Theoretical study of C60 as catalyst for dehydrogenation in LiBH4

Complex light metal hydrides possess many properties which make them attractive as a storage medium for hydrogen, but typically catalysts are required to lower the hydrogen desorption temperature and to facilitate hydrogen uptake in the form of a reversible reaction. The overwhelming focus in the search for catalysing agents has been on compounds containing titanium, but the precise mechanism of their actions remains somewhat obscure. A recent experiment has now shown that fullerenes (C(60)) can also act as catalysts for both hydrogen uptake and release in lithium borohydride (LiBH(4)). In an effort to understand the involved mechanism, we have employed density functional theory to carry out a detailed study of the interaction between this complex metal hydride and the carbon nanomaterial. Considering a stepwise reduction of the hydrogen content in LiBH(4), we find that the presence of C(60) can lead to a substantial reduction of the involved H-removal energies. This effect is explained as a consequence of the interaction between the BH(x)( - ) complex and the C(60) entity.     

Electrochemical studies of electrospun organic/inorganic hybrid nanocomposite fibrous polymer electrolyte for lithium battery

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) P(VdF-co-HFP)/magnesium aluminate (MgAl₂O₄) hybrid fibrous nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membranes were newly prepared by electrospinning method. The as-prepared electrospun pure and nanocomposite fibrous polymer membranes with various MgAl₂O₄ filler contents were characterized by X ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The fibrous nanocomposite polymer electrolytes were prepared by soaking the electrospun membranes in 1 M LiPF₆ in EC:DEC (1:1, v/v). The fibrous nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane with 5 wt.% of MgAl₂O₄ show high electrolyte uptake, enhanced ionic conductivity is found to be 2.80 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹ at room temperature and good electrochemical stability window higher than 4.5 V. Electrochemical performance of commercial celgard 2320, fibrous pure and nanocomposite polymer electrolyte (PE, NCPE) membranes with different MgAl₂O₄ filler content is evaluated in Li/celgard 2320, PE, NCPE/LiCoO₂ CR 2032 coin cells at current density 0.1 C-rate. The NCPE with 5 wt.% of MgAl₂O₄ delivers an initial discharge capacity of 158 mAhg⁻¹ and stable cycle performance compared with the other cells containing celgard 2320 separator and pure membrane.     

Interaction of Participating Medium Radiation with Thermosolutal Convection—A Critical Appraisal

The present study addresses the interaction effect of participating media radiation with the onset of double‐diffusive convection in a square enclosure. Vertical walls are imposed with constant temperature and concentration, and the horizontal walls are impermeable and adiabatic. The boundaries of the enclosure are diffuse‐gray, and the enclosed fluid isotropically scatters, emits, and absorbs thermal radiation. Numerical simulations have been performed for both aiding and opposing buoyancy conditions. The buoyancy ratio has been varied to simulate the effect of buoyancy driven flow and compositionally driven flow, along with transition of flow between the above. Optical properties like opacity of medium, scattering albedo, Planck number, and wall emissivity have been varied to depict their influence on flow and heat transfer. The modified MAC method is used for the solution of convective transport equations. Gradient dependent consistent hybrid upwind scheme of second order (GDCHUSSO) is used for the discretization of the convective terms. The discrete ordinate method, with S8 approximation, is used to solve the radiative transport equation. The parametric results are provided in graphical and tabular form. Flow lines, isotherms, and isoconcentration contour maps are provided to bring clarity in the understanding of the momentum, heat, and solute transport phenomenon. The stabilization effect of thermal radiation at critical buoyancy ratio for buoyancy opposed flow is observed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21108     

Polymers from renewable resources. XIII. Interpenetrating polymer networks derived from castor oil–hexamethylene diisocyanate and polymethacrylamide

Several castor oil‐based polyurethanes (PUs) samples were synthesized using various diisocyanates such as hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) with varying NCO/OH ratios. All the PUs were reacted with methacrylamide (MAM) using an ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDM) crosslinker and benzoyl peroxide as an initiator. Thermogravimetric analysis of the polymers was followed using a computer analysis method for assigning the kinetic mechanism. The degradation steps are discussed in the light of kinetic parameters. The scanning electronic microscopy of some of the interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were studied and the morphology was examined. The samples were subjected to wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction analysis. Ruland and Vonk's method was used to calculate the degree of crystallinity. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 1349–1353, 2001     

Silicon Nanowire GAA-MOSFET: a Workhorse in Nanotechnology for Future Semiconductor Devices

Silicon - In today’s world, semiconductor nanowire GAA-MOSFET devices have stimulated a lot of scientific research interest in the field of semiconductor. It has been observed as one of the...     

Effect of Dual Metal on RF/Analog and Linearity Performance of Double Gate Ferroelectric Si-doped-HfO2 GaN MOSHEMT

Silicon - In this work, the authors have demonstrated and differentiated between various analog/RF and linearity performances of a lattice-matched normally off dual-gate ferroelectric metal oxide...     

An Approach Towards Low Cost III-Nitride GaN/InGaN Solar Cell: the Use of Si/SiCN Substrate

Silicon - In this article, GaN/ InxGa1 − xN based solar cell with Si substrate and SiCN buffer layer is investigated with the help of modeling and simulation. The performance of...     

A Comprehensive Investigation of Vertically Stacked Silicon Nanosheet Field Effect Transistors: an Analog/RF Perspective

Silicon - In this article, the analog/RF performance of n-channel vertically stacked gate all around (GAA) silicon nanosheet field effect transistors (Si-NSFETs) are investigated using 3-D TCAD...     

Effect of lamina orientation,crack severity,and fillers on dynamic parameters of hybrid composite cantilever beam with double transverse cracks

Modern-day research in composite material development primarily focuses on tailoring combinations by proportions of constituent materials and monitoring the changes in their targeted properties. In line with this trend, a new class of glass fiber reinforced polymer hybrid composite beam of size 600 mm×50 mm×6 mm is fabricated by adding graphene (average particle size:10 μm), and flyash (average particle size: 60 μm). The dynamic behavior of the hybrid beam by introducing two transverse cracks at different positions with varying crack depths is studied by employing analytical, finite-element, and experimental approaches. The dimensionless relative natural frequencies of the cracked/faulty hybrid beam obtained by the proposed methods are compared with the intact hybrid beam. Also, a comparison is made for the hybrid beam with a single crack. An increase in relative crack depth resulted in an increase in values of dimensionless compliances. Further, the effect of fiber orientation and lamina stacking sequence on the dynamic parameters of the hybrid beam are also analyzed. The introduction of the second crack induces higher nonlinearity in bending modes of vibration.