Sharif Digital Repository

An efficient and commercially available method is introduced for preparation of a binder-free electrode for capacitive deionization (CDI) application. An interconnected porous composite consisting of polyphosphate (PPO), graphene (Gr) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) is fabricated and assembled on a Ni foam substrate to prepare a binder-free electrode (Ni/PPOGrCNT). The resulting electrodes were characterized using various instrumental techniques such as TEM, SEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, Raman, XPS and XRF. Characterization results indicated that a mesoporous PPO structure is formed on a 3D assembly of carbon backbone. Accordingly, the 3-D porous structure facilitates the ion diffusion into... 

This paper reports on the NTIRE 2021 challenge on perceptual image quality assessment (IQA), held in conjunction with the New Trends in Image Restoration and Enhancement workshop (NTIRE) workshop at CVPR 2021. As a new type of image processing technology, perceptual image processing algorithms based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have produced images with more realistic textures. These output images have completely different characteristics from traditional distortions, thus pose a new challenge for IQA methods to evaluate their visual quality. In comparison with previous IQA challenges, the training and testing datasets in this challenge include the outputs of perceptual image... 

Herein, we demonstrate a new fabrication strategy for low-cost and stable-operation perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suitable for commercialization. This is performed by fabrication of the device under ambient conditions using a Cs0.05(MA0.17FA0.83)0.95Pb(Br0.17I0.83)3 formulation as the mixed cation and halide (MCH) perovskite and CuInS2 (CIS) as the inorganic hole transporting layer. The deposited MCH perovskite with uniform, compact and smooth microstructure containing equiaxed large grains showed excellent thermal and structural stability under intense conditions at 85 °C for 2 h in humid air (i.e., 45% relative humidity). Moreover, it had higher phosphorescence emission, absorption and... 

Understanding the effect of crystallographic orientation on the twinnin/detwinning mechanisms in NiTi shape memory alloys at an atomistic scale can help to control and tune the mechanical properties and failure behavior of such materials. In this work, we employed classical molecular dynamics (MD) and density functional theory (DFT) computational methods to better understand how twinning and detwinning occurs through a combination of slip, twin, and shuffle on 〈0 1 0〉, 〈1 1 0〉, and 〈1 1 1〉 crystallographic orientations under uniaxial tensile test. Elastic constants including Young's Modulus (E), Bulk modulus (B), Poisson's ratio (ν), and Shear Modulus (G) are obtained and computed for... 

The fabrication of Ni/Ti laminated composite via cross accumulative roll bonding (CARB) and subsequent annealing treatment has been studied. The relationships between annealing conditions and microstructure at interfaces of Ni/Ti have been investigated by SEM, XRD, and EDS analyses. The results show that the layers were well-bonded by the CARB process, and by increasing the temperature and time of annealing treatment, the interfacial layers grew as a result of the interdiffusion of Ni and Ti atoms. The main intermetallic phases were NiTi and NiTi2, both of which obeyed linear kinetics of growth. However, the calculated activation energy of NiTi was lower than that of NiTi2, indicating the... 

In this study, we investigate the limitations and influence of various factors on the performance of trolling mode atomic force microscopy (TR-AFM). For this purpose, at first, based on the governing equations of motion and using a conventional control method, a simulation tool capable of correctly simulating the imaging procedure in TR-AFM is developed. Then based on the developed simulation tool, imaging of different surfaces is performed, and the effect of different factors on the image quality is analyzed. The flexibility of nanoneedle in TR-AFM has unpredictable effects on dynamics of system as well as imaging performance. One problem in imaging is due to coexistence of two stable... 

Efficient utilization of solar energy as the cleanest and most plentiful natural resource for drinking water is a water is as sustianble and environmental friendly approach to obviate long-standing water scarcity. Carbon-based photothermal absorbers due to broadband light absorption are very interesting in interfacial solar steam generation systems. Herein, we investigate the convenient application of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets with carbon black (CB) nanoparticles on the cotton fabric as a flexible texture-based photothermal absorber. Polyurethane (PU) as a self-floating insulator foam was selected to manage the energy loss and preserve light converted to heat on the fabric... 

The microstructure evaluation and phase transformation of multi-pass friction stir-processed (FSP) commercially pure titanium were investigated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy equipped with a backscatter detector, and electron backscatter diffractometer. The microstructure characterization shows that the grain refinement mechanism changed with the increasing number of passes. The equiaxed α grains in the untreated sample changed to lath-shaped grains surrounded by serrated grain boundaries, and produced Widmanstätten morphology during the cooling cycle of FSP. The higher micro-hardness values and bio-corrosion resistances of the FSP-treated samples are due to their... 

ZnO tetrapods and rods were grown on silicon and thermally oxidized porous silicon substrates with and without Au catalyst layer by carbothermal reduction of ZnO powder through chemical vapor transport and condensation method (CVTC). Porous silicon was fabricated by electrochemical etching of silicon in HF solution. The effect of substrates on morphology, structure and photoluminescence spectra of ZnO nanostructures has been studied. The texture coefficient (TC) of each sample was calculated from XRD data that demonstrated random orientation of ZnO nanostructures on the oxidized porous silicon substrate. Moreover, TC indicates the effect of Au catalyst layer on formation of more highly... 

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) nano-powders were synthesized by a gel combustion method. To analyse the effect of processing factors and their interactions and to achieve an equation for nano-powder particle size in terms of code factors, D-optimal factorial design was used. Stannous chloride penta-hydride, ammonium fluoride and citric acid were used to synthesize the FTO nano-powders. The structure, morphology and composition of the synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The results revealed the formation of homogenous FTO nano-powders with an average particle size of 20 nm... 

Herein, we present a novel, simple, and ultrasensitive electrochemical DNA (E-DNA) sensor based on hollow carbon spheres (HCS) decorated with polyaniline (PANI). A thiolated 21-mer oligonucleotide, characteristic of HBV DNA, is immobilized via electrodeposited gold nanoparticles on HCS-PANI. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are used to characterize the electrochemical properties of the prepared nanocomposite. Scanning electron microscopy is employed to investigate the morphological texture of the fabricated modifier. An enhanced intrinsic signal of PANI is probed to evaluate the biosensing ability of the prepared... 

The main concern of steganography (image hiding) methods is to embed a secret image into a host image in such a way that it causes minimum distortion to the host; to make it possible to extract a version of secret image from the host in such a way that the extracted version of secret image be as similar as possible to its original version (this should be possible even after usual attacks on the host image), and to provide ways of embedding secret images with larger size into a given host image. In this paper we propose a method that covers all above mentioned concerns by suggesting the idea of finding from an image data base, the most suitable host for a given secret image. In our method,... 

Herein, we report a new strategy for improving the efficiency and reducing the fabrication cost of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) by elimination of the three- or four-fold layer deposition of TiO2. This is performed by replacing a single layer deposition of mesoporous TiO2 beads, with sub-micrometer size, high surface area and tunable pore size, synthesized by a combination of sol-gel and solvothermal methods. Furthermore, superior electronic properties gained by a reduction in electronic trap states are achieved through doping of pristine TiO2 beads with lithium. The beads have a spherical shape with monodispersed texture consisting of anatase-TiO2 nanocrystals and ultra-fine pores. The... 

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has been one of the most active areas of research. The retrieval principle of CBIR systems is based on visual features such as colour, texture and shape or the semantic meaning of the images. A CBIR system can be used to locate medical images in large databases. This paper presents a CBIR system for retrieving digital human brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) based on textural features and the support vector machine (SVM) learning method. This system can retrieve similar images from the database in two groups: normal and tumoural. This research uses the knowledge of the CBIR approach to the application of medical decision support and discrimination... 

This study investigated the synthesis of Pd nanoparticles (NPs) using a high-gravity technique mediated by Salvia hispanica leaf extracts. Biological assays confirmed their antibacterial activity against gram positive (S. aureus) and gram negative (E. coli) bacteria with significant antioxidant activity in comparison with the standards as well as low cellular toxicity on PC12 and HEK293 cell lines. To the best of our knowledge, this study can be considered as the first investigation of Pd-NPs synthesized by Salvia hispanica leaf extracts assisted by a high-gravity technique. In addition, the mentioned green synthesis procedure led to the formation of nanoparticles with considerable...