Vertically grown multiwalled carbon nanotube anode and nickel silicide integrated high performance microsized (1.25 μL) microbial fuel cell

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are an environmentally friendly method for water purification and self-sustained electricity generation using microorganisms. Microsized MFCs can also be a useful power source for lab-on-a-chip and similar integrated devices. We fabricated a 1.25 μL microsized MFC containing an anode of vertically aligned, forest type multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a nickel silicide (NiSi) contact area that produced 197 mA/m(2) of current density and 392 mW/m(3) of power density. The MWCNTs increased the anode surface-to-volume ratio, which improved the ability of the microorganisms to couple and transfer electrons to the anode. The use of nickel silicide also helped to boost the output current by providing a low resistance contact area to more efficiently shuttle electrons from the anode out of the device.     

High-Performance UV-Visible-NIR Broad Spectral Photodetectors Based on One-Dimensional In(2)Te(3) Nanostructures

For the first time, high quality In(2)Te(3) nanowires were synthesized via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The synthesized In(2)Te(3) nanowires are single crystals grown along the [132] direction with a uniform diameter of around 150 nm and an average length of tens of micrometers. Further, two kinds of photodetectors made by 1D In(2)Te(3) nanostructures synthesized by CVD and solvothermal (ST) methods respectively were fabricated. To our best knowledge, this is the first time photoresponse properties of In(2)Te(3) nanowire have been studied. The CVD grown nanowire device shows better performance than the ST device, which demonstrates a fast, reversible, and stable photoresponse and also a broad light detection range from 350 nm to 1090 nm, covering the UV-visible-NIR region. The excellent performance of the In(2)Te(3) nanowire photodetectors will enable significant advancements of the next-generation photodetection and photosensing applications.     

A comparison of TiO2 nanoparticles and nanotubes for catalytic gas phase destruction of H2S gas at high temperatures

Reduction of H2S gas over Sulphur doped TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2 nanotubes was studied in this work. Fixed bed catalytic system was used for the catalytic reduction of H2S gas at a high temperature of 450 degrees C under laboratory conditions. 99.97% reduction was achieved using S-doped TiO2. 2.89% Sulphur was adsorbed on S-doped TiO2 nanoparticles in the form of Ti(SO4)2, while 95.6% reduction was achieved in case of TiO2 nanotubes and the sulphur adsorption was 2.67%. The XRD, SEM, and EDX techniques were carried out to characterize the nanoparticles and nanotubes, while gas reduction analysis was carried out using GC-MS for gas samples.     

Effect of deflocculants on hardness and densification of YSZ–Al2O3 (whiskers & particulates) composites

In the present study effect of deflocculants like P-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA) and Cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) on densification and hardness of 3 mol.% Yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ (abridged as YSZ) + Al₂O₃ (whiskers or particulates) composite have been studied. Maximum hardness & density were achieved at 1 wt% of CTAB or PABA, while further addition (5, 10 and 15 wt%) had no significant affect on the aforementioned properties. It was also observed that alumina addition in form of particulates only improved the density while its addition in form of whiskers significantly increased the hardness of YSZ + alumina composite. The maximum hardness achieved was more than 14 GPa in case of sample containing alumina in form of whiskers.     

Performance of a Nongasketed Flange Joint under Combined Internal Pressure and Bending Loading

Performance of a bolted flange joint is characterized mainly due to its “strength” and “sealing capability.” A number of analytical and experimental studies have been conducted to study these characteristics only under internal pressure loading. A very limited amount of work is found in the literature under combined internal pressure and bending loading. Due to the ignorance of this external loading, i.e., bending loading, the optimized performance of the bolted flange joint cannot be achieved. The present design codes do not address the effects of bending loading on the structural integrity and sealing ability. To investigate joint strength and sealing capability under combined loading, an extensive comparative experimental and numerical study of a nongasketed flange joint is carried out and overall joint performance and behavior is discussed. Actual joint load capacity is determined under both the design and proof test pressure with maximum additional external bending loading that can be applied for safe joint performance. In addition, as experimentally it is impossible to test different flange joint sizes under combined loading application, hence finite element model developed and verified with the experimental results, presented in this paper can be used as base to study the behavior for different nongasketed flange joint sizes for different classes under combined pressure and bending loading.     

Performance of North American Bioreactor Landfills. II: Chemical and Biological Characteristics

The objective of this research was to examine the performance of five North American bioreactor landfills. This paper represents the second of a two-part series and addresses biological and chemical aspects of bioreactor performance including gas production and management, and leachate chemistry. The data support accelerated methane generation at several landfills (k = 0.08–0.21?1/year) relative to the AP-42 default decay rate (k = 0.04?1/year). While the data indicate that gas collection increases at bioreactor landfills, a general relationship between decay rate and moisture added or wet weight water content could not be identified. There was no indication that gas collection increases appreciably when the water content reaches 40%. Most of the leachates at the landfills in this study were commingled from cells operating as a bioreactor and conventionally. Nevertheless, trends in pH and BOD:COD in the bioreactor leachates were consistent with the impacts of enhanced biological activity. Ammonia concentrations also increased over time but remained below levels reported to be inhibitory. For both heavy metals and speciated organic chemicals, there was no indication that bioreactor landfill leachate is significantly different from leachate generated at conventional landfills.     

Novel tunable dynamic tweezers using dark-bright soliton collision control in an optical add/drop filter

We propose a novel system of the dynamic optical tweezers generated by a dark soliton in the fiber optic loop. A dark soliton known as an optical tweezer is amplified and tuned within the microring resonator system. The required tunable tweezers with different widths and powers can be controlled. The analysis of dark-bright soliton conversion using a dark soliton pulse propagating within a microring resonator system is analyzed. The dynamic behaviors of soliton conversion in add/drop filter is also analyzed. The control dark soliton is input into the system via the add port of the add/drop filter. The dynamic behavior of the dark-bright soliton conversion is observed. The required stable signal is obtained via a drop and throughput ports of the add/drop filter with some suitable parameters. In application, the trapped light/atom and transportation can be realized by using the proposed system.     

Speckle reduction using orthogonal arrays in laser projectors

We propose using a two-level (-1 and +1 as variables) orthogonal array (OA) to generate a binary phase diffuser for speckle reduction in laser projection displays. Compared with the Hadamard matrix, the diffuser generated from OA is more flexible. The speckle contrast ratio (CR) when introducing the binary phase diffuser at an intermediate image plane within the projector is calculated, and the minimum speckle CR can be achieved by finite step change of the diffuser patterns. With Kronecker algebra, the two-dimensional diffuser can also be replaced by two one-dimensional diffusers with the same function, and it can be implemented into the laser projector electronically and easily.     

Simulation of uncontrolled loss of flow transients of a material test research reactor fuelled with low and high enriched uranium dispersion fuels

The effects of using low and high enrichment uranium fuel on the uncontrolled loss of flow transients in a material test research reactor were studied. For this purpose, simulations were carried out of an MTR fuelled separately with LEU and HEU fuel, to determine the reactor performance under loss of flow transients with totally failed external control systems. The coolant pump was assumed to loose its performance and the coolant flow rate reduced according to the relation m(t)/m₀ = exp(−t/25) to a new stable level. The new reduced flows m/m₀ = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 were modeled. The nuclear reactor analysis code PARET was employed to carry out these calculations. It was observed that the reactors stabilized at new power levels which were lower than the original power level, with the power of HEU fuelled reactor slightly lesser than that of the LEU fuelled reactor. However, at the start of transient, the LEU fuelled reactor had a lower power level resulting in lower fuel, clad and coolant temperatures than the HEU fuelled reactor.     

Study of the Effect of Strontium (Sr) on the Nucleation of Eutectic Silicon (Si) in High Purity Hypoeutectic Al-5Si Alloys

High purity Al-5Si (wt. %) master alloys containing different levels of Sr additions were manufactured in an arc melter under high vacuum. The alloys were melt-spun which resulted in the production of thin ribbons. The microstructure of the ribbons consisted of Al matrix and entrained eutectic droplets. The ribbons were subsequently investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) to examine the effect of Sr on the droplet undercooling and nucleation of eutectic silicon. The results indicate that the addition of Sr increases the eutectic droplet nucleation undercooling (ΔT). This may be due to Sr poisoning of the AlP phase.