Faculty Publications
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Item Characterization and effect of using Mahua oil biodiesel as fuel in compression ignition engine(2009) Kapilan, N.; Ashok Babu, T.P.; Reddy, R.P.There is an increasing interest in India, to search for suitable alternative fuels that are environment friendly. This led to the choice of Mahua Oil (MO) as one of the main alternative fuels to diesel. In this investigation, Mahua Oil Biodiesel (MOB) and its blend with diesel were used as fuel in a single cylinder, direct injection and compression ignition engine. The MOB was prepared from MO by transesterification using methanol and potassium hydroxide. The fuel properties of MOB are close to the diesel and confirm to the ASTM standards. From the engine test analysis, it was observed that the MOB, B5 and B20 blend results in lower CO, HC and smoke emissions as compared to diesel. But the B5 and B20 blends results in higher efficiency as compared to MOB. Hence MOB or blends of MOB and diesel (B5 or B20) can be used as a substitute for diesel in diesel engines used in transportation as well as in the agriculture sector. © 2009 Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer Berlin Heidelberg.Item Optimization of two step karanja biodiesel synthesis under microwave irradiation(2011) Venkatesh Kamath, H.; Iyyaswami, I.; Saidutta, M.B.The free fatty acid of crude karanja oil (Pongamia pinnata) was reduced and biodiesel was synthesized from pretreated oil under microwave irradiation. The process variables such as irradiation time, methanol-oil ratio and sulfuric acid concentration for pretreatment step; irradiation time, methanol-oil ratio and KOH concentration were optimized through the Box-Behnken experimental design. The free fatty acid of crude karanja oil was reduced to 1.11 ± 0.07% with an optimal combination of 190 s irradiation time (180 W), 33.83 (w/w)% methanol-oil ratio and 3.73 (w/w)% sulfuric acid concentration. An optimal combination of 150 s irradiation time, 33.4 (w/w)% methanol-oil ratio and 1.33 (w/w)% KOH concentration yielded 89.9 ± 0.3% biodiesel. The model was validated by conducting experiments at optimal design conditions. The present work confirmed that the microwave energy has a significant effect on esterification and transesterification reaction. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Item Novel Fe-Ni-Graphene composite electrode for hydrogen production(Elsevier Ltd, 2015) Badrayyana, S.; Bhat, D.K.; Shenoy, U.S.; Ullal, Y.; Hegde, A.We have developed a novel, efficient and economical composite electrode for hydrogen production. The electrode has been formed by embedding graphene in the Fe-Ni matrix via room temperature electrodeposition. The obtained active coatings have been tested for their efficiency and performance as electrode surfaces for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 6 M KOH by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry techniques. The coating obtained at 60 mA cm-2 exhibited approximately 3 times higher activity for hydrogen production than that of binary Fe-Ni alloy. Addition of graphene to electrolyte bath resulted in porous 3D projections of nano-sized spheres of Fe-Ni on the surface of graphene, which effectively increased the electrochemically active surface area. XPS analysis results showed the equal distribution of both Ni metal and NiO active sites on the composite. The addition of graphene favoured the deposition of metallic nickel, which accelerated the rate determining proton discharge reaction. All these factors remarkably enhanced the HER activity of Fe-Ni-Graphene (Fe-Ni-G) composite electrode. The Tafel slope analysis showed that the HER follows Volmer-Tafel mechanism. The structure-property relationship of Fe-Ni-G coating has been discussed by interpreting field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results. © 2015 Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Item Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on hydrogen evolution reaction activity of Ni coatings(University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2018) Kullaiah, R.; Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.The electrocatalytic activity of electrodeposited Ni and Ni–TiO2 coatings with regard to the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was investigated. The Ni coatings were electrodeposited from an acid chloride bath at different current densities, and their HER activities were examined in a 1.0-mol·L-1 KOH medium. The variations in the HER activity of the Ni coatings with changes in surface morphology and composition were examined via the electrochemical dissolution and incorporation of nanoparticles. Electrochemical analysis methods were used to monitor the HER activity of the test electrodes; this activity was confirmed via the quantification of gases that evolved during the analysis. The obtained results demonstrated that the Ni–TiO2 nanocomposite test electrode exhibited maximum activity toward the alkaline HER. The surface appearance, composition, and the phase structure of all developed coatings were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The improvement in the electrocatalytic activity of Ni–TiO2 nanocomposite coating toward HER was attributed to the variation in surface morphology and increased number of active sites. © 2018, University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.Item Effect of TiO2 on electrocatalytic behavior of Ni-Mo alloy coating for hydrogen energy(KeAi Communications Co., 2018) Shetty, A.R.; Hegde, A.Ni-Mo-TiO2 composite coating has been developed through electrodeposition method by depositing titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles parallel to the process of Ni-Mo alloy coating. The experimental results explaining the increased electrocatalytic activity of Ni-Mo alloy coating on incorporation of TiO2 nanoparticles into its alloy matrix is reported here. The effect of addition of TiO2 on composition, morphology and phase structure of TiO2 – composite coating is studied with special emphasis on its electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1.0 M KOH solution. The electrocatalytic activity of alloy coatings were validated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques. Under optimal condition, TiO2 – composite alloy coating represented as (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 is found to exhibit the highest electrocatalytic activity for HER compared to its binary alloy counterpart. The increased electrocatalytic activity of (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 composite coating was attributed to the increased Mo content, porosity and roughness of coating, affected due to addition of TiO2 nanoparticles, supported by SEM, EDX, XRD and AFM study. The increased electrocatalytic activity of (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 coating was found due to decreased Rct and increased Cdl values, demonstrated by EIS study. Better electrocatalytic activity of (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 coating, compared to (Ni-Mo)2.0 A dm?2 coating has been explained through mechanism. Experimental study revealed that (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 composite coating follows Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism, compared to Tafel mechanism in case of (Ni-Mo-TiO2)2.0 A dm?2 coating, assessed on the basis of Tafel slopes. © 2018Item Chemically prepared Polypyrrole/ZnWO 4 nanocomposite electrodes for electrocatalytic water splitting(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Brijesh, K.; Bindu, K.; Shanbhag, D.; Nagaraja, H.S.ZnWO 4 , PPy, and PPy/ZnWO 4 nanoparticles were prepared using chemical synthesis. The structural, compositional and morphological properties of the prepared samples have been investigated using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and HRTEM respectively. The powder XRD reveals the monoclinic wolframite structure for both ZnWO 4 and PPy/ZnWO 4 nanocomposite. SEM confirms the wrapping of ZnWO 4 with PPy. The electrodes of ZnWO 4 , PPy, and PPy/ZnWO 4 have been tested as bifunctional electrocatalyst towards HER and OER using constant current chronopotentiometry (CP) and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV). The electrochemical surface area and the electrocatalytic activity PPy/ZnWO 4 nanocomposite towards HER and OER are greater than that of pure ZnWO 4 and PPy. The Tafel slope of PPy/ZnWO 4 nanocomposite is 76 and 84 mV dec ?1 in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 and 1 M KOH at room temperature for HER and OER respectively. The results suggest that PPy/ZnWO 4 nanocomposite is a good candidate for the bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting. © 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLCItem Facile solvothermal synthesis and high supercapacitor performance of NiCo2O4 nanorods(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Sethi, M.; Bhat, D.K.NiCo2O4 nanorod arrays were synthesized employing a facile low-temperature solvothermal approach, followed by post-calcination treatment. The structural, morphological and elemental characterizations were done by diffraction, microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The prepared sample was studied as an active electrode material for supercapacitor application in 2 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectral (EIS) studies were carried out to know the electrochemical activity of the prepared material. From the CV study, a high capacitance value of 440 F g?1 was obtained at a scan rate of 5 mV s?1 in a 3-electrode method. Apart from high capacitance value, the prepared electrode depicted 94% initial capacitance retention value after 2000 charge-discharge cycles at a current density of 8 A g?1. The fabricated symmetrical supercapacitor depicted a high energy density of 12.6 Wh kg?1 and a high power density of 4003 W kg?1. This was attributed to the better electrical conductivity of NiCo2O4 nanorods. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.Item Comparative evaluation of phosphate abatement using laterite soil and activated carbon(Center for Environmental and Energy Research and Studies editor@ijest.org, 2019) Sreekumar, U.; Thalla, A.K.; Nair, V.V.Abstract: The present study aims to evaluate and compare the suitability of thermally activated laterite soil (TAL) and activated carbon (AC) as adsorbents in the abatement of phosphates (PO4 3?) from synthetic wastewater. The AC was derived from the wasted sludge of an activated sludge process by subjecting it to an activation temperature of 600 °C. The impregnation ratio of 1 (sewage sludge): 1 (KOH) was used for the present study. The soil and wasted sludge were characterized to determine the constituents, and the adsorbents were prepared by thermal and chemical activation, respectively. The AC exhibited a maximum iodine number of 837.51 mg/g using KOH as an activating agent. Batch and column studies were conducted to determine the dependency on pH, contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial PO4 3? concentration. An optimum PO4 3? removal using TAL and AC was achieved around pH 6. The removal efficiency of AC was found to be slightly higher than the efficiency obtained from TAL. The percentage removal of PO4 3? obtained from batch adsorption studies was found to be higher than that obtained by column studies. The equilibrium adsorption data from batch studies were attempted to fit with linear, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Residual and least square analysis confirms the Freundlich isotherm to be the best fit. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2018, Islamic Azad University (IAU).Item Sol-gel electrospun ZnMn2O4 nanofibers as bifunctional electrocatalysts for hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions(Institute of Physics Publishing helen.craven@iop.org, 2019) Shamitha, C.; Shetty, A.R.; Hegde, A.C.; Anandhan, S.Electrochemical water-splitting has gained significant attention for the development of next generation fuels. The present work is an investigation on the electrocatalytic activity towards both Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) and Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) of ZnMn2O4 (ZMO) nanofabrics synthesized by sol-gel electrospinning followed by calcination (at 500, 600 and 700 °C). Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) was used as the polymeric binder for the production of nanofabrics. The morphological features of ZMO nanofabrics were studied by scanning electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The electrocatalytic behavior of ZMO nanofabrics obtained at different calcination temperatures was evaluated using chrono-potentiometry, cyclic voltammetry, and linear sweep voltammetry in an alkaline medium (1 M KOH). The ZMO nanofabrics calcined at 500 °C exhibited the maximum electrocatalytic activity towards HER. This can be ascribed to their superior specific surface area (79.5 m2 g-1). The nanofabrics calcined at 700 °C displayed the least potential for O2 evolution and hence they are considered to be effective for OER. The results prove that ZMO nanofabrics are promising candidates as bifunctional electrocatalysts for water-splitting applications. © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd.Item Growth and comparative studies on oxalic acid dihydrate, potassium oxalate hydrate and potassium hydrogen oxalate oxalic acid dihydrate single crystals(Elsevier Ltd, 2020) Mahendra, K.; Udayashankar, N.K.Single crystals of Oxalic acid dihydrate (OAD), Potassium oxalate hydrate (KOH), Potassium hydrogen oxalate oxalic acid dihydrate (KHOOD) were grown using solvent evaporation technique. Unit cell parameters of the crystals were studied using single crystal XRD (SCXRD) and the crystal parameters were found to match with the reported values. Structural properties were studied using powder XRD analysis. Optical absorption studies were carried out to determine the light absorption by the crystal and the optical bandgap was also calculated using Tauc's relation. Emission and thermal properties of the OAD, KOH and KHOOD crystals were studied using photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and TGA-DTA measurements respectively and explained in detail. Electrical studies were also carried out to find the resistivity of the material. The hardness of the synthesized crystal was also explored and the parameters such as stiffness constant, yield strength, fracture toughness and brittleness were evaluated and compared. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd