Bharathiar University

About: Bharathiar University is a education organization based out in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Thin film & Adsorption. The organization has 5812 authors who have published 8628 publications receiving 143934 citations. The organization is also known as: BU.

Characterization of PVA–NH4NO3 Polymer Electrolyte and Its Application in Rechargeable Proton Battery

Abstract: The PVA–NH 4 NO 3 polymer electrolytes have been prepared by solvent casting technique and characterized by XRD, FTIR, DSC, Raman, 1 H NMR and ac impedance spectroscopic studies to find out best composition possessing good electrical and mechanical stability. Using the best optimum composition, proton battery with two different cell configurations have been constructed and subjected to rechargeability studies. In the present study rechargeability up to 3 cycles without significant loss in the voltage has been obtained for the cell with configuration Zn + ZnSO 4 ·7H 2 O|80PVA: 20NH 4 NO 3 |V 2 O 5 + PbO 2 + C + PE.

Comparative Studies of Microwave- and Sol-Gel-Assisted Combustion Methods of Fe3O4 Nanostructures: Structural, Morphological, Optical, Magnetic, and Catalytic Properties

Abstract: Spinel iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanostructures were synthesized by a simple microwave-assisted combustion method (MACM) using glycine as the fuel. For the purpose of comparative study, it was also prepared by a simple sol-gel-assisted combustion method (SACM). The as-prepared samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) techniques. XRD and EDX results confirmed that the as-prepared products were pure spinel Fe3O4 without any impurity. Average crystallite size is found to be 12.15 and 28.47 nm for MACM and SACM products, respectively. HR-SEM analysis shows that nanospheres (NSs) and nanoparticles (NPs) have like morphologies by MACM and SACM methods, respectively. Band-gap ( E g) energy of the sample NSs is 2.44 eV, whereas the sample NPs have 2.19 eV. Magnetic hysteresis (M-H) loops revealed that the as-prepared Fe3O4 samples have superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature with saturation magnetization ( M s) values in the range of 38.53 and 46.51 emu/g for the sample NSs and NPs, respectively. The oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde reached a maximum of 67.43 % for NSs, whereas for NPs, the conversion was only 59.67 % with 100 % selectivity.

Silver decorated CeO2 nanoparticles for rapid photocatalytic degradation of textile rose bengal dye.

Abstract: High quality silver (Ag) decorated CeO2 nanoparticles were prepared by a facile one-step chemical method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Visible absorption (UV-Vis), photoluminescence (PL) and thermogravimetric analysis. The decoration of Ag on CeO2 surface was confirmed by XRD, EPR and HR-TEM analysis. Harmful textile pollutant Rose Bengal dye was degraded under sunlight using the novel Ag decorated CeO2 catalyst. It was found that great enhancement of the degradation efficiency for Ag/CeO2 compared to pure CeO2, it can be ascribed mainly due to decrease in its band gap and charge carrier recombination rate. The Ag/CeO2 sample exhibited an efficient photocatalytic characteristic for degrading RB under visible light irradiation with a high degradation rate of 96% after 3 h. With the help of various characterizations, a possible degradation mechanism has been proposed which shows the effect of generation of oxygen vacancies owing to the decoration of Ag on the CeO2 surface.