In this study, an improved process was proposed for the synthesis of structure-controlled Cu2O nanoparticles, using a simplified wet chemical method at room temperature. A chemical solution route was established to synthesize Cu2O crystals with various sizes and morphologies. The structure, morphology, and optical properties of Cu2O nanoparticles were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, SEM (scanning electron microscope), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. By adjusting the aqueous mixture solutions of NaOH and NH2OH•HCl, the synthesis of Cu2O crystals with different morphology and size could be realized. Strangely, it was found that the change in the ratio of de-ionized water and NaOH aqueous solution led to the synthesis of Cu2O crystals of different sizes, while the morphology of Cu2O crystals was not affected. The synthesized Cu2O crystal samples were used as photocatalysts for methyl orange (MO) dye decomposition, as a model molecule, to evaluate the photocatalytic activities. However, under 200 watts of a visible light source, there are four samples with and without graphene-based nanocomposite of Cu2O NPs. The results showed that, compared with roughly spherical, irregular but thick plates, brick and small granule spheres shaped Cu2O nanoparticles provided better activity. The Cu2O sample with irregular but thick platelet-like shapes, having an average particle size of 0.53 µm, exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity (99.08% degradation). In addition, by reducing the size of Cu2O particles and preparing their graphene composition, one can fabricate a sample (Cu2-Cu2Gr) with the highest efficiency which has significantly better photocatalytic activity in comparison to the others. This work represents an innovative strategy for pre-the-case production of nanomaterials with shapes and sizes, that is, Cu2O crystals, with excellent photocatalytic activity through compositing with graphene
Recently, there has been an increasing advancement in the communications technology, and due to the increment in using the cellphone applications in the diverse aspects of life, it became possible to automate home appliances, which is the desired goal from residences worldwide, since that provides lots of comfort by knowing that their appliances are working in their highest effi ciency whenever it is required without their knowledge, and it also allows them to control the devices when they are away from home, including turning them on or off whenever required. The design and implementation of this system is carried out by using the Global System of Mobile communications (GSM) technique to control the home appliances – In this work, an ele
... Show MoreHartha Formation is an overburdened horizon in the X-oilfield which generates a lot of Non-Productive Time (NPT) associated with drilling mud losses. This study has been conducted to investigate the loss events in this formation as well as to provide geological interpretations based on datasets from nine wells in this field of interest. The interpretation was based on different analyses including wireline logs, cuttings descriptions, image logs, and analog data. Seismic and coherency data were also used to formulate the geological interpretations and calibrate that with the loss events of the Hartha Fm.
The results revealed that the upper part of the Hartha Fm. was identified as an interval capable of creating potentia
... Show MoreIn this paper, Bayes estimators of the parameter of Maxwell distribution have been derived along with maximum likelihood estimator. The non-informative priors; Jeffreys and the extension of Jeffreys prior information has been considered under two different loss functions, the squared error loss function and the modified squared error loss function for comparison purpose. A simulation study has been developed in order to gain an insight into the performance on small, moderate and large samples. The performance of these estimators has been explored numerically under different conditions. The efficiency for the estimators was compared according to the mean square error MSE. The results of comparison by MSE show that the efficiency of B
... Show MorePower-electronic converters are essential elements for the effective interconnection of renewable energy sources to the power grid, as well as to include energy storage units, vehicle charging stations, microgrids, etc. Converter models that provide an accurate representation of their wideband operation and interconnection with other active and passive grid components and systems are necessary for reliable steady state and transient analyses during normal or abnormal grid operating conditions. This paper introduces two Laplace domain-based approaches to model buck and boost DC-DC converters for electromagnetic transient studies. The first approach is an analytical one, where the converter is represented by a two-port admittance model via mo
... Show MoreSphingolipids are key components of eukaryotic membranes, particularly the plasma membrane. The biosynthetic pathway for the formation of these lipid species is largely conserved. However, in contrast to mammals, which produce sphingomyelin, organisms such as the pathogenic fungi and protozoa synthesize inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) as the primary phosphosphingolipid. The key step involves the reaction of ceramide and phosphatidylinositol catalysed by IPC synthase, an essential enzyme with no mammalian equivalent encoded by the AUR1 gene in yeast and recently identified functional orthologues in the pathogenic kinetoplastid protozoa. As such this enzyme represents a promising target for novel anti-fungal and anti-protozoal drugs. Given
... Show MoreThis study aims to improve the quality of satellites signals in addition to increase accuracy level delivered from handheld GPS data by building up a program to read and decode data of handheld GPS. Where, the NMEA protocol file, which stands for the National Marine Electronics Association, was generated from handheld GPS receivers in real time using in-house design program. The NMEA protocol file provides ability to choose points positions with best status level of satellites such as number of visible satellite, satellite geometry, and GPS mode, which are defined as accuracy factors. In addition to fix signal quality, least squares technique was adopted in this study to minimize the residuals of GPS observations and enh
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