Electropolymerisation and characterisation of nanosize conducting poly[(o‐chloroaniline)‐co‐(4,4′‐diaminodiphenylsulfone)] on a polyaniline‐modified electrode

An exciting methodology for the electrosynthesis of poly(o‐chloroaniline) is proposed, based on the electrochemical polymerisation of o‐chloroaniline (OCA) on a polyaniline‐modified electrode and copolymerisation of OCA with different compositions of biologically important 4,4′‐diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) on the same electrode. The copolymer electrosynthesised from an equimolar feed composition of OCA and DDS behaved the best among the other compositions employed for polymerisation. The UV‐visible and Fourier transform infrared spectral data obtained for this copolymer suggest the incorporation of DDS in the polymer chain. The X‐ray diffraction profile of the copolymer indicates a substantial amorphous nature of the as‐synthesised copolymer. Scanning electron micrographs recorded for the homo‐ and copolymer reveal distinctly different morphologies. The average grain size of the prepared copolymer as approximated from the micrographs is 80 nm. The procedure reported is found to be a very efficient method for electrochemically polymerising pristine OCA and poly(OCA‐co‐DDS) and the adopted strategy is the best so far reported for the electrochemical polymerisation of OCA on any electrode surface. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

In situ electrochemical synthesis of a poly(o‐anisidine) counter electrode for a dye‐sensitized solar cell

Poly(o‐anisidine) (POA) counter electrodes (CEs) were fabricated by potentiodynamic deposition and incorporated into platinum (Pt)‐free dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A different sweep number had great impact on the morphology and electrocatalytic activity of the POA films. The POA film fabricated by 25 sweep cycles was observed to have a highly porous morphology, and this resulted in a lower charge‐transfer resistance of 57 cm² in comparison with the Pt CE. The DSSC assembled with the POA CE showed a higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 1.67% compared to 1.2% for the DSSC with the Pt CE under full sunlight illumination. Therefore, the high active surface area of the 25‐sweep‐segmented POA film could be considered a promising alternative CE for use in DSSCs because of its high electrocatalytic performance and electrochemical stability. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42041.     

Timoshenko beam finite element with four dof and convergence of O(h)

In situations where transverse shear deformations and rotary inertia in beams are important, elements based on the Timoshenko beam theory are useful. Among the two-noded, four DOF elements derived from the minimum total potential energy principle, the HTK. element proposed by Hughes et al. using linear displacement functions for both w and θ and the T1CC4 element proposed by Tessler et al. using quadratic displacement function for w and linear displacement function for θ are well known in the literature. The convergence of the HTK element in the thin beam situation has been too poor due to shear locking but by using selective integration this element can be shown to be equivalent to the T1CC4 element which has a rate of convergence of O(h²). In this paper a five DOF element with w and θ at the end nodes and θ at the middle node and based on the cubic displacement function for w and the quadratic displacement function for θ is first developed. Statically condensing the middle rotational DOF, the well-known (4 × 4) stiffness matrix using the φ-factor defined as φ = 12EI/kGAL² and hitherto obtained only through a flexibility approach or closed-form solution of the governing equations of the Timoshenko beam theory is derived. This element based on cubic displacement function for w has rate of convergence of O(h⁴), is completely free of shear locking and performs equally well in thin as well as thick beam situations.     

Real-Time Verification of AI Based Rotor Position Estimation Techniques for a 6/4 Pole Switched Reluctance Motor Drive

This paper presents real-time verification of an artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) based rotor position estimation techniques for a 6/4 pole switched reluctance motor (SRM) drive system. The techniques estimate rotor position by measuring the three-phase voltages and currents and using magnetic characteristics of the SRM, with the aid of an ANN and ANFIS, in real-time environments. The rotor position estimating techniques are used in a high-performance sensorless variable speed SRM drive. A digital signal processor, TMS320F2812, executes the rotor position estimation. To verify the performance of the ANN and ANFIS based rotor position estimation techniques, a rotor position sensor is mounted with the drive system. The experimental results show that the ANN and ANFIS based rotor position estimation techniques provide good performance at different operating conditions.     

Preparation of poly(1,5 diamino naphthalene) nanobelts/nanodiscs through a "hard-soft combined templates" approach

This is the first report on the preparation of nanobelts/nanodiscs of poly(1,5-diamino naphthalene) (PDAN-P) in bulk quantities through a "hard-soft combined templates" approach. PDAN was nanostructured within the channels of MCM-41 (hard template) in the presence of beta-napthalene sulfonic acid (beta-NSA) (soft template) and further used as the seed for the bulk preparation of pure PDAN nanobelts/nanodiscs of PDAN (PDAN-P). Field emision scanning electron microscope image reveals that a typical nanobelt has a length of approximately 3 microm, with a uniform breadth of approximately 150 nm and a thickness of approximately 50 nm. UV-Visible spectrum reveals that the electronic features of PDAN-P are different from PDAN prepared by conventional method (PDAN-C). The electrochemical and interfacial characteristics of PDAN-P were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy and compared with PDAN-C. The current density characteristics of ITO/PDAN-P and ITO/PDAN-C were also compared. The potential for the onset of current and the current densities beyond the onset potentials were higher at ITO/PDAN-P than for ITO/PDAN-C. Results from electrochemical imedance spectroscopy informed that the ac conductivity of PDAN-P is higher than PDAN-C. Thus, PDAN-P exhibits distinctly different electronic and electrochemical characteristics as compared to PDAN-C.     

RRTP - A Replacement Rule Theorem Prover

The Replacement Rule Theorem Prover (RRTP) is an instance-based, refutational, first-order clausal theorem prover. The prover is motivated by the idea of selectively replacing predicates by their definitions, and operates by selecting relevant instances of the input clauses. The relevant instances are grounded, if necessary, and tested for unsatisfiability by using a fast propositional calculus decision procedure.     

Novel Power-Aware Optimization Methodology and Efficient Task Scheduling Algorithm

The performance of central processing units (CPUs) can be enhanced by integrating multiple cores into a single chip. Cpu performance can be improved by allocating the tasks using intelligent strategy. If Small tasks wait for long time or executes for long time, then CPU consumes more power. Thus, the amount of power consumed by CPUs can be reduced without increasing the frequency. Lines are used to connect cores, which are organized together to form a network called network on chips (NOCs). NOCs are mainly used in the design of processors. However, its performance can still be enhanced by reducing power consumption. The main problem lies with task scheduling, which fully utilizes the network. Here, we propose a novel random fit algorithm for NOCs based on power-aware optimization. In this algorithm, tasks that are under the same application are mapped to the neighborhoods of the same application, whereas tasks belonging to different applications are mapped to the processor cores on the basis of a series of steps. This scheduling process is performed during the run time. Experiment results show that the proposed random fit algorithm reduces the amount of power consumed and increases system performance based on effective scheduling.