Surface plasma resonant effect of gold nanoparticles on the photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells

In this study, we prepared different shapes of gold nanoparticles by seed-mediated growth method and applied them on the photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) to study the surface plasma resonant (SPR) effect of gold nanoparticles on the photoelectrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. The analyses of field emission scanning electron microscopy show that the average diameter of the spherical gold nanoparticles is 45 nm, the average length and width of the short gold nanorods were 55 and 22 nm, respectively, and the average length and width of the long gold nanorods were 55 and 14 nm, respectively. The aspect ratio of the short and long gold nanorods was about 2.5 and 4, respectively. The results of ultraviolet–visible absorption spectra show that the absorption wavelength is about 540 nm for spherical gold nanoparticles, and the absorption of the gold nanorods reveals two peaks. One is about 510 to 520 nm, and the other is about 670 and 710 nm for the short and long gold nanorods, respectively. The best conversion efficiency of the dye-sensitized solar cells with spherical gold nanoparticles and short and long gold nanorods added in is 6.77%, 7.08%, and 7.29%, respectively, and is higher than that of the cells without gold nanoparticles, which is 6.21%. This result indicates that the effect of gold nanoparticles on the photoelectrodes can increase the conductivity and reduce the recombination of charges in the photoelectrodes, resulting in the increase of conversion efficiency for DSSCs. In addition, the long gold nanorods have stronger SPR effect than the spherical gold nanoparticles and short gold nanorods at long wavelength. This may be the reason for the higher conversion efficiency of DSSCs with long gold nanorods than those of the cells with spherical gold nanoparticles and short gold nanorods.     

Secure Handover Authentication Protocol Based on Bilinear Pairings

Handover authentication protocol enables a mobile node to switch from one base station to another without loss or interruption of service when the node exits the transmission area of his or her current base station. This paper proposes a secure prime-order handover authentication protocol based on bilinear pairings. The proposed protocol adapts the concept of pseudonyms to provide user anonymity and user unlinkability. It withstands well-known security threats and achieves mutual authentication, user unlinkability. A batch signature verification mechanism to verify a mass of signatures is presented in our scheme. We also prove that our scheme is secure under random oracle.     

Improvement of the Nanoparticle Charging Efficiency of a Single-Wire Corona Unipolar Charger by Using Radial Sheath Airflow: Numerical Study

A single-wire corona unipolar charger with radial sheath air was proposed to enhance the nanoparticle charging efficiency. The charger consists of an insulated Teflon tube (inner diameter = 6.35 mm) with a 6 mm-long grounded porous metal tube placed at its center from which radial sheath air is introduced, and a discharge gold wire of 50 μm in the outer diameter and 6 mm in the effective length. The performance of the charger was evaluated and optimized numerically. The effect of the position of the sheath air opening on reducing charged particle loss was found to be important and two designs were studied. In design 1, both ends of the 6 mm wide sheath air opening are aligned with the ends of the 6 mm-long discharge wire, while in design 2 the sheath air opening is shifted 2 mm toward the left of the leading edge of the wire. At the same operating condition, design 2 was found to have less electrostatic loss than design 1 because of its smaller deposition region for charged particles. Compared to two unipolar chargers with the highest extrinsic charging efficiency for particles smaller than 10 nm in diameter, design 2 operated at the applied voltage of +3.5 kV, aerosol flow rate of 0.5 L/min, and sheath airflow rate of 0.7 L/min has a comparable extrinsic charging efficiency of 17.2%–70.5% based on particle number for particles ranging from 2.5 to 10 nm in diameter.

Copyright 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research     

A Study of Rheological Behavior and Compatibility of NR/BR Blends

In this study, we research the Mooney viscosity, curing rates, and processibility of natural rubber (NR) and polybutadiene rubber (BR) blends at different blending ratios. The changing values are measured during vulcanization processing and were tested by Mooney viscometer, Monsanto viscometer, etc. The results of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) experiments are used to explore the surface morphologies and molecular mobility of NR/BR blends.

The experimental results indicate that Mooney viscosity tends to decrease with increasing NR content of NR/BR blends, and this results in superior processibility of NR/BR blends with increasing NR content. NR/BR blends' curing rate improved with increasing NR content. The DMA experimental results show that the temperature is suitable to produce a character peak (T_αn) in molecular motions of NR/BR blends. There tends to a lower temperature range with decreasing NR content of NR/BR blends. In addition, T_αb would move to a lower temperature with decreasing BR content of NR/BR blends.     

Tribological Performance of Oil-Based Lubricants with Carbon-Fe Nanocapsules Additive

The present study investigates the tribological properties of carbon-Fe nanocapsules (CFNCs) under high contact loads. Block-on-ring wear tests are performed using mineral oil lubricants containing CFNC particles with concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 wt%. In addition, high-resolution electron transmission microscopy (HR-TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were conducted on the test samples. The results show that for a contact load of 650 N, a CFNC concentration of 0.07 wt% and a sliding velocity of 1.65 m/s enhance the surface permeability, fill-up properties, and microbearing lubrication mechanism and promote effective reduction in the wear at the surface contact interface.     

Tribological Performance of Engine Oil Blended with Various Diesel Fuels

In this study, petrodiesel (D100) and different concentrations of commercial biodiesels (B100, B50, B5) were blended with a commercial engine oil at a fixed volume ratio of 1:9 to investigate the tribological effect of the biodiesels on the antiwear performance of the engine oil. The antiwear performance of the blended oils was evaluated using a Plint TE77 reciprocating ball-on-flat tribometer at room temperature and 150°C. Results show that the antiwear performance of the engine oil blended with petrodiesel is worse than that of the other blended oils with biodiesels at both temperatures. At room temperature, the physical adsorption and local hydrodynamic effects of the blended oils dominate the tribological behavior; at 150°C, the biodiesel seems to promote the growth of a reaction film with the antiwear additives in engine oil and enhance the growth rate of chemical films. However, an excess concentration of biodiesels causes tribochemical wear, thus reducing antiwear performance.     

Modeling of transport phenomena in hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding

Mathematical models and associated numerical techniques have been developed to investigate the complicated transport phenomena in spot hybrid laser-MIG keyhole welding. A continuum formulation is used to handle solid phase, liquid phase, and the mushy zone during the melting and solidification processes. The volume of fluid (VOF) method is employed to handle free surfaces, and the enthalpy method is used for latent heat. Dynamics of weld pool fluid flow, energy transfer in keyhole plasma and weld pool, and interactions between droplets and weld pool are calculated as a function of time. The effect of droplet size on mixing and solidification is investigated. It is found that weld pool dynamics, cooling rate, and final weld bead geometry are strongly affected by the impingement process of the droplets in hybrid laser-MIG welding. Also, compositional homogeneity of the weld pool is determined by the competition between the rate of mixing and the rate of solidification.     

Flow and heat transfer over an unsteady stretching surface with non-uniform heat source

The non-uniform heat source/sink effect on the flow and heat transfer from an unsteady stretching sheet through a quiescent fluid medium extending to infinity is studied. The boundary layer equations are transformed by using similarity analysis to be a set of ordinary differential equations containing three parameters: unsteadiness parameter (S), space-dependent parameter (A?) and temperature-dependent parameter (B?) for heat source/sink. The velocity and temperature fields are solved using the Chebyshev finite difference method (ChFD). Results showed that the heat transfer rate, − θ′(0) and the skin friction, − f″(0) increase as the unsteadiness parameter increases whereas decrease as the space-dependent and temperature-dependent parameters for heat source/sink increase.     

Investigation of Ag-bulk/glassy-phase/Si heterostructures of printed Ag contacts on crystalline Si solar cells

The interface structure of screen-printed silver contacts on a crystalline silicon solar cell has been studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM results confirmed that the glassy-phase plays an important role in contact properties. There are at least three different microstructures present in optimal fired contacts. The location where silver-bulk directly contacts silicon is observed through SEM, and this is actually a very thin glass layer in between. In addition, high-density silver embryos on silicon were found for samples fired optimally. The results presented in this study suggest that Ag-bulk/thin-glass-layer/Si contact is the most decisive path for current transportation.