A secured data transform-and-transfer algorithm for energy internet-of-things applications

Digital transformation (DT) is one of the key technologies with effective impacts on many traditional processes towards a digital world. DT influences the way other digital services behave. Hence, there is a need to consider DT-related processes carefully specifically while designing phase. DT contributes to many services. It can, for example, contribute to implement security tasks applied to digital contents and therefore can be applied to change contents being secured. One of the transformation ways applied in security is to consider the way those digital contents are being stored or transferred. This paper proposes a DT algorithm (DTA) for energy internet-of-things (EIOT) contents. DTA consists of two steps, to convert original contents to another digital form and to transfer that form utilizing IOT. This paper utilizes DT in term of security. EIOT contents are converted to increase security. It is aimed to transfer EIOT contents to destination safely and efficiently. Thus, EIOT contents are transformed first to hide original contents. To make sure that the transferring process is done safely, DTA is evaluated in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and robustness. Results confirm that DTA is efficient, accurate, and robust against loss of bits caused by transferring

Thermal calcination-based production of SnO2 nanopowder: an analysis of SnO2 nanoparticle characteristics and antibacterial activities

SnO2 nanoparticle production using thermal treatment with tin(II) chloride dihydrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone capping agent precursor materials for calcination was investigated. Samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse UV-vis reflectance spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra and the electron spin resonance (ESR). XRD analysis found tetragonal crystalline structures in the SnO2 nanoparticles generated through calcination. EDX and FT-IR spectroscopy phase analysis verified the derivation of the Sn and O in the SnO2 nanoparticle samples from the precursor materials. An average nanoparticle size of 4–15.5 nm was achieved by increasing calcination temperature from 500 °C to 800 °C, as confirmed through TEM. The valence state and surface composition of the resulting nanoparticle were analyzed using XPS. Diffuse UV-vis reflectance spectra were used to evaluate the optical energy gap using the Kubelka-Munk equation. Greater calcination temperature resulted in the energy band gap falling from 3.90 eV to 3.64 eV. PL spectra indicated a positive relationship between particle size and photoluminescence. Magnetic features were investigated through ESR, which revealed the presence of unpaired electrons. The magnetic field resonance decreases along with an increase of the g-factor value as the calcination temperature increased from 500 °C to 800 °C. Finally, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 Gram (–ve) and Bacillus subtilis UPMC 1175 Gram (+ve) were used for in vitro evaluation of the tin oxide nanoparticle’s antibacterial activity. This work indicated that the zone of inhibition of 22 mm has good antibacterial activity toward the Gram-positive B. subtilis UPMC 1175

Pixel intensity-based contrast algorithm (PICA) for image edges extraction (IEE)

In this paper, images' pixels are exploited to extract objects' edges. This paper has proposed a Pixel Intensity based Contrast Algorithm (PICA) for Image Edges Extraction (IEE). This paper highlights three contributions. Firstly, IEE process is fast and PICA has less computation time when processing different images' sizes. Secondly, IEE is simple and uses a $2\times 4$ mask which is different from other masks where it doesn't require while-loop(s) during processing images. Instead, it has adopted an if-conditional procedure to reduce the code complexity and enhance computation time. That is, the reason why this design is faster than other designs and how it contributes to IEE will be explained. Thirdly, design and codes of IEE and its mask are available, made an open source, and in-detail presented and supported by an interactive file; it is simulated in a video motion design. One of the PICA's features and contributions is that PICA has adopted to use less while-loop(s) than traditional methods and that has contributed to the computation time and code complexity. Experiments have tested 526 samples with different images' conditions e.g., inclined, blurry, and complex-background images to evaluate PICA's performance in terms of computation time, enhancement rate for processing a single image, accuracy, and code complexity. By comparing PICA to other research works, PICA consumes 5.7 mS to process a single image which is faster and has less code complexity by $u\times u$. Results have shown that PICA can accurately detect edges under different images' conditions. Results have shown that PICA has enhanced computation time rate for processing a single image by 92.1% compared to other works. PICA has confirmed it is accurate and robust under different images' conditions. PICA can be used with several types of images e.g., medical images and useful for real-time applications

Comprehensive study on morphological, structural and optical properties of Cr2O3 nanoparticle and its antibacterial activities

Chromium (III) oxide (Cr2O3) nanoparticles are generated by thermal treatment (calcination) of precursor materials such as chromium nitrate along with a poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) capping agent. The samples produced were characterised by various techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Examination results obtained from XRD showed that Cr2O3 nanoparticles exhibit hexagonal crystalline structures, with the presence of Cr and O in these novel materials being confirmed by results of analyses of both EDX and FT-IR. Results of TEM have pointed out that the average nanoparticle size was noticeably increased from 28 to 46 nm in relation to increase of calcination temperature of a range between 500 and 800 °C. The surface composition and valence state of the produced nanoparticles were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the optical energy gap has been evaluated using UV–visible reflectance spectra with the help of Kubelka–Munk equation. The energy band gap had a reversely proportional relationship with calcination temperature with a reduction in energy band gap from 3.12 to 3.01 eV. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicated an increase in photoluminescence with increasing particle size. The antibacterial activity of the Cr2O3 nanoparticles was evaluated in-vitro using gram-negative Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and gram-positive Bacillus subtilis UPMC 1175

The influence of calcination temperature on the formation of zinc oxide nanoparticles by thermal-treatment

Zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by the thermal-treatment method. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone was used as capping agent and Zinc nitrate was used as a precursor. The samples were calcined at 500 and 550°C for removal of the organic compounds. The structural characteristics of the calcined samples were examined by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that the average particle size increases with increase in calcination temperature. The optical properties were characterized at room temperature using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer in the wavelength range between 200–800 nm and the band gap energy was calculated from reflectance spectra using kubalka munk function and the results indicated that the band gap energy decreased from 3.23 eV at 500 oC to 3.21 eV at 600 °C due to an increase of particle size. This simple thermal-treatment method has advantages of the pure nanoparticles formation as no additional chemicals were required, a lack of by-product effluents, and environmentally friendly process

A review on preparation and characterization of silver/nickel oxide nanostructures and their applications

Nickel oxide and silver oxide nanoparticles have wonderful properties that could be employed in numerous applications. Thus, synthesis of nickel silver oxide nanostructures with different characteristics is of great interest. In this review, many synthesis methods were reported such as: electrodeposition, electrochemical method, simple immersion process and subsequent RFsputtering deposition, chemical oxidative polymerization, followed by acidic sol–gel process, flame-based process, liquidphase reduction technique, sol–gel, hydrothermal method, co-precipitation method, simple precipitation method, thermal decomposition, chemical wet synthesis, low and high-temperature reduction, high-pressure autoclave, thermal treatment method, and laser-liquid–solid interaction technique. Reporting all methods employed for the fabrication of NiO and Ag2O nanostructures is useful to produce and develop novel nanomaterials with enhanced properties and applications. Studying the factors that tuned their properties: particle size, shape, and capping agents as well as solution pH is highly recommended in future works. Also, further research studies should be conducted for finding another/other facile and effective synthesis method/methods

Nanofabrication of (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x and the impact of precursor concentrations on nanoparticles conduct

This study aims to synthesize the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles at lower and higher precursor values using the calcination method. There is a lack in regard to investigating the lower and higher precursor values on structural and optical properties of the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles. To synthesize the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles, Cr (III) acetate hydrate and Ni (II) acetate tetrahydrate were reacted with poly (vinyl alcohol). Several techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), have been employed to characterize the synthesized sample. The XRD pattern analysis indicated that, following calcination, nanoparticle formation occurred, indicating hexagonal crystalline structures (HCP) and face-centred cubic (FCC) of (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles. FT-IR verified the existence of Ni-O and Cr-O as the original compounds of ready (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticle samples. In term of average particle size, this varied from 5 to 16 nm when the precursor concentration rised from x = 0.20 to x = 0.80, as reflected in the TEM results. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to measure the valence state and surface composition of the prepared product nanoparticles. To identify the optical band gap using the Kubelka-Munk equation, diffuse UV-visible reflectance spectra were employed, which revealed that the energy band gap fell with a rise in the value of x. In addition, photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicated that the photoluminescence intensity was related to a directly proportional way to particle size. Hence, the results can be employed with a broad range of applications in solar cell energy applications at higher x values and antibacterial activity at lower x values

Binary nickel and silver oxides by thermal route: preparation and characterization

Many studies have concentrated on exploring behaviors of nickel silver oxide nanoparticles using various routes of fabrication. Thermal treatment technique has never been utilized to fabricate nickel oxide silver oxide nanoparticles. In this research, binary (NiO)0.4 (Ag2O)0.6 nanoparticles were synthesized using the thermal treatment method due to its attractive advantages such as low cost, eco-friendly, and purity of nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and optical behaviors of these nanoparticles were investigated at different calcined temperatures. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), and photoluminescence (PL) were the techniques used to characterize the synthesized nanoparticles. XRD was conducted at different calcined temperatures. The crystallite size was increased from 25.4 nm to 37.0 nm as the calcined temperature increased from 500 °C to 800 °C. Also, TEM results verified that the mean particle size was enlarged as the calcined temperatures increased. Two band gaps were found for each temperature, which were decreased from (3.05, 2.45) to (2.70, 1.95) eV as the temperature varied from 500 to 800 °C, respectively. Broadbands were observed by PL spectra, and the intensity of two emission peaks was also increased at higher temperatures. The results approved the successful formation of binary (NiO)0.4 (Ag2O)0.6 nanoparticles by a novel facile synthesis route. These nanoparticles are likely to have various applications, especially optical applications due to the formation of two band gaps

Up-scalable synthesis of size-controlled copper ferrite nanocrystals by thermal treatment method

Close-packed cubic copper ferrites (CuFe2O4) nanoparticles were synthesized using an effective thermal-treatment method directly from an aqueous solution containing copper and iron nitrates as metal precursors and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) as a capping agent. The FTIR spectra of the calcined samples revealed the vibration bands of Fe–O and Cu–O at 315 and 535 nm respectively. The structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of the nanocrystal powder samples were analyzed using various characterization techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction unveiled the formation of spinel phase of CuFe2O4 with the average particle size determined from TEM images increased from 24 to 34 nm at the calcination temperatures between 773 and 1173 K. The band gap calculated using Kubelka–Munk function from the UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra decreased from 2.64 to 2.45 eV with increasing calcination temperature. The electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy confirmed the presence of unpaired electrons in the calcined samples. The g-factor increased from 2.10497 to 2.57056 and the resonance magnetic field decreased from 3.11599×10−7 to 2.55161×10−7 A/m with increasing calcination temperature

A facile thermal-treatment route to synthesize the semiconductor CdO nanoparticles and effect of calcination

In this research, a thermal treatment method was used to synthesize cadmium oxide nanoparticles. The metal precursor, cadmium nitrate and a capping agent were dissolved in deionized water, which later was dried and crushed into powder. The powder underwent calcination treatment of 500, 550, 600, and 650 °C to crystallize the nanoparticles and to remove organic compounds. The structural studies of CdO nanoparticles have been carried out using EDAX, FTIR, XRD, SEM and TEM. The FTIR and XRD spectra showed that the crystalline structure formation of metal oxide nanoparticles has only occurred after been exposed to calcination. The optical properties which were determined using a UV–vis spectrophotometer showed a decrease in the band gap with increasing calcination temperature. These results prove that the thermal treatment method is a simple technique that can produce pure metal oxide nanoparticles with no other chemicals added