An Empirical Evaluation of the Seafood Exports in the Post-WTO Regime from India and Kerala

Seafood export sector is a major trade item in the globalized trade of all commodities.  However, the fishery trade sector witnessed profound changes in the post-WTO period. This is because of the use of several technical and non-tariff trade barriers, which in most cases are stipulated by the importing developed countries. India is a prominent fishery exporting country with a foreign exchange earnings of $ 6.1 billion as per January 2022. State of Kerala is having a good legacy in seafood trade and one of the major fishery’s exporting coastal states of India. The post-WTO period has witnessed many dynamics in the fishery trade both in India and Kerala. The stipulations in the areas of TBT and NTBs and other quality standards have worked as a penumbra in the seafood trade and hence have to search for the traditional to non-traditional and emerging markets with the idea of uninterrupted seafood trade flow. Hence, the article tries to unravel the issues of these in this post WTO period. The article uses the data obtained from the Marine Products Export Development Authority in the form of monthly, quarterly and annual data. Along with this it also uses data from CEPII and UN Comtrade. The result also shows that there is a change from traditional to new markets in some cases, whereas the US and EU still dominate as major importers of the seafood from India and Kerala. The Gravity model explanation is giving a clear espousal that the values under stipulations are significantly related. The instability model also authenticates that there are instabilities in varying proportions from market to market

Synthesis of High Coercivity Core–Shell Nanorods Based on Nickel and Cobalt and Their Magnetic Properties

Hybrid magnetic nanostructures with high coercivity have immense application potential in various fields. Nickel (Ni) electrodeposited inside Cobalt (Co) nanotubes (a new system named Ni @ Co nanorods) were fabricated using a two-step potentiostatic electrodeposition method. Ni @ Co nanorods were crystalline, and they have an average diameter of 150 nm and length of ~15 μm. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed the existence of two separate phases corresponding to Ni and Co. Ni @ Co nanorods exhibited a very high longitudinal coercivity. The general mobility-assisted growth mechanism proposed for the growth of one-dimensional nanostructures inside nano porous alumina during potentiostatic electrodeposition is found to be valid in this case too

Single step process for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes and metal/alloy-filled multiwalled carbon nanotubes

A single-step approach for the synthesis of multi-walled nanotubes (MWNT) filled with nanowires of Ni/ternary Zr based hydrogen storage alloy has been illustrated. We also demonstrate the generation of CO-free hydrogen by methane decomposition over alloy hydride catalyst. The present work also highlights the formation of single-walled nanotubes (SWNT) and MWNTs at varying process conditions. These carbon nanostructures have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution TEM (HRTEM), Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and Raman spectroscopy. This new approach overcomes the existing multi-step process limitation, with possible impact on the development of future fuel cell, nano-battery and hydrogen sensor technologies

Nanoarchitectured 3D cathodes for Li-Ion microbatteries

Microbatteries with large area capacity and no power limitation can be obtained by designing 3D structured batteries. 3D electrodes composed of 30 nm-thick films of LiCoO2 coating free-standing columns of Al current collector were achieved. By comparison with a planar electrode presenting an equivalent nominal capacity, a 3D electrode exhibits improved capacity retention: 68% of the nominal capacity at 8C instead of 11%

3D lithium ion batteries—from fundamentals to fabrication

3D microbatteries are proposed as a step change in the energy and power per footprint of surface mountable rechargeable batteries for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and other small electronic devices. Within a battery electrode, a 3D nanoarchitecture gives mesoporosity, increasing power by reducing the length of the diffusion path; in the separator region it can form the basis of a robust but porous solid, isolating the electrodes and immobilising an otherwise fluid electrolyte. 3D microarchitecture of the whole cell allows fabrication of interdigitated or interpenetrating networks that minimise the ionic path length between the electrodes in a thick cell. This article outlines the design principles for 3D microbatteries and estimates the geometrical and physical requirements of the materials. It then gives selected examples of recent progress in the techniques available for fabrication of 3D battery structures by successive deposition of electrodes, electrolytes and current collectors onto microstructured substrates by self-assembly methods

Effect of Purity and Substrate on Field Emission Properties of Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) have been synthesized by chemical vapour decomposition (CVD) of acetylene over Rare Earth (RE) based AB2(DyNi2) alloy hydride catalyst. The as-grown carbon nanotubes were purified by acid and heat treatments and characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, Thermo Gravimetric Analysis and Raman Spectroscopy. Fully carbon based field emitters have been fabricated by spin coating a solutions of both as-grown and purified MWNT and dichloro ethane (DCE) over carbon paper with and without graphitized layer. The use of graphitized carbon paper as substrate opens several new possibilities for carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters, as the presence of the graphitic layer provides strong adhesion between the nanotubes and carbon paper and reduces contact resistance. The field emission characteristics have been studied using an indigenously fabricated set up and the results are discussed. CNT field emitter prepared by spin coating of the purified MWNT–DCE solution over graphitized carbon paper shows excellent emission properties with a fairly stable emission current over a period of 4 h. Analysis of the field emission characteristics based on the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) theory reveals current saturation effects at high applied fields for all the samples

Bioconvection nanofluid slip flow past a wavy surface with applications in nano-biofuel cells

A theoretical study is presented to examine free convective boundary layer flow of water-based bio-nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganisms past a wavy surface. Buongiorno’s nanofluid model with passively controlled boundary condition is applied to investigate the effects of the emerging parameters on the physical quantities namely, skin friction, Nusselt numbers and density number of motile microorganisms. The effects of the both hydrodynamic and thermal slips are also incorporated. Local similarity and non-similarity solutions are obtained using the seventh-order Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method (RKF7) coupled with shooting quadrature. In order to compare our numerical results with the existing data, the active mass flux boundary condition is also used to benchmark MAPLE numerical solutions with earlier similar and non-similar solutions for a smooth stationary surface. It is found that the passive boundary condition reduces the skin friction and enhances local Nusselt numbers. Also the wavy surface is found to result in higher skin friction and higher local Nusselt numbers compared with a stationary surface. It is found that motile micro-organism density number is elevated with increasing bioconvection Péclet number whereas the motile micro-organism species boundary layer thickness is reduced with increasing bioconvection Lewis number. The work finds applications in heat transfer enhancement in bio-inspired nanoparticle-doped fuel cells