The present study focuses on synthesizing solar selective absorber thin films, combining nanostructured, binary transition metal spinel features and a composite oxide of Co and Ni. Single-layered designs of crystalline spinel-type oxides using a facile, easy and relatively cost-effective wet chemical spray pyrolysis method were prepared with a crystalline structure of MxCo3−xO4. The role of the annealing temperature on the solar selective performance of nickel-cobalt oxide thin films (∼725 ± 20 nm thick) was investigated. XRD analysis confirmed the formation of high crystalline quality thin films with a crystallite size in the range of 27–52 nm. The highest solar absorptance (∼85.2%) and the lowest thermal emittance (∼4.45%) along with the highest values of both hardness and the Young’s modulus (19.1 GPa and 104 GPa, respectively) were obtained for the film annealed at 600 °C. In addition, the synthesized nickel-cobalt oxide thin films show band gap energies in the range of 1.15–1.38 eV and excellent thermal stability at higher temperatures, which makes them interesting candidates for solar absorbing applications.
A recently reported Nile red (NR) dye conjugated with benzothiadiazole species paves the way for the development of novel organic-based sensitizers used in solar cells whose structures are susceptible to modifications. Thus, six novel NR structures were derived from two previously developed structures in laboratories. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) calculations and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) were used to determine the optoelectronic properties of the NR-derived moieties such as absorption spectra. Various linkers were investigated in an attempt to understand the impact of π-linkers on the optoelectronic properties. According to the findings, the presence of furan species led to the planarity of the molecule and a reduction
... Show MoreTo investigate the effect of spraying some plant extraction and anti-oxidants on growth and yield of two cultivars of sunflower, a field experiment was conducted during fall season of 2009 and spring season of 2010 at the Experimental Farm, Department of Field Crop Science, College of Agriculture/ University of Baghdad. RCBD with three replications as factorial at two factors was used. First factor was cultivars Akmar and Shmoss, second was spraying with extraction of karkade at 25%, liquorices at 50%, vitamin C at concentration 1.5 mg.l-1 and nutrient which content 15 elements at concentration 15 % in addition to control treatment which sprayed with distilled water only. The result showed no significant differences between the two cultivar
... Show MoreIn this study, pebble bed as an absorber and storage material was placed in a south facing, flat plate air-type solar collector at fixed tilt angle of (45°). The effect of this material and differ- ent parameters on collector efficiency has been investigated experimentally and
theoretically. Two operation modes were employed to study the performance of the solar air heater. An inte- grated mode of continuous operation of the system during the period of (11:00 am – 3:00 pm) and non-integrated mode in which the system stored the solar energy through the day then used the stored energy during the period of (3:00 pm – 8:00 pm). The results of parametric study in case of continuous operating showed that the maximum average temperatur
Flaxseed from the flax plant (Linum usitatissimum), which has been cultivated for domestic use since prehistoric times. This study aims to investigate presence of antibacterial effect of flaxseed extract against selected oral pathogen in-vitro.
We demonstrate that the selective hydrogenation of acetylene depends on energy profile of the partial and full hydrogenation routes and the thermodynamic stability of adsorbed C2H2 in comparison to C2H4.
The CdS quantum dots were prepared by chemical reaction
of cadmium oleylamine (Cd –oleylamine complex) with the
sulfite-oleylamine (S-oleylamine) with 1:6 mole ratios. The
optical properties structure and spectroscopy of the product
quantum dot were studied. The results show the dependence of the
optical properties on the crystal dimension and the formation of
the trap states in the energy band gap.
The sensitivity of SnO2 nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide hybrid to NO2 gas is discussed in the present work using density functional theory (DFT). The SnO2 nanoparticles shapes are taken as pyramids, as proved by experiments. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) edges have oxygen or oxygen-containing functional groups. However, the upper and lower surfaces of rGO are clean, as expected from the oxide reduction procedure. Results show that SnO2 particles are connected at the edges of rGO, making a p-n heterojunction with a reduced agglomeration of SnO2 particles and high gas sensitivity. The DFT results are in
Zinc oxide thin films were deposited by chemical spray pyrolysis onto glass substrates which are held at a temperature of 673 K. Some structural, electrical, optical and gas sensing properties of films were studied. The resistance of ZnO thin film exhibits a change of magnitude as the ambient gas is cycled from air to oxygen and nitrogen dioxide
The adsorption of Malonic acid, Succinic acid, Adipic acid, and Azelaic acid from their aqueous solutions on zinc oxide surface were investigated. The adsorption efficiency was investigated using various factors such as adsorbent amount, contact time, initial concentration, and temperature. Optimum conditions for acids removal from its aqueous solutions were found to be adsorbent dose (0.2 g), equilibrium contact time (40 minutes), initial acids concentration (0.005 M). Variation of temperature as a function of adsorption efficiency showed that increasing the temperature would result in decreasing the adsorption ability. Kinetic modeling by applying the pseudo-second order model can provide a better fit of the data with a greater correla
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