increasing of charge transfer of rGO/BiVO₄ in presence of light irradiation. In this research, the pure BiVO₄ and rGO/BiVO₄ composite have been explored for photocatalytic reduction of nitroarenes. Among the prepared nanocomposites, rGO loaded with 10% BiVO₄ catalyst (noted as rGO/BiVO₄–10%) shows the best performance for the photo‐reduction of various nitroaromatic molecules to their corresponding amine compounds under visible‐light irradiation at room temperature. The catalyst exhibited in particular excellent photocatalytic activity for the conversion of 1,4‐dinitrobenzene to 4‐nitroanilline (100% conversion) in 20 min, 4‐chloronitrobenzene to 4‐chloroaniline and 2‐nitrophenol to 2‐aminophenol (100% conversion) in only 30 min. In addition, the conversion of 4‐bromonitrobenzene, 4‐iodonitrobenzene to their corresponding amine compounds (100% conversion) was achieved in 60 min. The catalyst was recovered for several times and reused without decreasing of its efficiency.     

Magnetic order in Sr x Ca1−x Cu0.99 57Fe0.01O2

Sr _x Ca_1–x Cu_0.99 ⁵⁷Fe_0.01O₂ was studied forx=0.13, 0.15, and 0.17. Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetization measurements indicate magnetic ordering characteristic of spin glass systems withT _f70K forx=0.15 and 0.13.     

A new method for preparation of magnetic polymer particles

Synthesis of magnetic polymer particles (MPP) was carried out through two steps. Firstly, the iron oxide particles carrying vinyl groups were synthesized, and in the second step, styrene (ST), divinyl benzene (DVB), and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were polymerized on the surface of modified iron oxide through an emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization technique. The final particles were characterized by a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA), Fritsch particle sizer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Experimental analysis confirmed that all the iron oxide particles were embedded in a polymer phase and the final particles have more than 67 % iron oxide content. According to magnetometry data, the shape of the hysteresis loops evidences the ferromagnetic character of the particles.