Facile synthesis of high surface area molybdenum carbide nanoparticles

Molybdenum carbide has immense potential as an active catalyst for reaction systems such as synthesis of important chemicals like ammonia. However, the carbide is not used as a commercial catalyst or support as the current synthesis processes produce low surface area material or have contaminants such as excess carbon and surface and chemisorbed oxygen. Moreover, attempts to refine the synthesis pathways are usually not supported by any thermochemical modeling. In this study, a facile and reproducible method to synthesize high surface area molybdenum carbide was developed with the help of thermochemical modeling to better understand molybdenum-carbon phase behavior. We have synthesized 2-5 nm particles of Mo_xC with surface areas of up to 360 m²/g as characterized using a variety of techniques including X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.     

Polymer Light Emitting Diodes: Materials,Technology and Device

Polymer Light Emitting Diodes (PLEDs), the most promising name in the field of display technology has received tremendous attention from various research groups. The research on light emitting polymers are an interdisciplinary zone which has challenging investigates on materials science and engineering, physics of device architecture and technology. This review addresses the wide range of tailored polymers, evolution of LED device structure for high performance, single and multicolor polymer based LEDs. Though, polymers are possessing better efficiency and easy fabrication processes, it has very low stability and short life. This study also reviews, device degradation during device fabrication and operation.     

TP63 Is Significantly Upregulated in Diabetic Kidney

The role of tumor protein 63 (TP63) in regulating insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and other downstream signal proteins in diabetes has not been characterized. RNAs extracted from kidneys of diabetic mice (db/db) were sequenced to identify genes that are involved in kidney complications. RNA sequence analysis showed more than 4- to 6-fold increases in TP63 expression in the diabetic mice’s kidneys, compared to wild-type mice at age 10 and 12 months old. In addition, the kidneys from diabetic mice showed significant increases in TP63 mRNA and protein expression compared to WT mice. Mouse proximal tubular cells exposed to high glucose (HG) for 48 h showed significant decreases in IRS-1 expression and increases in TP63, compared to cells grown in normal glucose (NG). When TP63 was downregulated by siRNA, significant increases in IRS-1 and activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK (p-AMPK-Th¹⁷²)) occurred under NG and HG conditions. Moreover, activation of AMPK by pretreating the cells with AICAR resulted in significant downregulation of TP63 and increased IRS-1 expression. Ad-cDNA-mediated over-expression of tuberin resulted in significantly decreased TP63 levels and upregulation of IRS-1 expression. Furthermore, TP63 knockdown resulted in increased glucose uptake, whereas IRS-1 knockdown resulted in a decrease in the glucose uptake. Altogether, animal and cell culture data showed a potential role of TP63 as a new candidate gene involved in regulating IRS-1 that may be used as a new therapeutic target to prevent kidney complications in diabetes.     

Effect of Nanoclay on the Mechanical,Thermal, and Water Absorption Properties of an UP-toughened Epoxy Network

Unsaturated polyester (UP)-toughened epoxy nanocomposites were prepared, and their effective mechanical and thermal properties were studied. Two types of organo-modified montmorillonite (OMMT) clays were used to prepare the nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed the formation of exfoliated silicate layers in the UP-toughened epoxy matrix. Mechanical tests revealed that nanocomposites (containing 1 wt% OMMT clay) showed an increase in tensile strength to 13.8%, flexural strength to 10%, and impact strength to 4% compared with an UP-toughened epoxy blend. The effect of different heating rates on the curing behavior of UP-toughened epoxy nanocomposites was investigated using non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. The data were interpreted using the Kissinger and Flynn–Wall–Ozawa models to find the curing reaction parameter. The water uptake behavior for nanocomposites increased with the addition of OMMTs. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs indicated morphological changes in the impact fractured samples of UP-toughened epoxy nanocomposites.     

Hypervariate constitutive modeling illustrated via aleatory uncertainty in a foundation model

Even if a ceramic's homogenized properties (such as anisotropically evolving stiffness) truly can be predicted from complete knowledge of sub-continuum morphology (e.g., locations, sizes, shapes, orientations, and roughness of trillions of crystals, dislocations, impurities, pores, inclusions, and/or cracks), the necessary calculations are untenably hypervariate. Non-productive (almost derailing) debates over shortcomings of various first-principles ceramics theories are avoided in this work by discussing numerical coarsening in the context of a pedagogically appealing buckling foundation model that requires only sophomore-level understanding of springs, buckling hinges, dashpots, etc. Bypassing pre-requisites in constitutive modeling, this work aims to help students to understand the difference between damage and plasticity while also gaining experience in Monte-Carlo numerical optimization via scale-bridging that reduces memory and processor burden by orders of magnitude while accurately preserving aleatory (finite-sampling) perturbations that are crucial to accurately predict bifurcations, such as ceramic fragmentation.     

Dielectric relaxation of conductive carbon black reinforced ethylene‐octene copolymer vulcanizates

The dielectric relaxation behavior of different conducting carbon black‐filled ethylene‐octene copolymer (EOC) vulcanizates prepared by melt‐mixing method has been studied as a function of frequency (100 Hz–5 MHz) over a wide range of temperatures (25–100°C). The effect of filler loading and frequency on AC conductivity, dielectric permittivity, impedance, and dielectric loss tangent (tanδ) has been studied. The nature of variation of the dielectric permittivity with the filler loadings was explained on the basis of interfacial polarization of the filler in the polymer matrix. The effect of filler loading on the real and complex part of the impedance was explained by the relaxation dynamics of the polymer chains in the vicinity of the fillers. The effect of filler and temperature on dielectric loss tangent, dielectric permittivity, AC conductivity, and Nyquist plot was also reported. The bound rubber (BR) value increases with increase in filler loading suggesting the formation of strong interphase, which is correlated with dielectric loss. Thermal activation energy (E_a) was found to be decreasing with the temperature, which follows the Arrhenius relation: τ_b = τ₀ exp(−E_a/K_BT) where τ_b is the relaxation time for the bulk material. From the plot of lnτ_b versus inverse of absolute temperature (1/T), the activation energies (E_a) were found to be 0.37 and 0.44eV, respectively. The percolation threshold was observed with 40 phr carbon black loading. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:342–352, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Evaluation of Wear Behaviour of Metal Injection Moulded Nickel Based Metal Matrix Composite

Silicon - Metal injection moulding (MIM) is a near-net shape manufacturing technology for producing intricate parts, cost-effectively. MIM comprises combined techniques of plastic injection...     

Electrochemical insertion of Sr ions onto nano δ-MnO2 particles

Manganese dioxide is known to be an important electroactive material for supercapacitors. Generally, δ-MnO₂ is subjected to electrochemical characterization studies in aqueous electrolytes of Na₂SO₄. It exhibits capacitance behaviour in the potential range between 0 and 1.0 V vs. SCE (saturated calomel electrode). In the present study, it is shown that δ-MnO₂ exhibits capacitance behaviour in Sr(NO₃)₂ electrolytes also. The suitable potential range in this electrolyte is also found to be 0-1.0 V. Specific capacitance measured in Sr(NO₃)₂ electrolyte is 192 F g^− 1. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data confirm that Sr²⁺ ions get inserted onto δ-MnO₂ nanoparticles.