Search

Groundnut is a valuable and important crop which is cultivated almost throughout theworld. The groundnut must be cracked to obtain peanut so it can be further used for extraction of oil and used in food items. The traditional way of removing peanut from groundnut is to crackit with hand but when a large number of nuts have to be work on this method is of time consuming the prototype contains mainly of a main frame, a rubber tyre, a wire mesh, and a hopper. The rubber tyre used was a worn-out rubber tyre. Tyre treads were cut to prevent excessive slip during operation. Wheel rim and inner tube were also used. The purpose of using the tyre and concaveis narrowest at the midpoint of the concave and wider toward the inlet and outlet. This clearanceis adjustable in a vertical direction. An opening of the hopper is also adjustable so that feed ratecan be inner tube was to study the effect of tyre inflation on shelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiWO4, Ni(OH)2 and novel combination of NiWO4@Ni(OH)2 have been hydrothermally synthesized for clean energy production via electrochemical water splitting. The physical and electrochemical behavior of NiWO4, Ni(OH)2 and NiWO4@Ni(OH)2 were reported. The nanocomposite formation was confirmed by predominant diffraction peaks of both NiWO4 and Ni(OH)2 phase in X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. Nanocomposite formation and its phonon vibration modes were identified by Raman spectra. The fabricated electrodes were optimized in the half-cell electrochemical set-up and cyclic votammogram (CV) study resulted the well defined redox peak. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of the fabricated electrodes were examined by linear sweep voltammogram (LSV) as 0.97 mA/g at 10 mV/s scan rate for the nanocomposite and also the smaller semicircle region of Rct was also obtained for the same NiWO4@Ni(OH)2 nanocomposite. All the fabricated electrode was investigated for its stability under continuous electrochemical reaction for 12 h. From the obtained results, the dual phase NiWO4@Ni(OH)2 revealed highly performed OER activity via electrochemical water splitting approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrothermal synthesis technique was employed to synthesize bare and Ag doped WO3 electrocatalysts for electrochemical water splitting process for sustainable energy production. The structural confirmation of the bare and Ag (5% and 10%) doped WO3 samples were done by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Monoclinic crystal structure was confirmed. The active vibrations of O-W-O in WO3 structure was confirmed by Raman spectra. O-W-O stretching and functional groups were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The electrochemical water splitting nature of products was characterized by linear sweep voltammetry. The current density was achieved as 812 mA/g with low over potential for 5% Ag doped WO3 electrode. The higher charge transfer was reported for the same electrode with very good electrochemical stability over 24 h of continuous electrochemical OER activity. From the results, it is confirmed that the optimum dopant concentration and the fine morphological engineering in WO3 with high oxygen vacancies present in the sample would be recommended as one of the efficient electrodes utilized for sustainable energy production applications via electrochemical water splitting technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano size transition metal oxides are attracted the attention of researchers due to its interesting electrochemical properties. Here, vanadium oxide (V5O9) nanostructures were synthesized by one pot hydrothermal route where three different kinds of acids were used such as H2SO4, HCl and HNO3 to synthesize V5O9 and its physico-chemical studies were examined. The structural parameters of the obtained products were investigated from XRD data. Anorthic structure of vanadium oxide (V5O9) phase was confirmed from XRD spectra. Vibration of V-O in V5O9 was confirmed by FTIR. Interstitial vacancies and oxygen related deficiencies present in the sample were confirmed from PL spectra. The typical nanoplate morphology of V5O9 was confirmed by SEM images. The excellent pseudocapacitive storage behavior was achieved as 218 F/g at 10 mV/s scan rate for V5O9 nanoplates synthesized by using H2SO4. The better conductivity and high charge discharge specific capacitance were also achieved for the same electrode. Hence, the strong acidic nature of H2SO4 is concluded as the better mineralizing agent for producing suitable electrode for future energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NiS, CuS and dual phase NiS@CuS composite nanostructures were successfully synthesized via hydrothermal method. The synthesized material was subjected to structural and morphological studies using XRD and SEM. The rhombohedral and hexagonal phase of NiS and CuS was confirmed from XRD. The combination of rhombohedral NiS and hexagonal CuS together formed to produce NiS@CuS was revealed. The nanorod, agglomerated nanosheet like structures and its combination were also confirmed for NiS, CuS and NiS@CuS respectively from SEM images. FTIR spectral analysis of the prepared samples confirmed its metal sulfur vibration and also the functional groups on its surface. Predominant S(3p) with Ni(3d) emission and interstitial defects were confirmed from PL study. Further, CV measurement shows the perfect redox activity of the prepared electrodes at 10mV/s scan rate. Comparatively NiS@CuS showed very good specific area from CV curve and also the excellent water oxidation behavior from LSV as 240 mA/g at 10 mV/s. The very small Rct along with 71% retention after 12h was observed for the same nanocomposite electrode. Thus, the experimental results evidenced that NiS@CuS electrode is revealed as the excellent catalyst for electrochemical water oxidation for producing clean energy with zero CO2 emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure and cerium doped nickel oxide nanoparticles were prepared by hydrothermal method. Structural, optical, and morphological properties were studied by employing XRD, Raman, PL, and SEM analyses. The information about the functional group and chemical structure of the prepared sample was analyzed through FTIR. Electrochemical studies exhibited good specific capacitance value of 395 F/g at 10 mV/s for 6% of cerium doped nickel oxide electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu2S nanopowders were prepared by sol gel combustion method. X-ray diffraction study confirmed tetragonal structure of crystalline (110) plane. Cu2S nanostructure revealed nanorod like morphology. The strong and sharp Raman peaks observed at 474 cm−1 revealed covellite structure. PL emission at 360 nm confirmed material near band edge emission. The IR spectra revealed Cu-S vibration band observed at 607 cm−1. The electrochemical characteristics of synthesized nanomaterial were investigated by cyclic voltammetric analysis. Cu2S exhibits 547 F/g specific capacitance at 0.5 A/g current density obtained by using 1M KOH as electrolytic solution. These results indicated its promising behavior towards electrochemical energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, synthesis of β-V2O5 nanorods by solvothermal method was adopted at optimum experimental conditions by varying the concentration of NaOH as 0.5M, 1M, 1.5M and 2M. The obtained products were characterization by following techniques, XRD, RAMAN, FTIR, and FESEM. The XRD results reveal the formation of β-V2O5 nanorods and its crystalline nature was confirmed by its lattice parameters. The Raman analysis shows a peak at 485, 770 and 998 cm−1 corresponds to the vibration of O-V-O bonds. Similarly the FITR peaks appeared at the 530 and 786 cm−1 can be attributed to the symmetric stretching of Metal Oxide (V-O). The morphology and its structure of β-V2O5 nanorods can be analysized by the FESEM techniques and its images shows the formation of β-V2O5 nanorods with different dimensions. The role of concentration of NaOH can be studied by comparing the FESEM micrographs. It is clearly evident from FESEM images as the concentration of NaOH increases from 0.5 M to 2M, the shape and size of the change rapidly and the surface effect results in the mesoporous features on the surface of nanorods. Its note worthy as the concentration of NaOH increases results in the flattening of nanorods could be observed due more of interaction of NaOH precursor solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt was made to synthesis the copper doped tin oxide (Cu-SnO2) nanoparticles by adopting different chelating agents (NaOH, KOH and C2H2O4) by Sol-gel process. The synthesized products were characterized by XRD, Photoluminescence (PL), Infra- Red (FTIR) and SEM analysis. The XRD confirms the formation of Cu-SnO2 shows the maximum peak at 33.8° with lattice plane (101). The PL peak at 361 and 382 nm due to the recombination of electron in conduction band to valence band infers the optical properties. The IR spectra correspond to the peak at 551 and 620 cm−1 attributed to the characteristics peak for Cu-SnO2 nanoparticles. The SEM images for all three Cu-SnO2 nanoparticles formed by three chelating agent (NaOH, KOH and C2H2O4) facilitates the formation mechanism and the chelating agent Oxalic acid results in formation of nano flowers with diverse layers orientated in random direction. Further SEM studies reveal that, the Cu-SnO2 nanoparticles formed by oxalic acid could posses high surface area with large number layered structured enables the better electrochemical properties and its applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work the effect of concentration of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the synthesis of Nickel doped Manganese oxide (Ni-MnO2) nanoparticles have been carried out by adopting the sol-gel process. The synthesized products were characterized by XRD, Infra- Red (FTIR) and SEM analysis. The XRD confirms the formation of Ni-MnO2 nanoparticles illustrate peak at 31.4° with lattice plane (-231). The IR spectra correspond to the peak at 592 and 846 cm-1 attributed to the characteristics peak for Ni-MnO2 nanoparticles. The SEM images for all three Ni-MnO2 nanoparticles for different concentration of CTAB allows us to assess the formation route of nano tentacles from 10 mM, 30 mM and 50 mM. The configured nano tentacles of Ni-MnO2 nanoparticles presumably leads to more significantly change its properties, particularly in its electrochemical properties show the ways to be suitable candidates for supercapacitor, battery, photo catalytic and fuel cell applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facile and economically viable one step hydrothermal route was adapted to synthesis SnO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite with and without hexamine (HMT) as surfactant successfully. The formation of SnO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite was confirmed through XRD, Raman, PL and FTIR studies. The presence of well defined XRD diffraction peaks of both SnO2 and α-Fe2O3 revealed the formation SnO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite. The obtained characteristic Raman active (Eg+Eg+Eu+A2u) mode of vibrations confirmed the formation of SnO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite. Photoluminescence study revealed the emission behavior of the product. Metal oxygen vibrations of Fe-O in both octahedral, tetrahedral sites and Sn-O were confirmed by the bands located at 466, 580 and 673 cm−1 respectively through FTIR. The spherical morphology of the product synthesized with and without the surfactant HMT has been revealed by SEM images. The electrochemical behavior of the product was investigated through CV and EIS studies in 1M Na2SO4 electrolyte solution and obtained the highest specific capacitance of 211.25 F/g at 5 mV for the surfactant assisted product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]