Grafting of methyl methacrylate onto guar gum by hydrogen peroxide initiation

Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto guar gum (GG) in aqueous slurry has been carried out using hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) as initiator. The copolymers were characterized by infrared spectroscopy. The grafting parameters like percent grafting, grafting efficiency, percent add-on, and the grafting frequency were determined, and the effect of reaction time, concentration of initiator, and [GG]/[MMA] ratios on the grafting parameters have been discussed. The decrease in % add-on at increasing concentration of H₂O₂ indicated enhancement in the rate of homopolymerization of methyl methacrylate.     

Structural,optical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Zn0.9Co0.1O-based diluted magnetic semiconductors

With a view to understand the influence of nano size on various properties of cobalt-doped ZnO-based diluted magnetic semiconductors, a series of materials were prepared by the citrate gel route. The phase and morphology studies have been carried out by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. All the samples of the present investigation are found to have hexagonal wurtzite structure and crystallite sizes are found to vary from 25 nm to 65 nm. From the optical absorption measurements it has been observed that upon doping with cobalt, the energy band gap is found to shift towards lower energy side (red shift) while it shifts towards higher energy side (blue shift) when the crystallite size is increased continuously. It has been observed from the XPS results that oxidation state of Cobalt is +2 and that the difference in binding energies of Co 2p_3/2 and Co 2p_1/2 is found to increase continuously with increasing crystallite size. Finally, all the samples are found to exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism and the specific magnetization decreases with increasing crystallite size.     

Glass fibre reinforced composites of triglycidyl-p-aminophenol

Glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites were fabricated from the matrix resins diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and triglycidyl-p-aminophenol (TGAP) using diethylene triamine as curing agent. The epoxy laminates were evaluated for their mechanical properties, dielectrical properties and chemical resistance. Significant improvement in fiexural strength but a slight deterioration in dielectrical properties were observed on incorporation of an epoxy fortifier into the resin system before fabricating the composites.     

A series of novel double perovskite oxides NaMTi<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>6</Subscript> (M = Eu,Sm, and Gd): preparation,characterization and photocatalytic studies under visible and solarlight irradiation

The photocatalytic activity of sol–gel synthesized double perovskite type oxides NaEuTi₂O₆(NETO), NaSmTi₂O₆ (NSTO), and NaGdTi₂O₆ (NGTO) powders on degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was demonstrated for the first time under visible light as well as sunlight irradiation. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with X-ray energy-dispersion spectrometry. All the three samples have shown photocatalytic activity for degradation of MB under sunlight and visible light irradiation and their photocatalytic activity followed the order of NGTO > NETO > NSTO. The superior activity of NGTO is ascribed to the higher amount of hydroxyl radicals generated in the photocatalytic reaction.     

Preparation, characterization and conductivity studies of Li3?2xAl2?xSbx(PO4)3

New NASICON type materials of composition, Li_3−2x Al_2−x Sb _x (PO₄)₃ (x = 0·6 to 1·4), have been prepared and characterized by powder XRD and IR. D.C. conductivities were measured in the temperature range 300–573 K by a two-probe method. Impedance studies were carried out in the frequency region 10²−10⁶ Hz as a function of temperature (300–573 K). An Arrhenius behaviour is observed for all compositions by d.c. conductivity and the Cole-Cole plots obtained from impedance data do not show any spikes on the lower frequency side indicating negligible electrode effects. A maximum conductivity of 4·5 × 10⁻⁶ S cm⁻¹ at 573 K was obtained for x = 0·8 of the Li_3−2x Al_2−x Sb _x (PO₄)₃ system.     

A wide-ranging review on Nasicon type materials

Nasicons (sodium super ion conductors) are a class of solid electrolytes. Their structure, compositional diversity, evolution, and applications are reviewed. A wide range of materials is considered based on crystalline and glassy Nasicon compositions.     

Effect of simultaneous double doping in Ba and Ti sites on dielectric and ferroelectric properties of sol–gel synthesized nano-BaTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript>

Lead free (Ba_(1−3x)Nd_(2x))(Ti_(1−y)Zr_y)O₃ (x = 0, 0.025, y = 0, 0.025, 0.05) ceramics were prepared successfully using sol–gel method. The effect of Nd, Zr content on dielectric and polarisation properties of BaTiO₃ were studied using dielectric and hysteresis measurements. SEM analysis proved that the particle size of compounds as prepared were in the order of 30–60 nm. The ferroelectric phase transition from tetragonal to cubic phase was observed around 130 °C for pure BaTiO₃. With the addition of Nd (2.5 mol%) and increasing content of Zr (2.5 and 5 mol%), it was observed that transition temperature (T_c) shifts to lower temperatures (70–50 °C), but didn’t show any relaxor behaviour. Dielectric measurements showed an increase in the values at room temperature in all the doped samples. The synthesized ceramics exhibited typical P–E hysteresis loops at room temperature accompanied by saturation polarisation (P_s) and remanent polarisation (P_r). Behaviour of polarisation phenomena in these compounds showed interesting results with increasing temperature.     

Differential scanning calorimetric investigation of curing of resins formed from furfural and various phenols

Curing reactions of adequately characterized phenol-furfural, o-chlorophenol-furfural, P-chlorophenol-furfural and p-tert-butyl phenol-furfural resins with hexamine were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The data are analyzed by appropriate empirical relations with a view to examining their applicability to the present sets of data and to estimating kinetic parameters of the curing reactions.     

Bandgap engineering by substitution of S by Se in nanostructured ZnS1−xSex thin films grown by soft chemical route for nontoxic optoelectronic device applications

Thin films of nanostructured ZnS_1−xSe_x with optimized growth parameters were prepared by soft chemical route on glass substrates. Ammonia free precursors were used at 80 °C constant bath temperature. The ratio of sulphur to selenium was changed continuously by changing the composition x (0-1), while atomic concentration of zinc was kept constant. Structure, composition and surface morphology of as-deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) respectively. XRD studies revealed that as-deposited films were nanostructured in nature with cubic zinc blended structure. It was further observed that the preferred orientations are along (1 1 1) plane and crystallite size decreased with increase in the value of x. SEM and AFM images revealed that films were uniform and pinhole free. The optical band gap (E_g) was calculated from the observed transmittance spectra by Urbach method. It was found that the band gap varied linearly from 3.71 to 2.70 eV, as composition x varies 0-1. The electrical properties’ study revealed that the decrease in resistivity and increase in photosensitivity, as composition x varied 0-1. The observed interesting properties of ZnS_1−xSe_x thin films justified their significance in optoelectronic device fabrication and applications, and as an environment friendly alternative to the commonly used toxic material such as CdS.