A Novel Self-Organizing Approach to Automatic Traffic Light Management System for Road Traffic Network

Wireless Personal Communications - Traffic network is basically a “network of networks” consisting of mainly two types of networks: road network and a travel network. Due to drastic...     

Platinum nanoparticles decorated on graphitic carbon nitride-ZIF-67 composite support: An electrocatalyst for the oxidation of butanol in fuel cell applications

In the present study, we report an eco-friendly and simple route to design and synthesize novel nanocomposite catalyst based on platinum nanoparticles anchored on binary support of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) and cobalt-metal-organic framework (ZIF-67). For this purpose, ZIF-67 was prepared by precipitation method and g-C₃N₄ was prepared through thermal polymerization method. Later, ZIF-67 and g-C₃N₄ were hybridized through sonication to get homogeneous g–C₃N₄–ZIF-67 nanocomposite support material. Platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) were uniformly deposited on g–C₃N₄–ZIF-67 by an electrochemical method. The as-developed nanocatalyst was characterized by morphological, structural and electrochemical techniques. The electrocatalytic activity of PtNPs@g–C₃N₄–ZIF-67 nanocatalyst towards butanol oxidation was evaluated via CV, CA, LSV and EIS in an alkaline medium. Results revealed that the proposed catalyst showed greatly enhanced electrooxidation of butanol in terms of high magnificent current density, lower oxidation potential, excellent long-term stability, large surface area, low charge transfer resistance and less toxic ability. Enhanced catalytic performance of the proposed catalyst could be ascribed to the synergistic effect of g–C₃N₄–ZIF-67 nanocomposite and PtNPs. The PtNPs@g–C₃N₄–ZIF-67 catalyst holds promising potential applications to be used as an anodic electrocatalyst for the development of high-performance alkaline fuel cells.     

Sustainable ammonia production through process synthesis and global optimization

Current ammonia production technologies have a significant carbon footprint. In this study, we present a process synthesis and global optimization framework to discover the efficient utilization of renewable resources in ammonia production. Competing technologies are incorporated in a process superstructure where biomass, wind, and solar routes are compared with the natural gas-based reference case. A deterministic global optimization-based branch-and-bound algorithm is used to solve the resulting large-scale nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem (MINLP). Case studies for Texas, California, and Iowa are conducted to examine the effects of different feedstock prices and availabilities. Results indicate that profitability of ammonia production is highly sensitive to feedstock and electricity prices, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) restrictions. Under strict 75% GHG reductions, biomass to ammonia route is found to be competitive with natural gas route, whereas wind and solar to ammonia routes require further improvement to compete with those two routes. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: e16498 2019     

Multilevel Recording in Ge2Sb2Te5 Thin Films

Semiconductors - The current–voltage characteristics measured on Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films in the current mode are studied. The effect of multilevel recording is established when applying...     

Multiply Charged Conjugated Polyelectrolytes as a Multifunctional Interlayer for Efficient and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells

A series of anionic conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) is synthesized based on poly(fluorene-co-phenylene) by varying the side-chain ionic density from two to six per repeat units (MPS2-TMA, MPS4-TMA, and MPS6-TMA). The effect of MPS2, 4, 6-TMA as interlayers on top of a hole-extraction layer of poly(bis(4-phenyl)-2,4,6-trimethylphenylamine (PTAA) is investigated in inverted perovskite solar cells (PeSCs). Owing to the improved wettability of perovskites on hydrophobic PTAA with the CPEs, the PeSCs with CPE interlayers demonstrate a significantly enhanced device performance, with negligible device-to-device dependence relative to the reference PeSC without CPEs. By increasing the ionic density in the MPS-TMA interlayers, the wetting, interfacial defect passivation, and crystal growth of the perovskites are significantly improved without increasing the series resistance of the PeSCs. In particular, the open-circuit voltage increases from 1.06 V for the PeSC with MPS2-TMA to 1.11 V for the PeSC with MPS6-TMA. The trap densities of the PeSCs with MPS2,4,6-TMA are further analyzed using frequency-dependent capacitance measurements. Finally, a large-area (1 cm²) PeSC is successfully fabricated with MPS6-TMA, showing a power conversion efficiency of 18.38% with negligible hysteresis and a stable power output under light soaking for 60 s.     

Development of Manufacturing Technology of High-Power Gamma-Radiation Sources Based on Low-Leachable Materials with Cesium-137 Radionuclide

Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering - A set of measures to establish the technology for manufacturing highly active sources of γ radiation with an active part from...