Enhancement of the Tensile and the Compression Properties for Heat- Cured Acrylic Resin Denture Base Materials

This work aims to investigate the tensile and compression strengths of heat- cured acrylic resin denture base material by adding styrene-butadiene (S- B) to polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The most well- known issue in prosthodontic practice is fracture of a denture base. All samples were a blend of (90%, 80%) PMMA and (10%, 20%) S- B powder melted in Oxolane (Tetra hydro furan). These samples were chopped down into specimens of dimensions 100x10x2.5mm to carry out the requirements of tensile tests. The compression strength test specimens were shaped into a cylinder with dimensions of 12.7mm in diameter and 20mm in length. The experimental results show a significant increase in both tensile and compression strengths when compared to control (standard) results for the preparation material

Electrode variability and its impact on the characteristics of M@C80 molecular junctions (M = P, S, As, Se)

Consideration how electrons move through molecular junctions will enable researchers to create superior thermoelectric energy conversion materials. This research applies density functional theory (DFT) combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) formalism to study the electronic and thermoelectric behavior of metalloid-endohedral fullerenes (M@C80, M = P, S, As, Se) connected to gold and graphene electrodes. The transmission coefficient T(E) undergoes significant changes when metalloids are introduced into C80, which creates unique electronic transport characteristics. Metalloid-doped systems achieve notable improvements in thermoelectric response and performance metrics like the Seebeck coefficient (S) and figure of merit (ZT), especially when integrated with graphene electrodes. Se@C80 surpasses all other dopants in terms of thermal conductance and thermoelectric performance across both tested electrode types. Doping with metals is critical since it is important to change electronic transport properties and improve thermoelectric efficiency, which provides useful information for developing new molecular electronics and nanoscale energy conversion devices

Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Two Dimensional SnO2-Decorated Graphene Oxide as an Effective Counter Electrode in the DSSC

SnO2-decorated graphene oxide (SnO2/GO) was synthesized by the modified Hummers’s method, followed by a chemical incorporation of SnO2 nanoparticles. Then, the nanocomposite was used as anon-precious counter electrode in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Although GO has a relatively poor electrical conductivity depending essentially on the extent of the graphite oxidation, presence of SnO2 enhanced its structural and electrochemical properties. The Pt-free counter electrode exhibited a distinct catalytic activity toward iodine reduction and a low resistance to electron transfer. Moreover, the decorated GO provided extra active sites for reducing I3− at the interface of the CE/electrolyte. In addition, the similarity of the dopant in the GO film and the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate promoted a strong assimilation between them. Therefore, SnO2-decorated GO, as a counter electrode, revealed an enhanced photon to electron conversion efficiency of 4.57%. Consequently, the prepared SnO2/GO can be sorted as an auspicious counter electrode for DSSCs

Cobalt/Chromium Nanoparticles-Incorporated Carbon Nanofibers as Effective Nonprecious Catalyst for Methanol Electrooxidation in Alkaline Medium

Cobalt-Chrome nanoparticles-incorporated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are proposed as an effective nonprecious electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation in the alkaline media. The introduced nanofibers were prepared by simple technique, electrospinning. Carbonization of as-spun mat composed of chromium acetate, cobalt acetate and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) at high temperature (900[Formula: see text]C) leads to production of the introduced nanofibers. The physicochemical characteristics were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) equipped with EDX and TEM mapping. The exploited analyses confirmed that the final product is in the form of CNFs decorated by Co/Cr nanoparticles. Based on the results obtained from the cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements, the proposed Co/Cr-incorporated CNFs possess high electrocatalytic activity toward methanol electrooxidation as a clear peak of methanol oxidation appeared with corresponding current density of 56[Formula: see text]mA/cm2. Moreover, the current density increased by increasing methanol concentration up to 4.0[Formula: see text]M. Overall, the proposed nanofibers open new avenue for platinum-free and stable nanostructural catalysts for fuel cell technology. </jats:p

Template-free synthesis of Se-nanorods-rGO nanocomposite for application in supercapacitors

Both selenium and reduced graphene oxide have low specific capacitance due to their chemical nature. Nevertheless, their specific capacitance could be enhanced by hybridizing Se nanomaterials with reduced graphene oxide via formation of electrochemical double layer at their interfacial area. Therefore, novel Se-nanorods/rGO nanocomposite was successfully synthesized by template free hot reflux route starting with graphene oxide and selenium dichloride. The composite of rGO decorated by Se-nanorods is characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The unique architecture of the composite exhibits high specific capacitance of 390 F/g at 5 mV/s scan rate in 1.0 M KOH solution with ~ 90% cyclic stability after 5000 cycles making it very promising electrode material for supercapacitor applications