Investigation of structural,optical, and magnetic properties of Nd-doped Sr2SnO4 Ruddlesden Popper oxide

The samples of Sr_2-xNd_xSnO₄ with x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, and 0.10 were synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state ceramic route. Rietveld refining of X-ray diffraction results showed that all the synthesized compositions are single phase under tetragonal crystal structure. The presence of functional group and local structure has been studied using FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. XPS study of samples showed the presence of oxygen vacancy and interstitial oxygen in the sample. Optical band gap of samples analyzed by UV-Vis spectra gradually increases with dopant concentration, and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy study showed most intense emission around 1064 nm. Room-temperature magnetic hysteresis curve in sample SSN2 showed ferromagnetism, slowly decreasing with Nd and becoming antiferromagnetic for higher compositions. Utilizing the absorption state observed in PL as metastable state makes it promising candidate for laser and IR detector application and the ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic nature of sample makes it suitable candidate for spintronics device applications.     

Comparative study to use nanofluid ZnO and CuO with phase change material in photovoltaic thermal system

In this study, the simultaneous use of nanofluid and phase changing material as a coolant for photovoltaic fluid collector system and its effects are investigated experimentally. Two types of nanofluid are taken for the consideration, that is, ZnO and CuO, which are water‐based fluid. The experiments are performed in five different types of photovoltaic thermal system conventional: PT, PVT (ZnO), PVT (CuO), PCM medium (PVT/PCM/ZnO), and PCM medium (PVT/PCM/CuO). The results are obtained for surface temperature, energy, and thermal efficiency, and it is compared with each other. Further, the effect of the nanofluid as the effective alternative for pure deionized water is measured. From the results, it is evident that the PVT/PCM/CuO system minted 15% high electric output compared with convention module. Furthermore, the addition of the CuO nanofluid increases the thermal output significantly up to 8% for PVT and 12% for PCM without energy consumption. It also found that the nanofluid increases the overall energy efficiency of the system compared with convention PV.     

Green hydroelectrical energy source based on water dissociation by nanoporous ferrite

Dissociation of water molecule occurs on octahedrally coordinated unsaturated suface cations and oxygen vacancies created by lithium substitution in magnesium ferrite. Lower synthesis temperature of ferrite has generated nanopores in microstructure. Dissociated hydronium and hydroxyl ions are transported through surface and capillary diffusion in porous ferrite network towards attached Zn and Ag electrodes. Water molecule dissociation ability of nanoporous ferrite has been exploited to develop a green electrical energy cell, which is a combination of material science and electrode chemistry. The innovated cell has been nomenclatured as hydroelectric cell (HEC). When HEC is partially dipped in deionized water, spontaneously hydroxide and hydronium ions are produced by water molecule dissociation. Hydronium ions trapped in nanopores develop enough electric field that further dissociates physisorbed water molecules. Thereby, the process of water molecule dissociation is accelerated in a bigger way to increase ionic current in the cell. Oxidation of Zn electrode by hydroxide ion and reduction of H₃O⁺ at Ag electrode develop voltage and electric current in the cell. The HEC cell of a 17 cm² area is able to generate a short circuit current of 82 mA and 920 mV emf with a maximum output power of 74 mW, which is three order higher than reported output power 1.4 μW/cm² produced by water in cement matrix. Hydroelectric cell performance is repetitive, stable and possesses potential to replace traditional ways of generating renewable energy in terms of cost and safety. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of heating and acidic pH on characteristics of wheat gluten suspension

The effects of different pH treatments with and without heating on the characteristics of wheat gluten suspension was investigated. At pH 1, maximum changes in colour were observed with a concurrent 65% decrease in protein free-thiol content compared to the control gluten. The SDS-Extractability of protein (SDS-EP) chromatogram eluted at lower retention time and the presence of bands at the top lane even during reducing conditions in SDS-PAGE gel suggested complex formation involving bonds other than disulphides. An increase in the free-amino group content and the presence of an additional peak at a higher retention time in the SDS-EP chromatogram was suggestive of hydrolysis. At pH 2 and 3, similar decreases in SDS-EPs and free-thiol content indicated formation of complexes. When heated, the free-thiol content of the dispersions increased compared to the non-heated dispersions indicating disruption of disulphide bonds with changes in gluten structure and size distribution.     

Exercise classification and event segmentation in Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination videos

Image and video processing techniques are being frequently used in medical science applications. Computer vision-based systems have successfully replaced various manual medical processes such as analyzing physical and biomechanical parameters, physical examination of patients. These systems are gaining popularity because of their robustness and the objectivity they bring to various medical procedures. Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examinations (HINE) is a set of physical tests that are carried out on infants in the age group of 3–24 months with neurological disorders. However, these tests are graded through visual observations, which can be highly subjective. Therefore, computer vision-aided approach can be used to assist the experts in the grading process. In this paper, we present a method of automatic exercise classification through visual analysis of the HINE videos recorded at hospitals. We have used scale-invariant-feature-transform features to generate a bag-of-words from the image frames of the video sequences. Frequency of these visual words is then used to classify the video sequences using HMM. We also present a method of event segmentation in long videos containing more than two exercises. Event segmentation coupled with a classifier can help in automatic indexing of long and continuous video sequences of the HINE set. Our proposed framework is a step forward in the process of automation of HINE tests through computer vision-based methods. We conducted tests on a dataset comprising of 70 HINE video sequences. It has been found that the proposed method can successfully classify exercises with accuracy as high as 84%. The proposed work has direct applications in automatic or semiautomatic analysis of “vertical suspension” and “ventral suspension” tests of HINE. Though some of the critical tests such as “pulled-to-sit,” “lateral tilting,” or “adductor’s angle measurement” have already been addressed using image- and video-guided techniques, scopes are there for further improvement.     

Effect of iron alloying in evolution of nanostructure and microstructural stability in nickel

Nanocrystalline materials show many interesting properties such as high strength and hardness due to nanosized grains and high density of interfaces. In this context, the present work reports the effect of Fe (iron) addition in Ni (nickel) on nanostructure retention during the annealing of Ni-Fe alloy (with 0, 18.5, 28.5 and 43 wt% Fe) at 450 °C for 16 h. Furthermore, effect of annealing on the deformation mechanism was investigated. The integral breadth method revealed the decrease in grain size with increase in wt% Fe in Ni. The strain rate sensitivity exponent which is a signature of operating deformation mechanism showed a higher value (0.10803) in case of Ni-18.5 wt% Fe during nanoindentation. However, Ni-0 wt% Fe, Ni-28.5 wt% Fe and Ni-43 wt% Fe were characterized by a relatively low strain rate sensitivity exponent (between 0.02069 and 0.10803). Results indicated the presence of Hall-Petch relationship up to 18.5 wt% Fe and inverse Hall-Petch relationship above 18.5 wt% Fe.     

Metal organic frameworks as electrocatalysts: Hydrogen evolution reactions and overall water splitting

The development of clean energy technologies to protect the environment is an important demand of the times. Electrocatalysis is emerging as a promising method for evolution of hydrogen and overall water splitting. Nowadays, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as electrocatalysts having uniformly distributed active sites and high electrical conductivity. This review summarizes the latest advances in heterogeneous catalysis by MOFs and their composite/derivatives for efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and water splitting. Pristine MOFs with their recent development are summarized first followed by composites of MOFs with their enhanced electrocatalytic performances. Overall water splitting by using bifunctional electrocatalysts derived from MOFs with different synthetic approaches is provided and this review gives the metal-based categorisation of precursor MOFs. Different strategies to improve chemical stability, conductivity, and overall electrocatalytic properties have been discussed. In the last, perspectives on the synthesis of efficient MOF-based electrocatalyst materials are provided.     

Phase separation and crystallization in double crystalline symmetric binary polymer blends

Blending of two or more pure polymers is an effective way to produce composites with tunable properties. In this paper, we report dynamic Monte Carlo simulation results on the crystallization of crystalline/crystalline (A/B) symmetric binary polymer blend, wherein the melting temperature of A-polymer is higher than B-polymer. We study the effect of segregation strength (arises from the immiscibility between A- and B-polymers) on crystallization and morphological development. Crystallization of A-polymer precedes the crystallization of B-polymer upon cooling from a homogeneous melt. Simulation results reveal that the morphological development is controlled by the interplay between crystallization driving force (viz., attractive interaction) and de-mixing energy (viz., repulsive interaction between two polymers). With increasing segregation strength, the interface becomes more rigid and restricts the development of crystalline structures. Mean square radius of gyration shows a decreasing trend with increasing segregation strength, reflecting the increased repulsive interaction between A- and B-polymers. As a consequence, a large number of smaller size crystals form with lesser crystallinity. Isothermal crystallization reveals that the transition pathways strongly depend on segregation strength. We also observe a path-dependent crystallization behavior in isothermal crystallization: two-step (sequential) isothermal crystallization yields superior crystalline structure in both A- and B-polymers than one-step (coincident) crystallization.