Carbon-based TiO2-x heterostructure nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye molecules

Application of brown titanium dioxide (TiO_2-x) and its modified composite forms in the photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in the environment is a promising way to provide solutions for environmental redemption. Herein, we report the synthesis of effective and stable TiO_2-x nanoparticles with g-C₃N₄, RGO, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using a simple hydrothermal method. Among all the as-synthesized samples, excellent photocatalytic degradation activity was observed for RGO-TiO_2-x nanocomposite with high rate constants of 0.075 min^?1_, 0.083 min^?1 and 0.093 min^?1 for methylene blue, rhodamine-B, and rosebengal dyes under UV–Visible light irradiation, respectively. The altered bandgap (1.8 eV) and the large surface area of RGO-TiO_2-x nanocomposite impacts on both absorption of visible light and efficiency of photogenerated charge electron (e^?)/hole (h⁺) pair separation. This resulted in enhanced photocatalytic property of carbon-based TiO_2-x nanocomposites. A systematic study on the influence of different carbon nanostructures on the photocatalytic activity of brown TiO_2-x is carried out.     

Keyword-based private searching on cloud data along with keyword association and dissociation using cuckoo filter

International Journal of Information Security - Outsourcing of data is a very common scenario in the present-day world and quite often we need to outsource confidential data whose privacy is of...     

Self-activated ‘green’ carbon nanoparticles for symmetric solid-state supercapacitors

Tuning of porosity and surface properties of nanoparticles especially on carbon-based nanomaterials, adopting a ‘greener’ or self-activation synthesis technique for electrical charge storage, is progressing. Herein, we report the self-activation of Teak wood sawdust in a nitrogen atmosphere at different activation temperatures to synthesize carbon nanoparticles. The activated carbon nanoparticles synthesized at 900 °C exhibits a maximum?~?360 m² g^?1 surface area with?~?2 nm average pore size diameter. Five electrolytes viz. KOH, KCl, Na₂SO₄, NaCl, and H₃PO₄ are used for studying the supercapacitance nature of the activated carbon nanoparticles in a 3-electrode configuration. A maximum specific capacitance of?~?208 F g^?1 @ 0.25 A g^?1 is obtained in 1 M KOH as the electrolyte. Two symmetric supercapacitors, aqueous (1 M KOH) and solid-state (PVA/KOH), are fabricated, and their performance difference is compiled. The solid-state symmetric supercapacitor performs in a wider voltage window (1.7 V) with a superior energy density of 27.1 Wh kg^?1 at a power density of 178 W kg^?1.

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CPSDebug: Automatic failure explanation in CPS models

International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer - Debugging cyber-physical system (CPS) models is a cumbersome and costly activity. CPS models combine continuous and discrete...     

Intensity tunable optical limiting behaviour of an organic material 2-aminopyridinium succinate succinic acid single crystal

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - A mixed solution of 2-aminopyridine and succinic acid, with a 1:1 molar ratio, was kept at room temperature to develop a 2-aminopridinium...     

Economical treatment of reverse osmosis reject of textile industry effluent by electrodialysis–evaporation integrated process

Membrane separation methods such as electrodialysis (ED) can reduce the volume load on evaporators by facilitating further concentration of rejects from reverse osmosis (RO) plants. ED studies were carried out on a bench-scale system using five membrane cell pairs to obtain a textile effluent concentrate containing approximately 6 times the quantity of salts present in the RO reject. The limiting current densities were determined to be in the range 2.15–3.35 amp/m² for feed flow rates varying from 18 to 108 L/h. Apart from feed rate, the influence of volume of concentrate and current on membrane performance was evaluated to optimize current utilization. An estimation of energy requirement of an integrated process constituting ED and evaporation for concentration of inorganics present in textile effluent from 4.35% to 24% was made and found to be approximately one eighth of the operating cost incurred by evaporation alone. Detailed design of a commercial ED system revealed that a membrane area of 13.1 m² was required to treat a feed rate of 1500 L/h. The payback period to recover capital investment was found to be 110 days.     

A concurrent control architecture for autonomous mobile robots using Asynchronous Production Systems

The quest for efficient real-time response by autonomous robots in hazardous environments necessitates not only fast computational schemes in expert systems but also requires insights on high performance data structures and concurrent algorithms that lead to elegant problem-solving methods in the AI discipline. towards this objective, this paper presents an Asynchronous Production System (APS) of architecture capable of monitoring and processing real-time information.     

Conservative Approximation–Based Full‐Search Block Matching Algorithm Architecture for QCIF Digital Video Employing Systolic Array Architecture

This paper presents a power‐efficient hardware realization for a motion estimation technique that is based on the full‐search block matching algorithm (FSBMA). The considered input is the quarter common intermediate format of digital video. The mean of absolute difference (MAD) is the distortion criteria employed for the block matching process. The conventional architecture considered for the hardware realization of FSBMA is that of the shift register–based 2‐D systolic array. For this architecture, a conservative approximation technique is adapted to eliminate unnecessary MAD computations involved in the block matching process. Upon introducing the technique to the conventional architecture, the power and complexity of its implantation is reduced, while the accuracy of the motion vector extracted from the block matching process is preserved. The proposed architecture is verified for its functional specifications. A performance evaluation of the proposed architecture is carried out using parameters such as power, area, operating frequency, and efficiency.     

Starch/polyethylene nanocomposites: Mechanical,thermal, and biodegradability characteristics

Tapioca starch has been crosslinked and blended with 10% low density polyethylene (LDPE) with varying quantities of silane treated nanoclay using an epoxy functionalized LDPE as compatibilizer. The mechanical, thermal, water absorption, and biodegradability characteristics were investigated. The mechanical properties were considerably improved by crosslinking as compared to uncrosslinked composites. The flexural properties increased by more than 50% while tensile strength increased by one and half times. Biodegradability was initially inhibited but became rapid after the initial lag period. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1384–1395, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers