Faculty Publications
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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 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 Synthesis of copper nanofluids using ascorbic acid reduction method via one step solution phase approach(ASTM International, 2012) Shenoy, S.U.; Nityananda Shetty, A.N.A simple one step solution phase approach to synthesize copper nanofluids has been developed, involving simultaneous in situ synthesis of nanoparticles and their dispersion in the base fluid. Copper nitrate has been reduced using ascorbic acid in ethylene glycol under thermal as well as microwave conditions. Sodium lauryl sulfate has been used to control the size of the particle as well as to act as a stabilizing agent. The effect of ratio of the reactants, pH, power of microwave, reaction time, and dilution on the size of the particles has been studied using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The characterization of the fluids has also been done using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the fluid were also measured at various particle concentrations. The copper particles in the fluid were found to have size less than 50nm and were well dispersed in the fluid. Thus this method was found to preserve the advantages of the polyol process and aqueous chemical reduction method as well. The fluid was stable up to 5 weeks under stationary conditions at room temperature. This method employs fast, inexpensive, extendible process for the synthesis of copper nanofluids and also overcomes the drawbacks of two step process. Copyright © 2012 by ASTM International.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 Synthesis, characterization, and nonlinear optical properties of donor-acceptor conjugated polymers and polymer/Ag nanocomposites(2012) Murali, M.G.; Udayakumar, U.; Sridharan, K.Two new donor-acceptor (D-A) conjugated polymers P1 and P2 containing 3,4-didodecyloxythiophene and 1,3,4-oxadiazole units are synthesized via Wittig reaction methodology. Cyclic voltammetry studies reveal that the polymers are both p and n dopable, and possess low-lying LUMO energy levels (-3.34 eV for P1 and -3.46 eV for P2) and high-lying HOMO energy levels (-5.34 eV for P1 and -5.27 eV for P2). The optical band gap of the polymers is in the range of 2.25-2.29 eV, calculated from the onset absorption edge. The polymers emit orange to yellow light in the film state when irradiated with a UV light. The synthesized polymers are used to prepare polymer nanocomposites with different wt% of silver nanoparticles. The polymer nanocomposites are characterized by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. Both polymers and polymer/ Ag nanocomposites show good thermal stability with onset decomposition temperature around 300 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. The nonlinear optical properties of polymers and polymer/Ag nanocomposites are measured by Z-scan technique. Both polymers and polymer nanocomposites show a good optical limiting behavior. Nearly five times enhancement in the nonlinear optical properties is observed for polymer/Ag nanocomposites. The value of effective two-photon absorption coefficient (?) is in the order of 10 -10-10 -11 m/W. These results indicate that the synthesized polymers (P1 and P2) and their Ag nanocomposites are expected to be good candidates for application in photonic devices. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012.Item Magnetron sputtered MoO3/carbon nanotube composite electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitor(Elsevier B.V., 2013) Aravinda, L.S.; Nagaraja, K.K.; Bhat, K.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.Molybdenum oxide (MoO3) has been deposited on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) using DC reactive magnetron sputtering of molybdenum for supercapacitor applications. The deposits of MoO3 have been developed under different intervals of time. The structure and surface morphology of the deposits have been characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). X-ray diffraction peaks of the composite films reveal the formation of crystalline structure of MoO3. The electrochemical performance of the composite films was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The composite film exhibits maximum specific capacitance of 70 F g-1 at a scan rate of 10 mV s-1 in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. The nanocomposite electrode material shows specific capacitance which is almost four fold increase with respect to that of bare MWCNTs. The effect of coating duration on specific capacitance has been studied. The nanocomposite film is found to display good cycleability, even up to 1000 cycles. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Item ZnO/carbon nanotube nanocomposite for high energy density supercapacitors(2013) Aravinda, L.S.; Nagaraja, K.K.; Nagaraja, H.S.; Bhat, K.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.A facile, green and highly efficient method for the decoration of carbon nanotubes with ZnO was developed for the fabrication of binder-free composite electrode for supercapacitor applications. The nano composite was prepared by using reactive magnetron sputtering in Ar/O2 environment. This approach leads to more uniform coating with tuneable thickness, which alters the electrochemical performance of the nano composite electrodes. The structure and surface morphology of the composite film have been studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The XRD study reveals the formation of Wurtzite ZnO structure. The electrochemical performance of nano composite electrode was investigated using cyclic voltammetry, chronopotentiometry and electrochemical impedance measurements in non-aqueous electrolyte. The nano composite electrode shows significant increase in the specific capacitance up to 48 F g-1 with an energy density 13.1 Wh kg-1 in the potential range -2 V to 1 V. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Item Permeation, Antifouling and desalination performance of TiO2 nanotube incorporated PSf/CS blend membranes(2013) Kumar, R.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.; Abdul Rashid, S.A.; Ahmed, A.A.Polysulfone (PSf) and chitosan (CS) blend membranes were prepared by incorporating titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2NT) in different compositions. The proper blending of PSf and CS in the PSf/CS/TiO2 membranes was confirmed by ATR-IR spectroscopy. The influence of nanotubes on morphology of membranes was investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The effect of nanotubes on hydrophilicity of the membranes was studied by water swelling and contact angle measurements. The distribution of TiO2NT on the membrane surface was determined by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) analysis. The permeation property of PSf/CS/TiO2NT membranes was carried out by measuring the time dependent pure water flux (PWF). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein rejection studies were performed to know the antifouling properties. The rheological percolation threshold of PSf/CS/TiO2NT solutions was measured by viscosity studies. The nanotubes incorporated PSf/CS membranes showed enhanced permeation and antifouling properties compared to PSf/CS and nascent PSf ultrafiltration membranes. Membranes prepared well above rheological percolation threshold showed drastic reduction in pore size and acted as nanofiltration (NF) membranes. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Item Synergistic effect of gelatin and glycerol on electrodeposition of Zn-Ni alloy(2013) Rao, V.R.; Hegde, A.C.The use of organic compounds which improves corrosion resistance has attracted growing interest in electroplating technology. In this direction, this article presents the experimental results of electrodeposition of Zn-Ni alloy on mild steel (MS) from acid chloride bath using gelatin and glycerol as additives. The bath composition and operating parameters have been optimized by the conventional Hull cell method. The effect of gelatin and glycerol, individually and in combination on the deposition process, was identified by a cyclic voltammetry (CV) study at different scan rates. Bright deposition of Zn-Ni alloy was found at optimal current density (c.d.) due to the preferential deposition of gelatin and glycerol by controlling the Ni content of the alloy. The CV study demonstrated that alloy deposition is diffusion controlled when additives were used individually and is adsorption controlled when used in combination. Corrosion behaviors at different current densities (c.d.s) were evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance (EIS) methods. The surface morphology and phase structure of the coatings were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The experimental results revealed that both gelatin and glycerol have synergistic effects in improving the electrocrystallization process and, hence, the corrosion stability of the coatings. At an optimal c.d. (3.0 A dm-2), the Zn-Ni alloy coating showed peak performance against corrosion with the least corrosion rate. Better corrosion protection at optimal c.d., which was attributed to specific Zn(101), ?-(411,330), and Zn(103) reflections, is evidenced by the XRD study. © 2013 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International.Item Simple glucose reduction route for one-step synthesis of copper nanofluids(Springer Nature, 2014) Shenoy, S.U.; Nityananda Shetty, A.One-step method has been employed in the synthesis of copper nanofluids. Copper nitrate is reduced by glucose in the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate. The synthesized particles are characterized by X-ray diffraction technique for the phase structure; electron diffraction X-ray analysis for chemical composition; transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy for the morphology; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy for the analysis of ingredients of the solution. Thermal conductivity, sedimentation and rheological measurements have also been carried out. It is found that the reaction parameters have considerable effect on the size of the particle formed and rate of the reaction. The techniques confirm that the synthesized particles are copper. The reported method showed promising increase in the thermal conductivity of the base fluid and is found to be reliable, simple and cost-effective method for preparing heat transfer fluids with higher stability. © 2012, The Author(s).