Faculty Publications
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Item Synthesis of worm-shaped carbon nanofibers over a sodium chloride support(2012) Ravindra, R.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.Worm-shaped carbon nanofibers (WCNFs) were synthesized in bulk by chemical vapour deposition at 680 °C using iron carboxylate as catalyst precursors and sodium chloride as catalyst support. The products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction method. The purity of the purified products was determined by thermal analysis. TheWCNFyield was 6700% relative to catalyst. The simplicity, environmental friendliness and use of easily available low-cost precursors are the advantage of this synthesis technique. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012.Item Large scale synthesis of carbon nanofibres on sodium chloride support(InTech Europe info@sagepub.co.uk, 2012) Rajarao, R.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.Large scale synthesis of carbon nanofibres (CNFs) on a sodium chloride support has been achieved. CNFs have been synthesized using metal oxalate (Ni, Co and Fe) as catalyst precursors at 680 °C by chemical vapour deposition method. Upon pyrolysis, this catalyst precursors yield catalyst nanoparticles directly. The sodium chloride was used as a catalyst support, it was chosen because of its non-toxic and water soluble nature. Problems, such as the detrimental effect of CNFs, the detrimental effects on the environment and even cost, have been avoided by using a water soluble support. The structure of products was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The purity of the grown products and purified products were determined by the thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction method. Here we report the 7600, 7000 and 6500 wt% yield of CNFs synthesized over nickel, cobalt and iron oxalate. The long, curved and worm shaped CNFs were obtained on Ni, Co and Fe catalysts respectively. The lengthy process of calcination and reduction for the preparation of catalysts is avoided in this method. This synthesis route is simple and economical, hence, it can be used for CNF synthesis in industries. © 2012 Rajarao and Bhat.Item Structural stability studies of graphene in sintered ceramic nanocomposites(Elsevier Ltd, 2014) Inam, F.; Vo, T.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.The post-sintering structural stability of graphene in alumina nanocomposites synthesised by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) and Hot Pressing (HP) was compared. Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyses and electrical conductivity analyses were conducted to characterise degradation of graphene due to the utilisation of different sintering techniques and conditions. Scanning Electron Microscopy confirmed good dispersion of graphene in SPSed and HPed sample. Graphene in SPSed and HPed nanocomposite samples sintered using longer durations (60 min) were found to possess higher crystallinity, thermal stability and electrical conductivity as compared to SPSed samples sintered using shorter sintering durations (10-20 min). This was attributed to the thermally induced graphitisation caused by longer sintering durations, which was lacking in SPSed samples processed using shorter sintering durations and lower temperature. No additional effect of DC pulsed current on the structural stability of graphene for nanocomposites were observed for samples prepared by SPS. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.Item Multi-wall carbon nanotube-NiO nanoparticle composite as enzyme-free electrochemical glucose sensor(Elsevier, 2015) Prasad, R.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.We report a simple, solvent-free method to decorate multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO-NPs). The as prepared NiO-MWCNT composite were characterised by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The enzyme-free modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) was fabricated using as-synthesised composite material and investigated for glucose sensing. The 10% NiO-MWCNTs composites sensor showed excellent electro-catalytic activity towards direct glucose oxidation. The sensitivity of this sensor is found to be 1696 ?A mM-1 cm-2 and 122.1 ?A mM-1 cm-2 and the limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 11.04 nM and 31 ?M for the linear response over glucose concentration ranging from 1-200 ?M to 0.5-9.0 mM, respectively. Furthermore, the 10% NiO-MWCNTs sensor also showed excellent anti-interference ability, high stability and good reproducibility. Hence, due to simple method of material preparation, easy sensor fabrication and excellent electro catalytic activity towards glucose oxidation, the 10% NiO-MWCNT/CPE is a potential material for the development of enzyme-free sensor for reliable glucose determination. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Activated carbon derived from non-metallic printed circuit board waste for supercapacitor application(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Rajagopal, R.R.; Aravinda, L.S.; Rajarao, R.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; Sahajwalla, V.Activated carbons (ACs) have been synthesized by using waste PCBs via physical activation subsequent to pyrolysis processes. The physical and chemical properties of the produced activated carbons were studied using nitrogen adsorption, FT-IR spectroscopy, RAMAN spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Among the synthesized ACs, AC with the highest surface area of 700 m2 g-1 produced at 850 °C for a time interval of 5 h was subjected to electrochemical studies. Capacitance behaviour of the obtained AC sample has been evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GC-D) measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. Specific capacitance (Cspec) values vary from 220, 185 and 156 F g-1 for corresponding scan rate of 30, 50 and 100 mV s-1 respectively. The well-developed surface area properties and good capacitance values associated with nitrogen functionalities indicates the AC developed is a good and suitable candidate for the supercapacitor fabrication. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.Item RGO supported Co-Ni bimetallic magnetically separable nanocatalysts for the reduction of 4-Nitrophenol(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Prasad, R.; Lolakshi, M.K.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.The Cobalt-Nickel-reduced graphene oxide ternary composite was prepared using eco-friendly, solvent-free and low temperature CVD method where in metal formates were used as metal precursor. The structure, composition and morphology of synthesized samples were characterized by several related techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The catalytic efficiency towards reduction of an organic pollutant such as 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) was explored and the reaction parameters like temperature, weight ratio of the composite was optimised and rate constant of the reactions were measured. The results show 8% Co-Ni-rGO are having high catalytic efficiency and can complete the reduction reaction within 250 s at 45 °C. Furthermore, catalyst being magnetically separable shows high stability after ten successive reactions. Hence, the Co-Ni-rGO composite can be a potential promising material to catalyse the reduction of 4-NP. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Microstructural characterization of low temperature plasma-nitrided 316L stainless steel surface with prior severe shot peening(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Jayalakshmi, M.; Huilgol, P.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; Bhat, K.U.Surface nanocrystallization by severe deformation has proven beneficial as pre-treatment to plasma nitriding. It aids in achieving thicker nitride layers at lower temperatures thus making the process more economical. In austenitic stainless steels, severe deformation leads to formation of strain induced martensite on the surface while plasma nitriding alone forms expanded austenite. However, structural characteristics of surface layer of pre-deformed steel after plasma nitriding is still a matter of debate. In present study, 316L stainless steel was subjected to severe shot peening: followed by plasma nitriding at 400 °C for 4 h. Characteristics of sample surface before and after treatment were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy techniques. Results showed that, this duplex treatment leads to formation of about 45 ?m thick nitride layer; without CrN precipitation. This is significantly high compared to reported data considering the temperature and duration of nitriding treatment employed. Selected area electron diffraction pattern from topmost surface confirmed the co-existence of austenite and martensite while subsurface layer was predominantly consisting of lath martensite. This indicates that major phase in the nitrided layer is martensitic in nature and nitrogen supersaturation leads to transformation of small fraction of martensite to expanded austenite. © 2016 Elsevier LtdItem Simultaneous adsorption of methylene blue and heavy metals from water using Zr-MOF having free carboxylic group(Elsevier Ltd, 2021) Nimbalkar, M.N.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.Industrial effluents contain multiple pollutants, which affect the quality of water remediation operations. Hence, it is important to understand the outcome of the multicomponent adsorption system to develop efficient decontamination process. In this work, acid assisted hydrothermal method (reflux temperature at atmospheric pressure) was employed to synthesize zirconium based metal-organic framework (MOF) and utilized for the adsorptive removal of methylene blue (MB) dye and heavy metals (lead and cadmium) from aqueous solution. The adsorbent was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), which confirms the face centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure similar to previously reported UiO-66. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and surface area analysis shows that, the MOF has surface area of 505 m2.g?1 and micropores ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis corroborate the presence of free carboxylic groups at 1710 cm?1, apart from this FTIR confirms the presence of regular bands of metal-carboxylic bonds. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of the adsorbent was conducted to understand the nature of adsorbate-adsorbent interaction and to confirm the loading of metal ions on adsorbent after adsorption. The morphological nature of the MOF was analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Effects of various parameters such as pH, adsorbent dosage, adsorption time and effect of initial concentration of adsorbates on adsorption were evaluated. Kinetics and isotherm studies were conducted to understand the nature and extent of adsorption. Langmuir monolayer adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for cadmium, lead and methylene blue were found to be 37 mg.g?1, 100 mg.g?1 and 169 mg.g?1 respectively. © 2021 Elsevier LtdItem Properties of Mn3O4 thin film electrodes prepared using spray pyrolysis for supercapacitor application(Elsevier Ltd, 2023) Pramitha, A.; Hegde, S.S.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; George, S.D.; Sudhakar, S.N.; Raviprakash, R.Film electrodes are made by depositing a thin layer of an electroactive material onto a conductive substrate. The performance of thin film electrodes in energy storage devices is significantly governed by their preparative conditions, particularly the molar concentration of the initial precursor. In the current study, the preparation of Mn3O4 thin film electrodes utilizing the chemical spray pyrolysis technique is discussed. The effect of molar concentration on the structural, morphological, and electrochemical properties of the thin film electrodes was thoroughly investigated using techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) studies. Additionally, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to gain more insight into the oxidation states of the sample with the best electrochemical performance. Findings suggested that the molar concentration considerably affects the crystallite size, surface area, surface roughness, and wettability, which would directly impact the functionality of the electrode. It was concluded that the electrode deposited using the molar concentration of 0.06 M showed significantly improved performance according to the electrochemical measurements. The areal capacitance of up to 105.3 mF/cm2 in the aqueous electrolyte was recorded from CV measurements at a scan rate of 5 mVs−1. These electrodes could be an option for low-cost, environmentally friendly electrochemical capacitors if prepared under optimal deposition conditions. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.Item Biomass waste-derived porous graphitic carbon for high-performance supercapacitors(Elsevier Ltd, 2024) Hegde, S.S.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.Porous carbons possess considerable appeal and are in high demand as materials that can be produced from biomass waste. This study presents the transformation of Tectona grandis (Teak) sawdust into porous carbon materials, referred to as Tectona grandis sawdust-derived porous carbon (TPC), through a cost-effective FeCl3-assisted carbonization process, followed by a KOH activation. TPC samples were synthesized by carbonization at different temperatures (650–850 °C) and characterized comprehensively. Structural analysis via X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed a progressive enhancement in graphitic structure and reduction of functional groups with increasing activation temperature. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) displayed the development of intricate hollow tube-like porous networks in TPC-850, with the highest specific surface area (1767.66 m2/g) and pore volume (1.43 cm3/g). Electrochemical investigations showcased the superior performance of TPC-850 as a supercapacitor electrode due to its high graphitic nature, large surface area, and well-structured porosity. The galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) measurements exhibited a high specific capacitance of 572 F/g at 0.5 A/g in a 6 M KOH electrolyte. The high-frequency semicircle and low-frequency steeper region in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) further indicated reduced resistance and enhanced ion diffusion in TPC-850. Significantly, TPC-850 demonstrated remarkable electrochemical cyclic stability, retaining 95.83 % of its initial capacity even after undergoing 4500 cycles at a scan rate of 500 mV/s. The findings underscore the viability of TPC-850 as a high-performance supercapacitor electrode material, providing insights into harnessing renewable resources for advanced energy solutions. This work highlights the potential of utilizing waste biomass for energy storage applications and demonstrates the feasibility of converting it into efficient porous carbon materials with substantial graphitization and porosity. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd