Polyethylene–Carbon Nanotube Composite Film Deposited by Cold Spray Technique

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are high-performance materials because of their superior electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and self-lubrication, and they have been studied for application to polymer composite materials as fillers. However, the methods of fabricating polymer composites with CNTs, such as injection molding, are too complicated for industrial applications. We propose a simple cold spray (CS) technique to obtain a polymer composite of polyethylene (PE) and CNTs. The composite films were deposited by CS on polypropylene and nano-porous structured aluminum substrates. The maximum thickness of the composite film was approximately 1 mm. Peaks at G and D bands were observed in the Raman spectra of the films. Scanning electron microscopy images of the film surface revealed that PE particles were melted by the acceleration gas and CNTs were attached with melted PE. The PE particles solidified after contact with the substrate. These results indicate that PE–CNT composite films were successfully deposited on polypropylene and nano-porous structured aluminum substrates by CS.     

Synthesis of amino-cosubstituted polyorganophosphazenes and fabrication of their nanoparticles for anticancer drug delivery

The development of safe drug carriers is cardinal in cancer therapy, which can target the cancer cells and release the loaded drug on-demand without damaging the healthy cells of the body. In our work, we synthesized three different biodegradable polymers, poly[(ethyl aminobezoate) (ethyl glycinato) phosphazenes] (PABGPs), in different mole ratio of side groups. The successful synthesis of these PABGPs was confirmed by ¹H NMR, ³¹P NMR, FT-IR, and gel permeation chromatography. These PABGPs were fabricated into drug (camptothecin, CPT, a hydrophobic anticancer drug) loaded nanoparticles. These drug-loaded nanoparticles showed good drug release behaviors under normal physiological conditions (pH 7.4 and temperature 37°C). These PABGPs-based nanoparticles may find their application as effective drug carriers for cancer therapy.     

Synergistic fire-retardancy properties of melamine coated ammonium poly(phosphate) in combination with rod-like mineral filler attapulgite for polymer-modified bitumen roofing membranes

A novel intumescent (carbonization, acid donor and foaming) fire retardant that mimics carbon nanotubes was introduced into bitumen roofing and characterized using cone calorimetry as the main analytical tool. The experimental results indicate that 18% (by mass) attapulgite mineral (ATTP) mixed with base bitumen decreased the peak heat release rate per unit area (pHRRPUA) by 10%. Further, incorporation of melamine coated ammonium polyphosphate (MAPP) decreased the pHRRPUA by 52% and a mixture of these (3:1, ATTP:MAPP) decreased the pHRRPUA by 25% as compared to adding CaCO₃ as a filler. The residual mass loss after the cone test was also improved with up to 3%. The indication of a positive synergistic flame retardant effect of the ATTP-MAPP mixture is supported by thermogravimetric analysis. The addition of this rod-like mineral improved the general fire retardant properties of the base bitumen and increased the viscosity. Therefore, the polymer-modified bitumen with both fire retardant and rheological properties (providing mechanical strength) is a promising novel approach in the design of bitumen roofing membranes.     

Exergoeconomic and environmental investigation of an innovative poly-generation plant driven by a solid oxide fuel cell for production of electricity,cooling, desalinated water,and hydrogen

Fuel cell and renewable-based poly-generation plants (PGPs) are proven as advanced technologies for multiple generation purposes. To limit the greenhouse gas emissions, an innovative PGP generating electricity, cooling, desalinated water, and hydrogen is proposed in the current study. The system consists of a solid oxide fuel cell as a prime mover integrated with a gas turbine, a biomass combustion chamber, an organic Rankine cycle, an ejector refrigeration cycle, a desalination unit, and a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer integrated with solar collectors. As the most effective tools for performance evaluation, exergoeconomic, and environmental analyses have been applied. The system produces electricity of 4.4 MW, refrigeration capacity of 0.16 MW, and desalinated water of 0.96 kg/s. The attained freshwater enters the electrolyzer during 12 daylight hours, leading to hydrogen and sanitary water generation with the values of 1.55 g/s and 0.94 kg/s, respectively. The cost per unit exergy and the total cost rate of the products are 11.28 $/GJ, 223 $/h, correspondingly. Carbon dioxide emission of the system is estimated to be 10.79 kmol/MWh. According to the evaluation, the total cost rate increases with increasing current density and fuel cell inlet temperature and decreasing fuel utilization factor.     

Development of high performance amine functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8)/cellulose triacetate mixed matrix membranes for CO2/CH4 separation

High cost and complex fabrication process of inorganic membranes and lower position of pristine polymeric membranes in the Robeson upper bound curve urged the researchers to develop mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). Cellulose acetate being most commercially used polymer, dominates the market of CO₂ separation mainly because of low cost and environmental friendly resource. In the present study, MMMs consists of amine functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework (NH₂-ZIF-8) and cellulose triacetate were fabricated for the first time. NH₂-ZIF-8 was used as a filler because the pore size of ZIF-8 is between the kinetic diameter of separating gases (CO₂ and CH₄). Moreover,  NH₂ group attached on the surface of ZIF-8 has affinity with condensable gases like CO₂. Morphology, crystallinity, tensile strength and functional groups of fabricated membranes were investigated using different analytical techniques. Results revealed that the increase of feed pressure has increased CO₂ permeability and decreased permselectivity. However, improvements in gas separation performance were observed with the addition of nanofiller. Best position in Robeson's upper bound curve at 4 bar was obtained with 10 wt% loading with CO₂ permeability and CO₂/CH₄ permselectivity of 218 barrer and 13.84, respectively. The improvement in the gas separation performance with loading is attributed to the increased diffusion coefficients as well as solubility coefficients, which was increased to 33% and 3.8%, respectively.     

Incorporation of pyridinic and graphitic N to Ni@CNTs: As a competent electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Cheap production of hydrogen (H₂) from eco-friendly routes is preeminent for solving future energy challenges. This study explores the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of nickel (Ni) nanoparticles and nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (NiNCNTs), which are fabricated by a cheap and one-step pyrolysis method. The most active catalyst synthesized at 800°C exhibits an overpotential of 0.244 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm⁻², Tafel slope of 93.3 mV dec⁻¹ and a satisfactory 10 hours stability. Low resistance and large ECSA value of the sample also favor the competent response for HER in alkaline media. The robust HER activity of the catalyst is as a result of the nickel nanoparticles which are the active spots of reaction; while the presence of well-developed nitrogen containing carbon nanotubes with large content of pyridinic and graphitic nitrogen may provide high-electron density and feasible routes for its transportation to deliver an outstanding HER performance.     

A vibration-based electromagnetic and piezoelectric hybrid energy harvester

This work presents the fabrication and testing of a vibration-based single energy hybrid harvester (VSEHH). Electromagnetic and piezoelectric transduction mechanisms are utilized for energy extraction in the developed harvester. Electromagnetic portion of the device composed of a permanent magnet, planar coil and wound coil, however, for piezoelectric portion polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane is used. In the harvester the PVDF membrane having the magnet is kept loose in order to exploit the spring softening nonlinearity. At lower base excitation levels (less than 0.5g) the response of the VSEHH is linear, however, from 0.5 to 2.5g the harvester exhibits spring softening nonlinearity and at acceleration levels greater than 2.5g, the spring hardening nonlinearity is invoked. Because of nonlinear behavior of the harvester, the shift of resonant frequency, the sudden jump-up and jump-down phenomena result in the enhancement of the harvester's frequency bandwidth. Under sinusoidal excitation and at 123 Hz frequency and 4g acceleration, the electromagnetic portion of the harvester produced 40.6 mV load voltage and 212.7 μW with planar coil and 73.5 mV load voltage and 319.1 μW power with wound coil. Moreover, under the same vibrations condition a load voltage of 2930 mV and power of 57.6 μW is generated by the piezoelectric portion of the harvester. Collectively, the harvester is capable of producing a power of 589.4 μW and a power density of 334.13 μW/cm³. Furthermore, when subjected to broadband random vibrations, two central frequency peaks are produced, one is due to spring softening and the other corresponds to the spring hardening of the membrane.     

EETP-MAC: energy efficient traffic prioritization for medium access control in wireless body area networks

Wireless body area network (WBAN) has witnessed significant attentions in the healthcare domain using biomedical sensor-based monitoring of heterogeneous nature of vital signs of a patient’s body. The design of frequency band, MAC superframe structure, and slots allocation to the heterogeneous nature of the patient’s packets have become the challenging problems in WBAN due to the diverse QoS requirements. In this context, this paper proposes an Energy Efficient Traffic Prioritization for Medium Access Control (EETP-MAC) protocol, which provides sufficient slots with higher bandwidth and guard bands to avoid channels interference causing longer delay. Specifically, the design of EETP-MAC is broadly divided in to four folds. Firstly, patient data traffic prioritization is presented with broad categorization including Non-Constrained Data (NCD), Delay-Constrained Data (DCD), Reliability-Constrained Data (RCD) and Critical Data (CD). Secondly, a modified superframe structure design is proposed for effectively handling the traffic prioritization. Thirdly, threshold based slot allocation technique is developed to reduce contention by effectively quantifying criticality on patient data. Forth, an energy efficient frame design is presented focusing on beacon interval, superframe duration, and packet size and inactive period. Simulations are performed to comparatively evaluate the performance of the proposed EETP-MAC with the state-of-the-art MAC protocols. The comparative evaluation attests the benefit of EETP-MAC in terms of efficient slot allocation resulting in lower delay and energy consumption.

     

A piezoelectric based energy harvester for simultaneous energy generation and vibration isolation

A vibration isolator with energy harvesting abilities is presented in this work. The developed device is able to isolate the environment from vibration of appliances, such as household electrical generators, domestic refrigerators, microwave oven, and automobile's engine, and at the same time convert the vibration to electrical energy. The resulting energy produced by the device can be utilized to operate the wireless condition monitoring units. The developed device composed of piezoelectric disc embedded in silicone rubber and is able to exhibit a resonance at 56‐Hz frequency. When subjected to a sinusoidal force, an open circuit voltage of 1.7 V is generated by the devised harvester. Furthermore, the device generated an optimum power of 2.12 mW at a matching load of 340 kΩ and frequency (resonant) of 56 Hz. However, while operating in the isolation region, it is capable of producing a load voltage of 0.87 and 0.25 V and power of 1.8 and 0.51 mW at 1.4 and 3.5 frequency ratios, respectively.