Faculty Publications
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://idr.nitk.ac.in/handle/123456789/18736
Publications by NITK Faculty
Browse
19 results
Search Results
Item Studies on third-order nonlinear optical properties and reverse saturable absorption in polythiophene/poly (methylmethacrylate) composites(Springer Verlag, 2009) Poornesh, P.; Umesh, G.; Hegde, P.K.; Manjunatha, M.G.; Manjunatha, K.B.; Vasudeva Adhikari, A.V.We report here the studies on third-order nonlinear optical properties of two novel polythiophene composite films investigated using the Z-scan technique. The measurements were carried out using a Q-switched, frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser producing 7 nanosecond laser pulses at 532 nm. Z-scan results reveal that the composite films exhibit self-defocusing nonlinearity. The real and imaginary parts of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility were of the order 10-12 esu. The effective excited-state absorption cross section was found to be larger than the ground state absorption cross section, indicating that the operating nonlinear mechanism is reverse saturable absorption (RSA). The polythiophene composite films also exhibit good optical power limiting of the nanosecond laser pulses. The nonlinear optical parameters are found to increase on increasing the strength of the electron-donor group, indicating the dependence of ? (3) on the electron-donor/acceptor units of polythiophenes. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.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 Experimental Studies on Behaviour of Stone Columns in Layered Soils(2011) Shivashankar, R.; Dheerendra Babu, M.R.D.; Nayak, S.; Rajathkumar, V.Stone columns are found to be effective and economical ground improvement technique in soft grounds. Understanding its behaviour when they are installed in stratified soils, in particular when the upper layer consists of weak soil, will be of great practical significance. This paper presents results from a series of laboratory plate load tests carried out in unit cell tanks to investigate the behaviour of stone columns in layered soils, consisting of weak soft clay overlying a relatively stronger silty soil, for various thicknesses of the top layer. Tests were carried out with two types of loading (1) the entire area in the unit cell tank loaded, to estimate the stiffness of improved ground and (2) only the stone column loaded, to estimate the limiting axial capacity. Laboratory tests were carried out on a column of 90 mm diameter surrounded by layered soil, for an area ratio of 15%. It is found that the depth of top weak layer thickness has a significant influence on the stiffness, load bearing capacity and bulging behavior of stone columns. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.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 Structure-property relationship of halloysite nanotubes/ethylene-vinyl acetate-carbon monoxide terpolymer nanocomposites(SAGE Publications Ltd info@sagepub.co.uk, 2017) George, G.; SelvaKumar, M.; Mahendran, A.; Anandhan, S.Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate-co-carbon monoxide) (EVACO)/halloysite nanotube (HNT) nanocomposite films were solution cast. Dispersion of HNTs in the matrix was analyzed by elemental mapping and the role of HNTs on crystallizability, flammability and thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the polymer was evaluated. The nature of interaction between the EVACO matrix and HNTs was studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The highest tensile strength was observed for the composite with 1% filler loading, whereas the highest crystallinity was observed for that with 3% filler loading. The decay in the tensile properties at higher filler loading was due to agglomeration of HNTs and debonding of polymer-filler interface. The electrical volume resistivity of the composites decreased with HNT loading because of the ionic charge transfer. The direct current electrical resistivity study of the composites proves that the addition of HNT can improve the antistatic properties of the polymer. © The Author(s) 2015.Item Electrolytic Synthesis of Ni-W-MWCNT Composite Coating for Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2018) Elias, L.; Hegde, A.C.Nickel–tungsten multi-walled carbon nanotube (Ni-W-MWCNT) composite films were fabricated by an electrodeposition technique, and their electrocatalytic activity toward hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was studied. Ni-W-MWCNT composite films with a homogeneous dispersion of MWCNTs were deposited from an optimal Ni-W plating bath containing functionalized MWCNTs, under galvanostatic condition. The presence of functionalized MWCNT was found to enhance the induced codeposition of the reluctant metal W and resulted in a W-rich composite coating with improved properties. The electrocatalytic behaviors of Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating toward HER were studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronopotentiometry techniques in 1.0 M KOH medium. Further, Tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies were carried out to establish the kinetics of HER on the alloy and composite electrodes. The experimental results revealed that the addition of MWCNTs (having a diameter of around 10-15 nm) into the alloy plating bath has a significant effect on the electrocatalytic behavior of Ni-W alloy deposit. The Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating was found to show better HER activity than the conventional Ni-W alloy coating. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity of Ni-W-MWCNT composite coating is attributed to the MWCNT intersticed in the deposit matrix, evidenced by surface morphology, composition and phase structure of the coating through SEM, EDS and XRD analyses, respectively. © 2018, ASM International.Item Improved desalination by polyamide membranes containing hydrophilic glutamine and glycine(Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2019) Kolangare, I.M.; Isloor, A.M.; Siddique, I.; Asiri, A.M.; A.F., A.F.Water desalination and recycling of wastewater is a key challenge to meet water shortage issues. Thin film composite polyamide membranes are widely used for desalination; however, their low permeability due to a poor hydrophilicity is a major drawback. Here, we designed novel thin film composite membranes having good hydrophilicity, permeability, and stability without compromising solute rejection. We improved the membrane hydrophilicity by incorporation of hydrophilic additives, such as glycine and l-glutamine, into the polyamide layer. Hence polyamide-based flat sheet membranes were fabricated via interfacial polymerization of m-phenylenediamine and trimesoyl chloride and then were coated over a polysulfone/sulfonated polyphenylsulfone (85:15) support. Polyamide membranes were then characterized and tested for desalination. Results show that the ridge and valley structure observed by scanning electron microscopy confirms the formation of the polyamide layer on membrane surface. The performance reached the highest pure water flux of 36.23 Lm?2 h?1 and flux recovery ratio of 89.18% for membranes with 2 wt% of l-glutamine. Incorporation of 2 wt% l-glutamine induced a high permeate flux and a maximum rejection of 87.87% for MgSO4, 83.50% for Na2SO4 and 60.77% for NaCl solutions. Overall, the polyamide nanofiltration membrane with hydrophilic groups displayed superior antifouling property and can be used as a potential candidate for desalination. © 2018, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Item Reusable floating polymer nanocomposite photocatalyst for the efficient treatment of dye wastewaters under scaled-up conditions in batch and recirculation modes(John Wiley and Sons Ltd vgorayska@wiley.com Southern Gate Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, 2019) Das, S.; Mahalingam, H.BACKGROUND: In the last decade, research on floating photocatalysts has increased rapidly with polymer substrates being a popular choice. However, most of the published work is on very small volumes and there is very little work on scale-up of such systems. RESULTS: Polystyrene–titanium dioxide nanocomposite floating films were prepared using a facile solvent casting method and tested for the photocatalytic degradation of four different dyes under UV irradiation. The prepared film was characterised by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and profilometry. Scale-up studies were done in batch mode under optimised conditions, and for the larger reactor volume, the effect of recirculation was studied. Complete decolourisation of the model dye (Remazol Turquoise Blue) was observed within 80 min in the scaled-up batch process. In the recirculation mode, for a much larger volume of the dye solution, around 75% decolourisation in 6 h was observed. The reusability of the photocatalytic film was tested, and the results promise a minimum decolourisation efficiency of around 70%. Finally, total organic carbon (TOC) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis were used to assess the degradation of the dye. The maximum TOC reduction observed was around 25% possibly due to the complex nature of the dye used in this study. The intermediate products of degradation were identified, and a tentative mechanism is suggested. CONCLUSION: This work demonstrates the recirculation aspects of the photocatalytic reactor under the scaled-up conditions for a complex dye. The prepared film showed excellent stability with satisfactory wastewater decontamination under UV irradiation even after repeated use. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2019 Society of Chemical IndustryItem Exploring the synergistic interactions of TiO2, rGO, and g-C3N4 catalyst admixtures in a polystyrene nanocomposite photocatalytic film for wastewater treatment: Unary, binary and ternary systems(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Das, S.; Mahalingam, H.Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as well as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) were synthesised and blended along with TiO2 at specific ratios in polystyrene photocatalytic films to find out the optimum efficiency. The prepared photocatalysts were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) and contact angle analyser. The SEM, XRD, and FTIR analysis indicated that the nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of the polystyrene film. The stability of the polymer film with respect to possible leaching of the embedded catalyst particles was evaluated by ICP-OES analysis. The photocatalytic activity of the admixture was evaluated using remazol turquoise blue dye as a model organic pollutant, and it was found that the photocatalytic ternary admixtures displayed much higher photocatalytic activity (99%) than the unary (89%) or binary (94%) mixtures indicating the synergistic effect of these catalysts. The effect of catalyst ratio, immobilisation, pH, initial dye concentration, irradiated light source, the presence of H2O2 and reusability of the film were also evaluated. The degradation of the dye is confirmed by TOC analysis (40% reduction), and HPLC/MS was used to identify the final degraded compounds. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd.Item Dye degradation studies using immobilized pristine and waste polystyrene-TiO2/rGO/g-C3N4 nanocomposite photocatalytic film in a novel airlift reactor under solar light(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Das, S.; Mahalingam, H.Complex dyes are not completely removed in most wastewater treatment plants and thus released into nearby waterbodies posing problems to aquatic life and humans. In this study, a chemically synthesized nanocomposite photocatalyst containing TiO2, rGO and g-C3N4 immobilized in a polystyrene film is evaluated for the degradation of the Cu-phthalocyanine complex dye (Remazol Turquoise Blue, RTB) in a multiphase airlift reactor under sunlight. Both pristine and waste polystyrene were used in the synthesis of the film. The characterisation of the powder photocatalyst composite as well as the immobilized photocatalyst film is performed using particle size analyzer, SEM-EDX, BET, XRD, XPS, FTIR, and ICP-OES. The optimization of various parameters affecting the photocatalytic decolourization such as the g-C3N4 quantity in the composite catalyst, catalyst loading, the initial concentration of dye, use of waste polystyrene and catalyst reuse has been studied thoroughly. The photocatalytic treatment of RTB dye under optimum conditions for 90min shows that the decolourization (60%) and degradation (51.43%) as measured by TOC analysis are quite similar. The possible breakdown compounds from the parent molecule after the photocatalytic operation are identified by HPLC-MS. In conclusion, the immobilized nano-composite photocatalyst incorporated into a multiphase airlift reactor, is a very promising system to improve the water quality by TOC reduction, before discharge to nearby natural water sources. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd.