Diamond like carbon (DLC) and composite nickel incorporated diamond-like carbon (Ni-DLC) films have been synthesized on ITO coated glass substrates using low voltage electrodeposition method. Modifications of structural and optical properties of thin films have been investigated with varying Ni concentration. Average grain size of Ni-DLC granules is found to decrease with increasing molarity of Ni in electrolytic solution. XRD pattern depicts multi-phase nature of Ni-DLC film. Incorporation of Ni nanoparticles in DLC matrix has been confirmed by TEM. Interestingly optical bandgap energy decreases from 2.31 to 1.58 eV with decrease in nickel content in the electrolytic bath. Simultaneously Urbach energy exhibits an increasing trend from 1.972 to 2.374 eV. Presence of sp2 and sp3 bonded carbons has been indicated by FTIR spectra. The number of sp2 bonding in carbon matrix is enhanced with dilution of electrolyte. The peaks in the range of ~600–750 cm−1 in Ni-DLC films have been attributed to metal incorporation into DLC matrix. Study reveals that the bandgap and the particle size of carbon nanocomposite films can be tailored by controlling the amount of nickel in the electrolyte.

We present a method to control the length and diameter of Bi2Se3 nanowires through laser-cutting. Nanowires of the topologically insulating and thermoelectric material Bi2Se3 were grown using the vapor-liquid-solid method, and cut using a 532-nm-laser operating at a minimum power of 1 μW. The cutting process can be controlled through laser intensity and exposure time, and is based upon evaporation of Se from the nanowires. This method has many applications from pure research to device engineering.

A magnetoelectric theoretical model combing piezoelectric and piezomagnetic parts about the longitudinal vibration was proposed for the laminate composite based on equivalent circuit. The model shows that the magnetoelectric voltage is relative to the thickness ratio, total thickness, frequency and loss. A simple laminate magnetoelectric composite was prepared by bonding a nickel plate and a multilayer piezoelectric vibrator together for the experimental research. The multilayer vibrator enjoys high capacitance, large effective area and low thickness, leading to a high magnetic field sensitivity of 1 mOe at the magnetoelectric field coefficient of 2.58 V/cmOe in the simple composite with nickel thickness of 0.2 mm. The model fits the resonance frequency well with the experimental results. Numerical calculation well predicates the magnetoelectric experimental behaviors, presenting a magnetoelectric maximum at about the thickness ratio 0.3 between the nickel plate and multilayer vibrators. This approach provides a method for the magnetoelectric application.

In embedded systems such as electric vehicles, Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been an attractive technology for many years especially in automotive applications. This paper deals with PEMFC operation monitoring which is a current target for improvement for attaining extended durability. In this paper, supervision of the PEMFC is done using knowledge-based models. Without extra sensors, it enables a clear insight of state variables of the gases in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) which gives the PEMFC controller the ability to prevent abnormal operating conditions and associated irreversible degradations. First, a new state-observer oriented model of the PEM fuel cell is detailed. Based on this model, theoretical and practical observability issues are discussed. This analysis shows that convection phenomena can be considered negligible from the dynamic point of view; this leads to a reduced model. Finally a state-observer enables the estimation of the inner partial pressure of the cathode by using only the current and voltage measurements. This proposed model-based approach has been successfully tested on a PEM fuel cell simulator using a set of possible fault scenarios.

In this paper, a measurement of the total amount of liquid metal created by an electric arc in air is made for copper anodes and cathodes. This amount is compared with usual erosion for the same experimental conditions for various values of the electrode gap (3–10 mm). It appears that the amount of liquid is ten times greater than the erosion for copper cathodes and may be fifty times greater for copper anodes. A method using experimental results and a numerical simulation of the thermal phenomena occurring in the electrode during the arc heating is then used to assess the characteristics of the power flux brought by the electric arc to the copper electrodes. It was found that about 80% of the energy received by the electrodes was conducted in the solid phase and that about 20% of this energy was used to melt or vaporize the electrode material. The power surface density brought to the electrodes was found in the range 4.6 × 108–1.9 × 109 W/m2 for the cathode and in the range 6.4 × 108–1.1 × 1010 W/m2 for the anode.

The thermal conductivity of the mesoporous composites Cu/MCM-41 was studied to provide some useful data for promising applications. Both of the lattice and electronic thermal conductivities of Cu nanowires with different size were predicted. With the shell of the matrix MCM-41 and the air confined in the mesochannels considered, the effective thermal conductivity (EffTC) of composites Cu/MCM-41 was obtained. The EffTC shows a great anisotropy. The EffTC along the Z direction (axial of the mesochannel) is much lower than that along directions perpendicular to the axial. It is unnecessary to further raise the filling ratio of Cu nanowires for improving the EffTC along the directions perpendicular to the axial, since the filling ratio 20% is high enough. As long as there is a void space in the mesochannel, the EffTC along the Z direction will be as low as the thermal conductivity of the matrix MCM-41, due to the large thermal resistance of the void space in mesochannels.

Nanocrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) aerogel powders were synthesized using a modified sol-gel process. Ethanol, acetone and methanol were used as supercritical drying fluids. Effects of co-solvent on morphological and structural properties were investigated. The as prepared powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The XRD results show that drying in solvents mixture affects the crystalline quality and acts as a compression agent by exerting stress on the lattice parameters. SEM micrographs demonstrate that co-solvent plays a key role in controlling ZnO nucleation and favors the particles agglomeration with increasing the pressure and the temperature. The EDAX analysis shows that the obtained ZnO nanopowder with ethanol and acetone as co-solvent is pure with different stoichiometries (an excess of oxygen (O) with ethanol and zinc (Zn) atoms with acetone). However, when methanol is used as supercritical drying fluid, the obtained nanopowder contains an excess of carbon (C) atoms. FTIR absorption bands are more intense for aerogel synthesized by drying in methanol indicating the presence of more C-H bounds responsible of the low rate agglomeration of the ZnO crystallites.

Design of integrated power converters needs prototype-less approaches. Specific simulations are required for investigation and validation process. Simulation relies on active and passive device models. Models of planar devices, for instance, are still not available in power simulator tools. There is, thus, a specific limitation during the simulation process of integrated power systems. The paper focuses on the development of a physically-based planar inductor model and its validation inside a power converter during transient switching. The planar inductor model remains a complex device to model, particularly when the skin, the proximity and the parasitic capacitances effects are taken into account. Heterogeneous simulation scheme, including circuit and device models, is successfully implemented in VHDL-AMS language and simulated in Simplorer platform. The mixed simulation results has been favorably tested and compared with practical measurements. It is found that the multi-domain simulation results and measurements data are in close agreement.

Within the framework of the effective-field theory (EFT) with correlations, the differential operator technique has been used to study the phase diagrams of a ferroelectric nanoparticle described by the transverse field Ising model. The dependence of the phase diagrams on two types surface parameters modifications, modifications of the surface transverse field and the surface exchange interaction, is calculated numerically in the (Tc, Js) coordinates or the (Tc, Ωs) coordinates. The crossover features, from the ferroelectric-dominant phase diagram (FPD) to the paraelectric-dominant phase diagram (PPD), for interaction parameters of a ferroelectric nanoparticle with a size S are determined. Meanwhile, the critical behaviours are also examined for the ferroelectric nanoparticle system.

In solar still, transparent cover plays a decisive role in the process of evaporation and condensation of water. Also receiving the solar radiation strongly depends on the geometry and orientation of the glass. In order to determine the impact of changing glass cover geometry on conventional solar still heat balance, we elaborate a theoretical model for a spherical solar still. The obtained equations are solved by using 4th order Runge–Kutta method. The numerical results allowed us to evaluate the water temperatures and the yield of still. Theoretical results are validated by the experimental tests in different climatic conditions. We observed that the spherical geometry of the transparent cover has the advantage of a large surface of condensation and does not have a preferred direction to capture maximum of solar energy.

A simple and rapid analysis and design method is proposed for a coreless permanent magnet machine (CPMM) using a hexagonal winding (HW). The HW, which combines a rectangular winding (RTW) and rhombic winding (RBW), can compensate for the disadvantages and maximize the advantages of the RTW and RBW. The CPMM is typically analyzed using complex differential equations or a timeconsuming finite element analysis (FEA). To address this problem, a relatively simpler and less timeconsuming analysis method is proposed by using a lumped equivalent magnetic circuit (LEMC) model. Furthermore, an effect of winding angle on a motor performance is analyzed via precise inspection of the relationship between the variables of the HW and the characteristics of motor. The validity and usefulness of the proposed method are verified via FEA and experiment.

External applied field effect in magnetization process by pulsed field (PFM) method of rectangular bulk superconductor is analysed by solving the A-V magnetic equation coupled to the thermal one in order to show the influence of the amplitude of the external field on the trapped magnetic field of bulk superconductor. A numerical model based on the control volume method (CVM) has been developed, which uses a power-law model with temperature dependency and magnetic field dependence on critical current density. For low cooling temperature Tco = 20 K, a good distribution of the trapped magnetic field of the bulk superconductor is obtained when we applied high external field.

This work is undertaken to study the reliability of eddy current nondestructive testing (ED-NDT) when the defect concerns a change of physical property of the material. So, an intrusive spectral stochastic finite element method (SSFEM) is developed in the case of 2D electromagnetic harmonic equation. The electrical conductivity is considered as random variable and is developed in series of Hermite polynomials. The developed model is validated from measurements on NDT device and is applied to the assessment of the reliability of failure in steam generator tubing of nuclear power plants. The exploitation of the model concerns the impedance calculation of the sensor and the assessment of the reliability of failure. The random defect geometry is also considered and results are given.

We prove that combinations of small eccentricity, ovality and/or triangularity in the rotor and stator can produce complex whirling motions of an unbalanced rotor in large synchronous generators. It is concluded which structures of shape deviations that are more harmful, in the sense of producing complex whirling motions, than others. For each such structure, we derive simplified equations of motions from which we conclude analytically the relation between shape deviations and mass unbalance that yield non-smooth whirling motions. Finally we discuss validity of our results in the sense of modeling of the unbalanced magnetic pull force.

Superionic solids an area of multidisciplinary research activity, incorporates to study the physical, chemical and technological aspects of rapid ion movements within the bulk of the special class of ionic materials. It is an emerging area of materials science, as these solids show tremendous technological scopes to develop wide variety of solid state electrochemical devices such as batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, sensors, electrochromic displays (ECDs), memories, etc. These devices have wide range of applicabilities viz. power sources for IC microchips to transport vehicles, novel sensors for controlling atmospheric pollution, new kind of memories for computers, smart windows/display panels, etc. The field grew with a rapid pace since then, especially with regards to designing new materials as well as to explore their device potentialities. Amongst the known superionic solids, fast Ag+ ion conducting crystalline solid electrolytes are attracted special attention due to their relatively higher room temperature conductivity as well as ease of materials handling/synthesis. Ion conduction in these electrolytes is very much interesting part of today. In the present review article, the ion conducting phenomenon and some device applications of crystalline/polycrystalline superionic solid electrolytes have been reviewed in brief. Synthesis and characterization tools have also been discussed in the present review article.

Cobalt doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by microwave irradiation technique for their structural and magnetic properties. Initially the samples were exhibit single phase standard ZnO wurtzite structure (x ≤ 0.1) further Co concentration increase Co3O4 phase was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The average crystallite sizes of cobalt doped ZnO particles were calculated by Debye-Scherrer formula and are nearly 25 nm. The hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO and destroyed cubical Co3O4 were identified in the TEM images. The presence of metal oxide was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis result. The micro-Raman analysis confirmed the existence of Co3O4 phase. Magnetization measurements performed by using vibrating sample magnetometer determine the paramagnetic behavior for the synthesized samples.

Li2SO4 have been synthesized from lithium sulphate monohydrate by melting at 880 °C and slow cooling. The XRD results indicates that the melt cooled Li2SO4 is crystallized to monoclinic structure. The AC conductivity (σac) and dielectric relaxation (tan δ) have been measured within the temperature range 170–250 °C and frequency range 100 Hz–120 kHz, respectively. The DC conductivities are conveniently extracted from σac (typical values ∼2 × 10−7 and ∼2 × 10−6 S/cm at 200 and 250 °C, respectively) and are fitted to linear Arrhenius plot. The slope of this linear plot leads to an activation energy of 1.10 eV. It is found that the conduction in Li2SO4 is mainly through Li+. Further, we carried out first principles calculations and obtained the structural and bonding properties of Li2SO4. From band structure, Li2SO4 is found to be a wide band gap insulator with a band gap of 6.1 eV. The partial density of states reveals the finite states of Li+ near to Fermi level, which limits its use of full capacity. This indicates a kinetic barrier for Li ions and electrons ambipolar diffusion.

Bright- and dark-field images are reconstructed by extracting the intensities of selected spots from a succession of digitalized electron diffraction patterns collected using a transmission electron microscope by scanning the focused beam over the area of interest. The procedure is similar to the generation of the scanning-transmission electron microscopy images. Several examples are shown to illustrate the flexibility and potentiality of such numerical off-line reconstruction.

Calibration-free laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF-LIBS) was used for the determination of elemental composition and quantitative analysis of the Košice meteorite by means of time resolved and broadband emission spectroscopy (200–1000 nm). The electron temperature was determined using the Saha-Boltzmann plot method and the electron density from Stark broadening of the hydrogen Hα line (656 nm). Apart from magnesium, silicon and iron, which are the main elemental constituents of examined meteorite fragments, elements such as aluminum, nickel, potassium, sodium, chromium, calcium and manganese were also identified in the obtained LIBS spectra. Concentrations of Al, Ca, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni and Si were calculated using the calibration free approach and results were compared with ones obtained from the ICP-MS analyses. For the increase of the CF-LIBS accuracy, a selection of spectral lines was performed. Considering the transition probability, the population of absorbing level, the degree of ionization and predicted elemental concentration we calculated the probability of self-absorption and, consequently, spectral lines with highest self-absorption probability were rejected. CF-LIBS can be used as an alternative method for the meteorite fragments analysis (including the inner part and crust), because this method is quasi non-destructive and therefore analysis of all found fragments with minimal destruction is possible.

A systematic study of the electric-field-induced forces between a solid glass sphere and a flat gold-plated substrate filled with an insulating liquid has been carried out. Using atomic force microscopy, we measure the electrostatic force f(s, V) between the sphere and substrate as a function of the surface separation s and applied voltage V. The measured f(s, V) is found to be well described by an equation for a conducting sphere. Further force measurements for the “wet” porous glass spheres filled with an aqueous solution of urea and the dried porous glass spheres filled with (dry) air suggest that there is a water layer of a few nanometers in thickness adsorbed on the hydrophilic glass surface under ambient conditions. This adsorbed water layer is more conductive than the dielectric core of the glass sphere, making the sphere surface to be at a potential close to that of the cantilever electrode. As a result, the electric field is strongly concentrated in the gap region between the glass sphere and gold-plate substrate and thus their electrostatic attraction is enhanced. This surface conductivity effect is further supported by the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and force response measurements to a time-dependent electric field. The experiment clearly demonstrates that the adsorption of a conductive water layer on a hydrophilic surface plays a dominant role in determining the electrostatic interaction between the dielectric sphere and substrate.