Faculty Publications
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/18736
Publications by NITK Faculty
Browse
16 results
Search Results
Item Nano ZnO-activated carbon composite electrodes for supercapacitors(2010) Muthu, M.S.; Bhat, D.K.; Aggarwal, A.; Prahladh Iyer, S.; Sravani, G.A symmetrical (p/p) supercapacitor has been fabricated by making use of nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO)-activated carbon (AC) composite electrodes for the first time. The composites have been characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Electrochemical properties of the prepared nanocomposite electrodes and the supercapacitor have been studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and AC impedance spectroscopy in 0.1 M Na2SO4 as electrolyte. The ZnO-AC nanocomposite electrode showed a specific capacitance of 160 F/g for 1:1 composition. The specific capacitance of the electrodes decreased with increase in zinc oxide content. Galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements have been done at various current densities, namely 2, 4, 6 and 7 mA/cm2. It has been found that the cells have excellent electrochemical reversibility and capacitive characteristics in 0.1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. It has also been observed that the specific capacitance is constant up to 500 cycles at all current densities. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Crystallinity, conductivity, and magnetic properties of PVDF-Fe 3O4 composite films(2011) Bhatt, A.S.; Bhat, D.K.; Santosh, M.S.The formation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by hydrothermal process has been studied. X-ray Diffraction measurements were carried out to distinguish between the phases formed during the synthesis. Using the synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles, poly(vinyledene fluoride)-Fe3O4 composite films were prepared by spin coating method. Scanning electron microscopy of the composite films showed the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in the form of aggregates on the surface and inside of the porous polymer matrix. Differential Scanning calorimetry revealed that the crystallinity of PVDF decreased with the addition of Fe3O4. The conductitivity of the composite films was strongly influenced by the Fe3O4 content; conductivity increased with increase in Fe3O4 content. Vibration sample magnetometry results revealed the ferromagnetic behavior of the synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles with a Ms value of 74.50 emu/g. Also the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles rendered the composite films magnetic. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Item Electrochemical properties of chitosan-Co3O4 nanocomposite films(Elsevier B.V., 2011) Bhatt, A.S.; Bhat, D.K.; Santosh, M.S.Chitosan-Co3O4 composite films have been prepared by solution casting method. The obtained films have been characterised by XRD and FESEM. The electrical properties of the films are examined by impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range 303-343 K. The impedance plot of the films pronounces the role of temperature in charge-transfer resistance of the composite. Frequency as well as temperature dependencies of dielectric constant and dielectric loss exhibit the general trend followed by carrier dominated dielectrics. Electric modulus parameters give an insight on the ionic conductivity and relaxation phenomena of the composite films. The dielectric parameters along with modulus data have been exploited to discuss the conduction mechanism in the material. The minimum activation energy of 3.9 kJ mol -1 and maximum room temperature conductivity of 1.94 × 10 -2 S cm-1 were found for composite film with 8% Co 3O4 content. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Chitosan/NiO nanocomposites: A potential new dielectric material(2011) Bhatt, A.S.; Bhat, D.K.; Santosh, M.S.; Tai, C.-W.The study of electrochemical behavior of organic-inorganic nanocomposite materials remains a major challenge for application in energy storage devices. Here, new composite materials of chitosan and NiO nanoparticles have been fabricated. The NiO nanoparticles are well characterized by infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The electrical properties of the films are studied by impedance spectroscopy at different temperatures; and thereby permittivity, electric modulus and conductivity data are obtained. By studying the variations in permittivity and electric modulus spectra with respect to applied frequency signal and temperature, the ionic conductivity of the material is investigated. The Correlated Barrier Hopping model is employed to understand the conduction mechanism. An admirable conductivity of 1.4 × 10-2 S cm -1 is obtained for a nanocomposite with 4 wt% NiO content. The activation energies of the composite films decrease with increase in NiO content, from 16.5 to 4.8 kJ mol-1. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Item Influence of nanoscale NiO on magnetic and electrochemical behavior of PVDF-based polymer nanocomposites(2012) Bhatt, A.S.; Bhat, D.K.New poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/NiO-based polymer nanocomposites were prepared by phase inversion method, using dimethyl formamide as solvent and deionized water as non-solvent. The structure and porous morphology of the membranes were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy. The presence of NiO resulted in overall decrease in porosity and crystallinity of the nanocomposite membranes. Using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, a maximum ionic conductivity of 1.08 × 10 -3 S cm -1 was obtained for PVDF membrane with 1 wt% content of NiO. The good efficiency of conductivity observed in the membrane was explained on the basis of decrease in crystallinity and movement of charge carriers in NiO structure. The magnetization of nanocomposite membranes gradually increased with increase in NiO content. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.Item Crystallinity, magnetic and electrochemical studies of PVDF/Co 3O4 polymer electrolyte(Elsevier Ltd, 2012) Bhatt, A.S.; Bhat, D.K.Organic-inorganic nanocomposites are gaining importance in the recent times as polymer electrolyte membranes. In the present work, composites were prepared by combining nano sized Co3O4 and poly(vinyledene fluoride) (PVDF), using spin coating technique. The surface of the PVDF/Co 3O4 system characterized through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed a porous structure of the films. The nanoparticles tend to aggregate on the surface and inside the pores, leading to a decrease in the porosity with an increase in Co3O4 content. Co3O4 nanoparticles prohibit crystallization of the polymer. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies revealed a decrease in crystallinity of PVDF/Co3O4 system with an increase in the oxide content. Magnetic property studies of the composite films revealed that with an increase in Co3O4 content, the saturation magnetization values of the nanocomposites increased linearly, showing successful incorporation of the nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. Further, ionic conductivity of the composite films was evaluated from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Addition of Co3O4 nanoparticles enhanced the conductivity of PVDF/Co3O4 system. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Microwave synthesized nanostructured TiO 2 -activated carbon composite electrodes for supercapacitor(Elsevier B.V., 2012) Muthu, M.; Bhat, D.K.Electrochemical properties of a supercapacitor based on nanocomposite electrodes of activated carbon with TiO 2 nano particles synthesized by a microwave method have been determined. The TiO 2 /activated carbon nanocomposite electrode with a composition of 1:3 showed a specific capacitance 92 Fg -1 . The specific capacitance of the electrode decreased with increase in titanium dioxide content. The p/p symmetrical supercapacitor fabricated with TiO 2 /activated carbon composite electrodes showed a specific capacitance of 122 Fg -1 . The electrochemical behavior of the neat TiO 2 nanoparticles has also been studied for comparison purpose. The galvanostatic charge-discharge test of the fabricated supercapacitor showed that the device has good coulombic efficiency and cycle life. The specific capacitance of the supercapacitor was stable up to 5000 cycles at current densities of 2, 4, 6 and 7 mA cm -2 . © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Novel RGO-ZnWO4-Fe3O4 nanocomposite as high performance visible light photocatalyst(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Mohamed, M.M.J.; Shenoy, U.S.; Bhat, D.K.A novel RGO-ZnWO4-Fe3O4 nanocomposite is synthesized by a microwave irradiation method and its catalytic activity for the photo degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) is investigated. The prepared nanocomposites are characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and UV-visible spectroscopy. The visible light photocatalytic activities of the prepared nanocomposites are investigated using a MB dye solution. It is noteworthy that RGO-ZnWO4-Fe3O4 nanocomposites exhibited relatively high photocatalytic activity compared to ZnWO4-RGO and pure ZnWO4 on MB in aqueous solution. This enhanced rate is due to the ability of the graphene in the RGO-ZnWO4-Fe3O4 composite to support carrier exploitation efficiently by tolerating the photo excited electron-hole pairs and thus encouraging oxidative degradation of the pollutants. This work could be extended to other organic pollutants as well and could provide new insights into ternary nanocomposites as high performance photocatalysts and their application in waste water treatment. © 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Item Enhanced photocatalytic performance of N-doped RGO-FeWO4/Fe3O4 ternary nanocomposite in environmental applications(Elsevier Ltd, 2017) Mohamed, M.; Shenoy, U.S.; Bhat, D.K.Nitrogen doped RGO- FeWO4/Fe3O4 (NRGO-FeWO4/Fe3O4) ternary nanocomposite was synthesized by rapid single step microwave irradiation approach using iron acetate, ammonium tungstate and graphene oxide as precursors. The synthesized materials were thoroughly characterized by diffraction, microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The materials were tested for their catalytic efficiency in photo degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye and in reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). MB was mineralized within 100 minutes of visible light irradiation time in the presence of the ternary composite, apart from excellent stability and efficiency even after 10 consecutive cycles. The composite also had the capacity to convert 4-NP into 4-AP within 45 seconds and showed very good catalytic activity even after 20 cycles. The results revealed that ternary composite has way more efficiency than the component materials and can act as a promising catalyst for various environmental and engineering applications. © 2017 Elsevier LtdItem NiWO4-ZnO-NRGO ternary nanocomposite as an efficient photocatalyst for degradation of methylene blue and reduction of 4-nitro phenol(Elsevier Ltd, 2017) Mohamed, M.; Shenoy, U.S.; Bhat, D.K.A novel NiWO4-ZnO-NRGO ternary nanocomposite has been efficiently synthesized by decorating nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide (NRGO) with zinc oxide and nickel tungstate nanoparticles via a facile microwave irradiation technique and its capability to catalyze photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous solution and reduction of 4-nitro phenol (4-NP) to 4-amino phenol (4-AP) using sodium borohydride was explored. The as-synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanocomposite estimated through the photodegradation of MB under visible light irradiation showed 9 times improvement over pure NiWO4. It also showed excellent catalytic activity in reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP. The material also showed excellent stability and reusability. The entire study revealed that the novel NiWO4-ZnO-NRGO ternary nanocomposite can act as a promising bifunctional photocatalyst for environmental remediation and industrial application. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd