Highly conductive supercapacitor based on laser-induced graphene and silver nanowires

One of the foremost necessary desires of energy systems has been the existence of efficient, flexible, transportable, and eco-friendly devices. Among all the energy storage systems, supercapacitors have attracted plenty of attention thanks to their distinctive properties. Among all capacitor technologies, laser-induced graphene (LIG)-based capacitors are within the spotlight nowadays due to their high flexibility and simple manufacture. The most downside with LIG-based capacitors is their low conductivity and low charge capacity. During this work, to overcome this problem, the surface of LIG is covered with silver nanowires (AgNWs) and LIG/AgNWs composite is employed to form supercapacitor. In this study, all the electrochemical properties of the prepared composite were investigated, and therefore the results showed that AgNWs could increase the electrical conductivity of LIG by about 2.25 times, improve electrode–electrolyte interaction, and increase areal capacitance by 1.3 times. Additionally, the synthesized supercapacitor shows stable cyclic behavior and retention capacity equal to 78% after 1000 charge–discharge cycles. A singular increase in LIG conductivity and improved in its cyclic performance. Furthermore, galvanostatic charge/discharge curves indicated acceptable charge capacity of the LIG/AgNWs supercapacitor.

     

Fabrication of poly-Ge-based thermopiles on plastic

Fabrication of Ge-based thermocouple on polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) plastic substrates is reported. The amorphous Ge film, deposited using electron beam evaporation, is post treated to form a polycrystalline film. The annealing process has been performed at temperatures ranging from 120/spl deg/C to 175/spl deg/C and study of physical characteristics of Ge films using XRD and SEM confirms its crystallinity. A value of 100 /spl mu/V//spl deg/C is extracted for the Ge-Al junctions. The thermocouple fabrication and its response to flow are reported. A novel approach is described to perform the micromachining of PET substrates for the formation of craters and membranes. Di-methyl-formamide (DMF) is used as the solvent of the PET substrate, masked with a Ge/Cu multilayer. An average chemical etch rate of 12 /spl mu/m/h is achieved in the presence of 6.5 mW/cm/sup 2/ of 360-nm UV at ambient temperature.     

Co-electrophoretic deposition of Mn2O3/activated carbon on CuO nanowire array growth on copper foam as a binder-free electrode for high-performance supercapacitors

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The development of new materials with complex structures has proved to be an effective approach to improve their capabilities in a variety...     

Sodium dodecyl sulfate coated alumina modified with a new Schiff's base as a uranyl ion selective adsorbent

A simple and selective method was used for the preconcentration and determination of uranium(VI) by solid-phase extraction (SPE). In this method, a column of alumina modified with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and a new Schiff's base ligand was prepared for the preconcentration of trace uranyl(VI) from water samples. The uranium(VI) was completely eluted with HCl 2M and determined by a spectrophotometeric method with Arsenazo(III). The preconcentration steps were studied with regard to experimental parameters such as amount of extractant, type, volume and concentration of eluent, pH, flow rate of sample source and tolerance limit of diverse ions on the recovery of uranyl ion. A preconcentration factor more than 200 was achieved and the average recovery of uranyl(VI) was 99.5%. The relative standard deviation was 1.1% for 10 replicate determinations of uranyl(VI) ion in a solution with a concentration of 5 μg mL(-1). This method was successfully used for the determination of spiked uranium in natural water samples.     

Study of Magnetic Abrasive Finishing for AISI321 Stainless Steel

In recent years, magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) has become a reliable unconventional technology among researchers in industries due to need for the surface roughness reduction in metals. In this study, experiments based on influential parameters in the MAF process including rotational speed, working gap, and abrasive particle size were designed and conducted in the full factorial method in order to achieve the optimum parameters in finishing of steel AISI 321. A combination of silicon carbide (SiC), iron (Fe), and oil (SAE40) was utilized as magnetic abrasive tool. Prior to the experiments, the surface of the workpiece was abraded to the lowest value of roughness in order to obtain accurate results through the procedure. In general, the results indicate that the parameters of working gap, rotational speed, and abrasive particle size influence the surface roughness from the most to the least, respectively. Indeed, the minimum surface roughness is obtained through working gap of 1 mm, workpiece rotational speed of 500 rpm, and abrasive particle size of 100 mesh, with 50% improvement compared with initial surface roughness. Finally, the more involved parameters deviate from optimum values, the worse results are obtained compared with optimum acquired consequences.     

Fuzzy simulation approach to multi-task scheduling in uncertain distributed server systems

The efficient scheduling of tasks in distributed server systems is of great importance to minimise the response time and thus improve the performance of such systems. This paper presents an integrated fuzzy simulation approach to improve the performance of distributed server systems. Performance is defined in terms of time-varying distributions of job arrival, job parallelism and task service demand with fuzzy parameters. In order to achieve the most efficient policies for job scheduling in this fuzzy system, an integrated fuzzy simulation approach is used. This is the first study that uses fuzzy simulation for performance improvement of uncertain distributed server systems.     

EBSD and DTA Characterization of A356 Alloy Deformed by ECAP During Reheating and Partial Re-melting

Recrystallization and partial re-melting processes have been developed for producing semi-solid feedstock in a solid state in which a globular microstructure is obtained by plastic deformation followed by reheating. In this research, to induce strain, a cast- and solution-treated Aluminum A356 (7 wt pct Si) alloy was subjected to a repetitive equal channel angular pressing process using a 90 deg die, up to a total accumulated strain of approximately 8 in route A (increasing strain through a sequence of passes with no rotation of the sample after each pass) at ambient temperature. The microstructural evolutions of deformed and reheated materials were studied by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron back-scattered diffraction analysis. In addition, the influences of pre-deformation on the recrystallization mechanism and liquid formation of A356 alloy were presented and discussed. The results are also supported by differential thermal analysis experiments. Evaluation of the observations indicated that the average cell boundary misorientation increased with increasing strain, so this increased misorientation accelerated the mobility of boundaries and recrystallization kinetics. Therefore, the recrystallization mechanism and kinetics affected by deformation, reheating condition, and intrinsic material properties determined the particle size in the semi-solid state.     

Solubilization of multi walled carbon nanotubes under a facile and mild condition

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) functionalized with amino groups was prepared via chemical modification of carboxyl groups introduced on the carbon nanotube surfaces. Oxidation of MWCNTs was performed with ozone in aqueous phase and amidation of generated carboxylic groups, was occurred with amines in the presence of HATU as a coupling agent. Obtained functionalized MWCNTs are soluble in many common organic solvents. The functionalized MWCNTs were characterized in detail using FTIR-ATR, Raman CHN and SEM methods.     

Texture development and residual stress in UHV evaporated silver films on glass substrates as a function of substrate temperature

Pole figures were collected for silver films of 140 nm thickness deposited on glass substrates with deposition rate of 0.076 nm s⁻¹, for substrate temperatures between 300 and 600 K covering all three zones in the structure zone model (SZM), using an X-ray diffractometer in texture mode. Additional information for determination of residual stress in these films was obtained by the technique. The components of the stress tensor were obtained using measurements at three different φ angles of 0°, 45° and 90°. The crystallite sizes as a function of substrate temperature and ψ angle were also obtained, and showed, an increase with substrate temperature in agreement with the SZM predictions, and a decrease with ψ angle, possibly due to some correlation between the preferred orientation and grain size. The relation between stress in these films and the processes of film growth in the SZM is discussed.     

Global modeling of nonlinear circuits using the finite‐difference Laguerre time‐domain/alternative direction implicit finite‐difference time‐domain method with stability investigation

This paper describes a new unconditionally stable numerical method for the full‐wave physical modeling of semiconductor devices by a combination of the finite‐difference Laguerre time‐domain (FDLTD) and alternative direction implicit finite‐difference time‐domain (ADI‐FDTD) approaches. The unconditionally stable method by using FDLTD scheme for the electromagnetic model and semi‐implicit ADI‐FDTD approach for the active model leads to a significant decrease in the full‐wave simulation time. Numerical simulations of an example transistor and a power amplifier show the efficiency of presented method for the full‐wave simulation of mm‐wave active circuits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.