The influence of the reaction gas composition during the DC magnetron sputtering process on the structural, chemical and optical properties of Ce-oxide thin films was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirmed that all thin films exhibited a polycrystalline character with cubic fluorite structure for cerium dioxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses revealed that cerium is present in two oxidation states, namely as CeO2 and Ce2O3, at the surface of the films prepared at oxygen/argon flow ratios between 0% and 7%, whereas the films are completely oxidized into CeO2 as the aforementioned ratio increases beyond 14%. Various optical parameters for the thin films (including an optical band gap in the range of 2.25–3.1 eV) were derived from the UV–Vis reflectance. A significant change in the band gap was observed as oxygen/argon flow ratio was raised from 7% to 14% and this finding is consistent with the high-resolution XPS analysis of Ce 3d that reports a mixture of Ce2O3 and CeO2 in the films. Density functional theory (DFT+U) implemented in the Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) was carried out to simulate the optical constants of CeO2 clusters at ground state. The computed electronic density of states (DOSs) of the optimized unit cell of CeO2 yields a band gap that agrees well with the experimentally measured optical band gap. The simulated and measured absorption coefficient (α) exhibited a similar trend and, to some extent, have similar values in the wavelength range from 100 to 2500 nm. The combined results of this study demonstrate good correlation between the theoretical and experimental findings.
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
... Show MoreThe power generation of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is being implemented in every nation worldwide due to its environmentally clean characteristics. Therefore, PV technology is significantly growing in the present applications and usage of PV power systems. Despite the strength of the PV arrays in power systems, the arrays remain susceptible to certain faults. An effective supply requires economic returns, the security of the equipment and humans, precise fault identification, diagnosis, and interruption tools. Meanwhile, the faults in unidentified arc lead to serious fire hazards to commercial, residential, and utility-scale PV systems. To ensure secure and dependable distribution of electricity, the detection of such ha
... Show MoreLow- and medium-carbon structural steel components face random vibration and dynamic loads (like earthquakes) in many applications. Thus a modification to improve their mechanical properties, essentially damping properties, is required. The present study focuses on improving and developing these properties, significantly dampening properties, without losing the other mechanical properties. The specimens used in the present study are structural steel ribbed bar ISO 6935 subjected to heating temperatures of (850, 950, and 1050) ˚C, and cooling schemes of annealing, normalizing, sand, and quenching was selected. The damping properties of the specimens were measured experimentally with the area under the curve for the loadi
... Show MoreCdS and CdTe thin films were thermally deposited onto glass substrate. The CdCl2 layer was deposited onto CdS surface. These followed by annealing for different duration times to modify the surface and interface of the junction. The diffraction patterns showed that the intensity of the peaks increased with the CdCl2/annealed treatment, and the grain sizes are increased after CdCl2/annealed treatment
The field experiment was conducted in garden of Department of Biology, College of Education for Pure Sciences (Ibn- Al-Haitham), University of Baghdad during the season of growth (2014-2015). The experiment aimed to study the effect of citric acid with two concentration 10, 20 mg. L-1 and glutamic acid with two concentration 50, 100 mg. L-1 on growth and yield of broad bean (Vicia faba). The results were showed an increased in plant height, leaves number. Plant dry weight, chlorophyll content flowers number, absolute growth rate, crop growth rate, legume length and dry weight, legumes number, seed dry weight compared with control plants.
Chemical spray pyrolysis technique was used at substrate temperature 250 ˚C with annealing temperature at 400 ˚C (for 1hour) to deposition tungsten oxide thin film with different doping concentration of Au nanoparticle (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40)% wt. on glass substrate with thickness about 100 nm. The structural, optical properties were investigated. The X-ray diffraction shows that the films at substrate temperature (250 ˚C) was amorphous while at annealing temperature have a polycrystalline structure with the preferred orientation of (200), all the samples have a hexagonal structure for WO3 and Au gold nanoparticles have a cubic structure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the morphology of the films. The optical pr
... Show MoreAgInSe2 (AIS) thin films solar cell involving of n-type AgInSe2 and Si of p-type substrate by using thermal evaporation method. The influence of annealing of the preparation AgInSe2 were considered to find the best properties of solar device. Thin film AIS have been deposited under the vacuum of 1.5*10-6 Torr with (400) nm thickness at R.T and annealing temperatures (473,573) K. Polycrystalline tetragonal structure for AIS thin films from XRD and increasing of surface roughness from AFM, energy gap values decreasing with increasing annealing temperatures, all films were negative type, I-V characteristics show increasing of efficiency with increasing of annealing temperatures.
Background : Knee flexors tightness has been documented in apparently healthy adults and in those with musculoskeletal problems, but the influence of age on the tightness has not been studied in Iraq. This study was therefore designed to determine the influence of age on knee flexors tightness in apparently healthy subjects.Methods: Knee flexors tightness was measured using the active knee extension test (AKET) in 200 apparently healthy male and female subjects, aged 13 to 59 years. The subjects were recruited into 5 age groups using the purposive sampling technique.Knee flexors tightness was compared across the age groups using one-way analysis ofvariance (ANOVA). The independent t-test was used to compare knee flexors tightness on both
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