Biography:

Maria del Pilar de Miguel Ortega has received her PhD in Chemistry from Complutense University of Madrid in 1992. She worked as a Assistant Professor in Complutense University of Madrid from 1992-1996. Now, she is working in The Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) from past 4 years.

Abstract:

The Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) is a Public Business Entity, answering to the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which fosters the technological development and innovation of Spanish companies. It is the entity that channels the funding and support applications for national and international R&D&i projects of Spanish companies. The CDTI thus seeks to contribute to improving the technological level of the Spanish companies by means of implementing the following activities: • Financial and economic-technical assessment of R&D projects implemented by companies. • Managing and fostering Spanish participation in international technological cooperation programmes. • Fostering international business technology transfer and support services for technological innovation. • Supporting the setting up and consolidating technological companies. CDTI provides companies with its own funding and facilities access to third-party financing (Bank Line for Funding Technological Innovation and Subsidies of the EU R&D Framework Programme) for national and international research and development projects. In addition, the CDTI is empowered as the competent entity to issue binding motivated reports of the projects funded by any of its lines (Royal Decree 2/2007). These documents will provide greater legal security to Spanish companies with an approved project and funded by the CDTI when seeking tax rebates for costs incurred in the R&D activities of those projects.

Biography:

Dr. O.J. Dura completed his PhD in 2009 from University of Castilla-La Mancha. Then he performed postdoctoral stays at Technical University of Vienna and University Complutense de Madrid. Actually he is lecturer with the Applied Physics department of Castilla-La Mancha. His research interest focuses on transport properties and synthesis of nanostructured ceramic materials.

Abstract:

The presence of interfaces and grain boundaries in ceramics materials affects both thermal diffusion and charge transport among others properties. However, these effects are not completely understood and more efforts from a theoretical and from an experimental point of view must be addressed. Here, we report on the grain boundary and size effects on thermal, electric and thermoelectric properties of different ceramic oxides obtained by mechanical alloying or milling. We will discuss these effects on the ionic conductivity of YSZ, which is extensively used as electrolyte in SOFC, by complex impedance measurements. Our results are discussed in terms of the presence or absence of an space charge layer along boundaries. Regarding the thermal transport, it's shown an strong depression of the thermal conductivity due to the presence of boundaries in nanocomposites of YSZ/STO among others oxides materials. This effect is interpreted in terms of an strong enhancement of the phonon scattering at grain boundaries. Finally we present the interesting behaviour of the thermoelectric properties of cobalt oxides due to the effect of the grain size reduction. The influence of the grain size on the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) and the compromise between electrical and thermal transport in cobalt oxides will be discussed.

Biography:

Jorge Pedrós received his PhD degree from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain) in 2007. After being a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK), he returned to UPM in 2012. He currently works on the growth of graphene by CVD and the development of graphene devices for electronic, plasmonic, and energy-storage applications. He has coauthored more than 30 publications and is the PI of 2 research projects.

Abstract:

Graphene stands out by many different properties (electrical, optical, structural, mechanical, thermal, etc.), which combinations allow to improve device performance or enable new applications. Perhaps, energy storage by means of supercapacitors and batteries is the main short-term field in which graphene will be exploited. Graphene can be prepared by several techniques. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using catalytic metal foils or films has demonstrated very good results for quality single or few-layer 2D graphene. Similarly, 3D graphene structures are grown by CVD on Cu or Ni metal foams or sponges, showing a high surface useful for supercapacitor electrodes. The graphene foam (GF) processing involves material growth, substrate removal and, eventually, functionalization. We are using plasma enhanced CVD to grow the graphene coating on a metal foam acting as a catalytic mesh. The coating thickness depends on the metal substrate and the growth conditions (gases ratio, growth time, etc.). A free-standing GF is obtained by wet etching the metal substrate. Finally, the GF may be functionalized by different techniques and materials (polymerisation, electrodeposition, sol-gel), either to modify the graphene properties and/or to provide robustness to the 3D structure. In this work we will discuss several demonstrations of GF-based electrodes for supercapacitors, either by filling the GF with a hierarchical polymer nanostructure, or different oxides by electrodeposition or sol-gel. GFs can also be exploited to enhance the properties of batteries or other energy applications.

Biography:

Yongmei Zheng, PhD, is a Professor at the School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University. Her research interests are focused on bioinspired surface materials with gradient multi- structures for functions including water collection, transport of the condensed droplet, low- temperature superhydrophobicity, anti-icing, anti-frosting at interfaces and so on. Her publications are included in Nature, Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., ACS Nano, Adv. Funct. Mater., Small, Chem. Commun., J. Mater. Chem. A, Nanoscales, etc., with 12 Cover stories. She has published 1 book - titled “Bioinspired wettability surfaces: development in micro- and nanostructures”.

Abstract:

Inspired by the roles of micro- and nanostructures in the water collecting ability of spider silk, a series of functional fibers are designed by using nanotechnology-related methods. The “spindle- knot/joint” structures demonstrate the cooperation of multiple gradients in driving tiny water drops to collect water at micro- and nano-level. The geometrical-engineered thin fibers display a much higher water capturing ability than normal fibers in fog flows; the bead-on-string heterostructured micro-fibers are capable of intelligently responding to environmental changes in humidity; the tiny water droplets can be controlled the transport in directions by designing the temperature, photo, rough-responded surfaces on fibers; the continuous size spindle-knots fiber can realize the droplet transport in a long distance for water collection in efficiency. By integrative gradient features of surfaces between spider silk and beetle back, a kind of wettable star-shape pattern surface also realizes the effect of water repellency rather than others. To develop the functional surface, the wettable gradients in different modes are fabricated onto the high adhesive surfaces, thus the high adhesive surface realize the controlling of droplet spreading in directions. Otherwise, learning from butterfly wing and plant leaf display water repellency and low-temperature superhydrophobicity, bioinspired surfaces with optimal micro- and nanostructures display distinctly anti-icing, ice-phobic and de-ice abilities. It also demonstrated further that the oriented or asymmetric features on geometries at micro- and nano-level can generate the driving of droplets and directional transport of drop, etc. These studies are greatly significant to help to design the novel functional engineering wettability-controlled surfaces.

Biography:

J J Vegas Olmos received the BSc and the MSc in Telecommunications and Electronic Engineering, respectively, in 2001 and 2003. He obtained the PhD degree from the Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, in 2006. He also holds a MA in East Asian Studies, a BEc in Business Administration, and an MBA. He was a Research Fellow at Osaka University, Japan, from 2006 to 2008, and a Research Associate at the Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. Since 2011, he is with the Technical University of Denmark, where he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Photonics Engineering.

Abstract:

As the need for higher connectivity is pushing to open up higher frequency bands for communications, entering the micro and millimeter wave bands (>10 GHz), we are facing the need to develop new antennas to cope with two main requirements: low cost and reconfigurability. Low-cost is a must as the band from 28 to 40 GHz is seriously considered to bridge end mobile users, and this implies large deployments, inherently cost sensitive. Reconfigurability is a must as once deployed, such systems need to be able to adjust to the peculiarities of their environment and traffic needs. Horn antennas based on metal drilling and milling are technology and cost intensive, while not allowing reconfigurability once fabricated. In this paper, we will review our recent work in using advanced materials for antenna reconfigurability and fabrication. The results enable advanced functionalities such as frequency switching and beam forming.

Biography:

Dorian Martin is a member of NFFA-Europe, France. He has attended several conferences and delivered speech on NFFA-Europe and its benifits

Abstract:

NFFA-Europe sets out a platform to carry out comprehensive projects for multidisciplinary research at the nanoscale extending from synthesis to nano-characterisation to theory and numerical simulation. NFFA-Europe is enhancing European industry competitiveness at two levels: • Providing firms a simple, coordinated access to large scale facilities and instruments for proprietary work: this fee based access is an ad-hoc approach, depending on the level of complexity of the expressed need. • Giving industry opportunities to access for free the NFFA-Europe platform: this funded access requires the results of the project to be published. Approved user projects will have access to the best suited instruments and support competences for performing the research, including access to analytical large scale facilities, theory and simulation and high-performance computing facilities. The user access includes several “installations” and is coordinated through a single entry point portal allowing the user/client to build up a personalised access programme with an increasing return on science and innovation production. NFFA-Europe is also doing its own research to address key bottlenecks of nanoscience research: nanostructure traceability, protocol reproducibility, in-operando nano-manipulation and analysis, and open data.

Biography:

B.S., Leningrad State University, 1959 M.S., Leningrad State University, 1961 Ph.D., Moscow State University, 1964 Dr.Sci., Mathematics Institute Academy of Science,Minsk, 1972

Abstract:

The theory of electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering by one and many small impedance particles of arbitrary shapes is developed. The basic assumptions are: a  d  , where a is the characteristic size of particles, d is the smallest distance between the neighboring particles,  is the wavelength. The impedance boundary condition is: [N; [E;N]]jSm = m[N;H]jSm, where m, Rem  0, is the boundary impedance of the mô€€€th particle Dm, Sm is the smooth surface of Dm, N is the outer unit normal to Sm, [A;B] is the cross product of two vectors, E and H are electric and magnetic elds satisfying the Maxwell's equations, the impedance boundary conditions on Sm, 1  m  N; and the radiation condition at in nity. Here N is the total number of particles. An ecient computational method is given for solving the wave scattering problem by one and many, 1  m  N, particles under the assumptions a  d  . The particles are distributed in an arbitrary nite domain in R3. If N is very large and a is very small, then the eective eld in the medium, where the small particles are distributed, is proved to be a solution of a linear integral equation. This theory allows one to give a recipe for creating materials with a desired refraction coecient. One can create material with negative refraction: the group velocity in this material is directed opposite to the phase velocity. One can create a material with a desired permeability. The theory presented in this talk is developed in monograph and in papers cited.

Biography:

Hamouda Ghonem has completed his PhD from McGill Uninersity, Montreal, Canada. He is a Distiguished Professor of Engineering and directs the Mechanics of Materials Research Laboratoy at the university of Rhode Islanad, USA. He has published more than 150 papers in areas related to materials deformation mechanisms at elevated temperatures.

Abstract:

Microstructural changes in grain boundary carbide precipitates have been correlated with stress during creep of solid solution strengthened by nickel based superalloy, alloy 617, at 950°C. The observed redistribution of carbides and carbide migration is explained in terms of dissolution of carbides under compressive stress and coarsening along boundaries subjected to tensile stress. The role of carbide, size, volume fraction and distribution on the deformation response has been examined on 3 microstructure variants of alloy 617 subjected to low cycle fatigue testing under strain controlled loading conditions at 760°C. The 3 microstructures are (1) as-rolled microstructure with uniform distribution of discrete carbide precipitates along all grain boundaries in addition to the presence of carbides in the matrix, (2) solution treated microstructure (1200°C for 2 hours and water quenched) with no carbides in the matrix or along grain boundaries, and (3) solution treated microstructure (1200°C for 2 hours and water quenched) subjected to creep testing at 950°C. This sequence results in redistribution of carbides, localized along boundaries perpendicular to creep load direction which are subjected to tensile stresses. Hysteresis loops associated with complex low cycle fatigue testing were used to determine the isotropic hardening, in terms of yield strength and cyclic hardening/softening, as well as, the kinematic hardening (long- and short-range) as a function of grain boundary carbide size and volume fraction. Results of this analysis are incorporated in a non-linear kinematic, internal state variable model to simulate the cyclic stress-strain response of alloy 617 as a function of the microstructure state with respect to the carbide distribution.

Biography:

M Guerdane has completed his PhD at the Goettingen University and Post-doctoral studies from Karlsruhe University in Germany. Since 2012, he is a senior researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Materials, Computational Materials Science.

Abstract:

One of the central challenges in multiscale modeling consists of how to bridge the gap among atomistic and macroscopic approaches in order to ensure that the descriptions at all levels are quantitatively consistent with each other. In our work, we carry out this task for the hierarchical coupling approach that combines molecular dynamics (MD) with phase-field (PF) modeling. The consistency analysis is achieved by detailed comparisons of quantitative predictions of the considered modeling methods for the growth kinetics. The latter is a typical multiscale problem in material physics. The MD simulations provide the physical quantities needed for the construction of the multiscale models. Of central importance are the bulk free energy and the solid-liquid interfacial free energy. We consider the monatomic system Fe and the binary alloy NiZr. We discuss in particular the solid-liquid interface diffusion, the interfacial thickness anisotropy, and their determining influence on the growth kinetics.

Biography:

Raja Rizwan Hussain received his PhD and MSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, for which he was ranked as outstanding and was awarded the best research thesis, prize and medal from the University of Tokyo. He has authored more than 165 publications with reputed publishers in the past 7 years of his post PhD tenure and has received several awards, prizes and distinctions throughout his research and academic career. His research interest is in the corrosion of steel reinforced concrete.

Abstract:

Corrosion of RC (reinforced concrete) structures is a major durability concern throughout the world. Chloride attack is the main cause of deterioration in steel reinforced concrete structures. Chloride ions break the passive film developed on steel bar embedded in concrete protecting the steel from corrosion. This situation is further aggravated by the hot weather conditions. The passive layer is believed to be a few nanometers in thickness and primarily composed of iron oxides; however, little is known about its chemical composition and structure as well as the passive film breaking process. This makes it difficult to characterize corrosion which is highlighted by the fact that the chloride threshold value of steel reinforced concrete measured by conventional electro-chemical techniques can vary greatly. While these techniques measure corrosion in a macro scale, the growth and deterioration of passive film actually take place at the nano-scale and is governed by the elemental compositions and nano-microstructure of the steel as well as the chemistry of the concrete and the environment around the rebar which has been incorporated in this paper. This research paper focuses on characterization of passive layer at the nano-scale as well as on finding out what happens when the film breaks down especially due to chloride attack under hot weather. To address these key issues, advanced nano-techniques (such as SEM, FEG-SEM, XRD, EDS/EDX, XRF, XPS, AFM, Raman Spectroscopy, Photo Electron Spectroscopy etc.) and electrochemical measurements have been used. Electro-chemical techniques have been used to conduct research on the growth and breakdown mechanisms of passive film in aggressive environments, particularly chloride contaminated environments and hot weather conditions prevailing around the world. It was found that the chemical composition and surface treatment of various steel bar sources available differ considerably from each other and also have significant difference in the development of passive layer as well as the corrosion rates respectively. An interesting sequence of reactions taking place during the formation of passive film on steel rebars is revealed. Role of changes in parameters surrounding the steel reinforcement bars exposed in concrete pore solution on nature of passive film is established. A wide variation in corrosion and pitting tendency of rebars in different conditions is caused due to changes in nature of the passive film on steel surface. A subtle change in nature of film in contact with chloride ions occurs before its complete breakdown. A rise in temperature transforms the nature of the passive film resulting in acceleration in corrosion rate. Presence of lime in pore solution significantly improves the protective properties of the film. Comparison of multi-scale experimental analysis shows a direct relationship among the macro, micro and nano scale results obtained in this project. A nano-scale model for the transformation, breakdown of passive film, initiation and propagation of corrosion under severe environment has been suggested and experimentally verified in this paper

Biography:

Abstract:

The currently used high-performance micro-fiber fabrics for soft body armor have very low surface friction and this has become an issue in the effectiveness of ballistic energy absorption. In this study, non-polymerizing reactive plasma gas H2, Ar, N2 and air were employed to modify micro-fiber polyester fabric surface for the application of ballistic impact material. Capillary rise method observations yield information about the surface effect of the fabrics after plasma treatment. The surface morphology of the treated fabrics was studied. Fabric tailor ability analysis was used to analyze the surface properties of the treated samples. The yarn pulling-out test shows that the resistance to pulling out yarns from fabrics plasma-treated treated with N2 and Ar, plasma-treated fabric is increased 18% and 30% respectively, compared with the untreated fabric.

Biography:

Mohamed M Blaow received his BSc degree in Materials Engineering from University of Tripoli, in 1990. He got his MSc degree in Materials and Mechanical Engineering the University of Newcastle/UK in 2000. Moreover, he got PhD degree in Materials Engineering and Nondestructive testing from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne/UK in 2005. Currently, he is Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at the University of Misurata/Libya. His research field is in steel processing and non-destructive testing.

Abstract:

Magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) measurements were performed using two low carbon steel plates of 1 mm thickness. A full annealed, temper rolled and a cold rolled plates of 400 mm2 area were tested. The measurements were conducted along the rolling direction and transverse to it in both plates. The detection search coil was initially placed at the magnetizing yoke and then it was displaced away from the yoke in predetermined steps. The intensity of the Barkhausen signals decreased as a function of detection distance from the magnetizing yoke in both directions. However, the Barkhausen noise profile shape changed from a single peak when the detection coil between the yoke legs to two peaks profile as soon as the detection search coil was displaced from the yoke in the temper rolled plates. The result indicated also that the two peaks profiles in the temper rolled plate were sharper along the transverse direction than in the rolling direction. The appearance of two peaks profile in the temper rolled plate may be attributed to different magnetisation directions the temper rolled plate which were detected by distorted profiles. The single peak Barkhausen noise decreased linearly as a function of detection distance in both directions in the cold rolled plate, which may be attributed to the high dislocation density. The result indicates that the magnetisation process in the steel plates is strongly affected by dislocations within the magnetized landscape.

Biography:

Mohammad Masoumi holds a PhD degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (Physical and mechanical properties of materials) from Universidade Federal do Ceará of Brazil. His research interests are focused on the study the role of microstructural parameters such as, microstructure, crystallographic texture and grain boundary distributions on mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.

Abstract:

The texture evolutions in duplex stainless steels are affected by two mechanisms, plastic deformation and martensitic phase transformation. In this work, the texture evolutions during hot and cold rolling was investigated as a function of thickness reduction in an experimental duplex stainless steel to describe the phase transformation and crystallographic orientation changes for a better understanding of the interaction between the phase transformation and deformation texture. The bcc martensite showed the dominant {100}//ND and {110}//ND components. The dominance of the {100}//ND components were ascribed mainly to martensitic transformation following Bain's model. Also, kernel average misorientation increases significantly due to the increase in strain and a decrease in deformation temperature. Also, the internal grain structure becomes more inhomogeneous with the dislocation piles up and preventing dislocation movements.

Biography:

Abstract:

Dependence of the materials properties on neutron irradiation intensity (flux) is a key problem while usage data of the accelerated materials irradiation in test reactors to control and forecast their capacity for work in realistic (practical) circumstances of operation. Investigations of the reactor pressure vessel steel radiation degradation dependence on fast neutron fluence (embrittlement kinetics) at low neutron flux reveal the instability in the form of the scatter of the experimental data and wave-like sections of embrittlement kinetics appearance. Disclosure of the steel degradation oscillating is a sign of the steel structure cyclic self-recovery transformation as it take place in self-organization processes. This assumption has received support through the discovery of the similar “anomalous” data in scientific publications and by means of own additional experiments.

Biography:

Abdullah Qaban has started his PhD program at City University London in March 2015. He is specialised in the materials science and engineering. His PhD focuses on the behaviour of steel at different alloying compositions and different heat treatment processes. The Master research project was to study the behaviour of thermoplastic composites at Teesside University in 2014 while the Bachelor research project focused on the thermoset composites for wind turbine applications at the University of Surrey in 2012. He aims to publish his first paper in the Materials Science & Engineering Conference organised in Spain in June 2016.

Abstract:

Control rolled steels are characterized by their excellent mechanical properties and are employed in many tough engineering applications. However, the cost factor and the unavailability of the control rolling facilities in most of the small steel plants make it necessary for researchers to explore alternative options. Hot rolling is cheaper than control rolling but the mechanical properties are poor giving inferior impact resistance and often lower strengths. The mechanical behaviour of hot rolled steels are affected significantly by their chemical compositions, thus understanding the role of alloying elements in steel and specifying their optimum quantity in the composition may give competitive steels which can replace the control rolled steels. In many cases, the improvement of strength is at the expense of impact behaviour and vice versa, and the key factor in balancing both properties is the chemical composition. Currently, many researchers have focused on Al as an addition to play a major role in improving both strength and impact behaviour. The work presented in this paper examines the effect of low and high Al content on microstructure and mechanical properties of hot rolled steel. The influence of control rolling has also been examined. In addition, the work will explore any additional benefits that can be achieved by the addition of Nb to the chemical composition. Previous works have found that a high Al addition to steels is beneficial to both strength and impact behaviour. In the current paper, high and normal low Al containing steel were examined to determinethe influence this higher Al addition has on the mechanical behaviour. Two rolling conditions were studied, hot rolled and control rolled. Nb was also added to the high Al containing steel to enable higher strengths more typical to that pertaining to control rolled steels. For the steels, a high N content was chosen so as to increase AlN precipitation and hopefully gain more grain refinement. It was found that high Al steel gave the best impact behaviour with an ITT of -90°C. This gave the lowest LYS of 290 MPa. The improvement of impact behaviour can be attributed to AlN precipitation and refinement of both grain boundary carbides and ferrite grain size. The present work shows that the addition of Nb to the high Al containing steels is very beneficial to strength giving a LYS of 385 MPa close to that given by someof the control rolled steels. However, poor impact behaviour was obtained and has an ITT of only 10oC. The improvement of strength is due to grain refinement and precipitation hardening by Nb while the deterioration of impact behaviour might is due to the martensite and bainite formation.

Biography:

Abstract:

Shot peening increases the fatigue resistance of steels due to the accumulation of compressive residual stresses in the surface layers. In porous sintered steels, an additional effect is due to surface densification. Surface densification is inversely proportional to the resistance of the steel to plastic deformation. In the present work, two sintered steels having different Mo content were gas carburized and shot peened. The effect of shot peening on the surface densification and on the residual stresses was investigated, Surface densification was investigated by image analysis, to measure the residual porosity along the distance from the surface. Through the analysis of the pore morphology, the fraction of the load bearing section profile was calculated using a model that correlates it to the fractional porosity and the parameter fcircle. The effect of the resistance to plastic deformation of the carburized steels on the surface densification and on the residua stress profile was this way investigated and discussed.

Biography:

Dr. Elena Cerro-Prada received her PhD in Physics from Autónoma University of Madrid (UAM). She lectured at the University of Birmingham, UK, and worked at CERN, among other research and academic positions. Dr Cerro-Prada currently serves as Lecturer and Head of the Physics Department at the Technical University of Madrid. Dr. Cerro-Prada has contributed greatly to the understanding of cementitious materials microstructure by applications of nanotechnology and nanomaterials. She is currently involved in the development of titanium dioxide nanoparticles to provide cement-based materials with photocatalytic properties, as well as agent-based modelling for cementitious material microstructure.

Abstract:

Incorporation of nanostructured chemically inert semiconductors with photocatalytic properties into cementitious materials is an important development in the field of heterogeneous photocatalytic pollution mitigation. Here we report a new composite material consisting of TiO2 nanocrystals grown via sol-gel method at ambient temperature and undergone calcination in order to increase their crystallinity. On gelation of the ambient temperature prepared sols, dispersed nanoparticles of amorphous TiO2 were obtained by titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) route. The amorphous materials obtained transformed to fully crystalline titania at 400 °C. The effect of calcination temperature was evaluated. The high temperature thermal stabilities of this novel material were also studied. The prepared TiO2 photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The contents of anatase and rutile phases in the TiO2 sols have been successfully controlled by simple thermal annealing. The active photocatalytic sites related to the surface area of TiO2 are the key factor in determining the photocatalytic activity [1]. The as-prepared nanoparticles are expected to show an enhanced photocatalytic activity under UVlight irradiation, which can be attributed to the porous structure, large BET surface area, bicrystalline, and small crystallite size.

Biography:

Alexander Axelevitch has completed his PhD in 2002 in Physical Electronics from Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Since 1995, he has been with Holon Institute of Technology (HIT). He currently leads the Nanotechnology and Microelectronics Branch of the Engineering Faculty, the Laboratory of Microelectronics and Thin Films and works as the Senior Lecturer in faculty of Engineering in HIT. His main research interest includes thin films deposition methods, transition metal oxides, alternative energy sources, solar cells, plasmonic effects. He has eight patents, 65 referred articles and more 150 papers presented on scientific meetings.

Abstract:

The ability to different various neuropeptides in human organism and evaluation of their amount are very significant in neuropsychology and physiology. Last time, the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was widely introduced into biosensing. Sensitivity of optical biosensors was significantly improved using metal nanostructures based in general on the application of gold and silver. Nanostructures prepared from these metals appear LSPR in the visual and near infrared spectrum. However, the difference in the neuropeptides come out in the middle and deep ultraviolet spectrum where gold and silver are inapplicable. It is known that aluminum nanostructures can display the LSPR in the ultraviolet spectrum. However, there are some difficulty in the aluminum nanostructure preparation due to its easily oxidation and good adherence to the glass. In this work, we present a simple method for preparation the aluminum nanostructures consisting of aluminum nanoparticles surrouned by a thin layer of aluminum nitride.

Biography:

Nekane Guarrotxena has completed PhD from the University of Complutense, Madrid-Spain and Post-doctoral researcher at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d´Arts et Metiers (ENSAM), Paris (France) and the University of ScienceII, LEM-Montpellier (France). From 2008-2011, she was visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) and the CaSTL at the University of California, Irvine (USA). She is currently Research Scientist at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP), CSIC-Madrid (Spain). Her research interest focuses on the synthesis and assembly of hybrid nanomaterials, nanoplasmonics, and their uses in nanobiotechnology applications (bioimaging, biosensing, drug delivery and therapy).

Abstract:

An important number of applications has arisen reporting the use of nobel metal nanoparticles (NPs) as optical markers in single-molecule assays, as molecular rulers, as local orientation- or sensitive biochemical- nanosensors and enhance Raman scattering of surface-bound molecules (SERS). Assembly of several NPs has also been used to develop scalable fabrication of new nanodevices, just by playing with a controlled coupling chemistry. However, this rational clustering of two NPs (dimers or hot-spots with high electromagnetic enhancements in SERS application) by solutions methods has been a notable challenge, since nanoassembly´s dissociation or aggregation must be avoided during performance or application. In this talk, we will present our alternative approach based on a postsynthetic purification method which ahs overcome this difficulty yielding highly desirable optical SERS active nanoassemblies for nanosensors.

Biography:

P V Ashrit is a Professor of Physics and the Director of Thin Films and Photonics Research Group (GCMP) at Université de Moncton in Canada. He has been working in the area of thin films, especially of chromogenic (electrochromic, photochromic, thermochromic) materials for over 25 years. His present interest is in inducing various types of nanostructure in these films in order to enhance their chromogneic performance. He has been awarded the prestigious R3 Innovation Award for Excellence in Applied Research by the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF).

Abstract:

Transition metal oxide thin films showing very efficient electrochromic properties have become increasingly popular due to their application potential in various forms of smart systems. The reversible coloration that can be induced in these materials, especially in thin film form, via the application of a small electric field provides a facile and interactive way to control the coloration. Tungsten trioxide (WO3) thin films are by far the best known candidates for these applications.The electrochromic coloration occurs through a reversible reaction such as the one shown below: WO3 + xe- + xLi+  LixWO3 (Transparent) (Blue) Upon the application of a small electric field x number of ions (lithium, for example) and electrons are injected into the transparent WO3 to transform it into blue colored bronze (LixWO3) thus giving the electrochromic coloration. There are stringent requirements on the optical and electrical properties of these films for their efficient and stable electrochromic (EC) operation. These thin films need to show high efficiency coloration under ion intercalation as well as a high mixed ion/electron conductivity. In this work we have carried out the preparation of the thin films of WO3 with the specific goal of controlling their nanostructure to optimize their mixed conductivity. High pressure sublimation and condensation as well as the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) methods have been used to induce a controlled nanostructure. Lithium ion diffusion is measured by electrochemical methods. The optimum nanostructure that is apt for the EC application of these films is reported.

Biography:

Sónia A C Carabineiro has completed her PhD in 2001 at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal) and Post-doctoral studies from Leiden University (The Netherlands) and Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal). In December 2007, she joined the University of Oporto (Portugal) as an Assistant Researcher and became Principal Researcher by December 2013. She has published more than 90 papers in reputed journals and 19 book chapters. She has an h index of 24 and over 1400 citations (Scopus, May 2016). She is particularly interested in catalysis by gold, (mixed) metal oxides, carbon materials and in heterogenisation of homogenous materials for oxidation reactions.

Abstract:

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases with a high global warming potential (approximately 300 times higher than CO2). N2O is responsible for the depletion of stratospheric ozone layer due to its long lifetime in atmosphere (~150 years). The present work aims to explore the effect of the support (Al2O3, CeO2, Fe2O3, TiO2 and ZnO) on the catalytic decomposition of N2O (deN2O) over Au-based catalysts prepared by a deposition-precipitation method. The following activity order was recorded: Au/Fe2O3 > Au/CeO2 > Au/ZnO > Au/TiO2 > Au/Al2O3. An inferior deN2O performance was obtained for bare supports, following, however, the same order as the gold loaded materials. A close correlation between the deN2O performance and the redox properties of oxide carriers was found, on the basis of a redox type mechanism. The addition of gold further enhanced the surface oxygen reduction, facilitating the deN2O process. Moreover, the low gold nanoparticles size (~2 nm) and the Au+ oxidation state of Au/Fe2O3 sample can be further accounted to explain the superior performance of this material.

Biography:

Juan Antonio Madrid is MSc in Chemistry and has 20 years of experience on Chemical R&D and Vocational Education and Training (VET). He is completing the Doctorate. Since 2015, he is the Director of the National Center of Reference for Chemical VET (Spain). From 2004 to 2015, he worked as a Professor of Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Analysis. From 1998 to 2004, he was working at General Electric Plastics in the R&D department. Before that, he worked in a pharmaceutical company during 2 years.

Abstract:

The use of alcoholic suspensions of calcium hydroxide nanoparticles as consolidant for natural stone is widely accepted, mainly in Cultural Heritage Conservation. In the present experimental work, two easy synthetic procedures leading to pure Ca(OH)2 nanoparticles in 2- propanol are compared. CaCO3 and Ca(OH)2 were used as starting materials to obtain CaO following two different paths using the same calcinations temperatures. In both cases, CaO was used to obtain suspensions of Ca(OH)2 nanoparticles by addition to 2-propanol while sonicated. The nanoparticles were studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the stability of suspensions was monitored by Nephelometry (NM). The proposed methods can be implemented in industry because they are fast and easy to scale up. On the other hand, the methods yield pure Ca(OH)2 and avoid the production of by-products, such as NaCl that require additional purification treatments.

Biography:

Nekane Guarrotxena has completed PhD from the University of Complutense, Madrid-Spain and Post-doctoral researcher at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d´Arts et Metiers (ENSAM), Paris (France) and the University of ScienceII, LEM-Montpellier (France). From 2008-2011, she was visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara (USA) and the CaSTL at the University of California, Irvine (USA). She is currently Research Scientist at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP), CSIC-Madrid (Spain). Her research interest focuses on the synthesis and assembly of hybrid nanomaterials, nanoplasmonics, and their uses in nanobiotechnology applications (bioimaging, biosensing, drug delivery and therapy).

Abstract:

The morphology- dependent tunable optical, magnetic, and electronic properties of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) make them key building-blocks in nanomaterials science, opening interesting pathways to fundamental research, and technological applications (bio- and device-technology). By definition, a smart- or stimuli responsive- polymer is a high performance polymer that change according to the environment they are in. They can be sensitive to temperature, humidity, pH or an electrical or magnetic field and respond in various ways, like varying colour or transparency, becoming conductive or permeable to water, etc. And usually only slight changes in the environment are neccessary to induce large changes in the polymer´s properties. The combination between inorganic NPs and stimuli-response polymers yields smart nanohybrids and nanocomposites with improved and even novel properties, besides to stabilize and control their assembly. In this sense, polymer-stabilized NPs in organic solvents offer a great chemical playground for directed self-assembly, by simply changing the composition of the solvent; which expands their potencial applications. Despite the great interest in the scientific community, as reported by the wide literature on the subject, the establishment of new and simple protocols for polymer-coating of inorganic NPs is still needed. This talk will highlight recent development in the area of multifunctional organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures, laying focus on the improved, optical response of nanohybrids depending on the impact of pH and temperature external stimuli. This research requires a good understanding of structure-property relationships that guide the design and generation of novel smart materials with well-controlled stimuli-responsive features for specific applications.

Biography:

Nagamalai Vasimalai obtained his PhD in Chemistry at Gandhigram University, India in 2013. Subsequently, he did a Post-doc in National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan (2014). Since March 2015, he is working in the Nanoparticles for Bioanalytical Applications research group at INL as a Marie Curie Co-Fund Fellow under the supervision of Maria Teresa Fernández-Argüelles. His field of expertise is luminescent nanomaterials for bioanalytical and theraputic applications.

Abstract:

Nanocarbon dots (C-dots) are a new class of nanomaterials that has gained momentum because of their aqueous solubility, chemical inertness, poor photobleaching, low toxicity, biocompatibility etc. Hence, C-dots are used in fields including bioimaging, drug delivery, catalysis, optoelectronics, biosensors etc. Nowadays, there are described multiple routes and carbon sources as alternative for graphite to obtain C-Dots. Among them, foodstuffs have recently attracted considerable attention as starting materials, because they can be used in simple and cost-effective synthetic routes, and are environmental friendly. Besides these advantages, foodstuff-based C-dots present higher fluorescent quantum yield than those obtained with other routes, and some of them have anti-cancer properties, features that strongly depend on the material employed for the synthesis. Black pepper is a well-known spice due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, and anti-arthritic effects, and it has been reported that it is capable to reduce cancer cell proliferation. Therefore, in this work, black pepper was selected as source to perform a one-pot green synthesis of C-dots, and its anticancer potential has been evaluated through in-vitro studies. The synthesized C-dots have been deeply characterized (UV-Vis, fluorescence and raman spectroscopy, photostability, quantum yield, FT-IR, XRD, TEM etc.,). They have shown an excellent fluorescence quantum yield and narrow size distribution. Bioimaging studies have been performed to evaluate the in-vitro anticancer potential. Localization of the C-dots mainly in the cytoplasm and cell membrane has been observed, and viability studies indicate that the growth of human glioblastoma cells is suppressed up to 75% after 24 h incubation.

Biography:

Alex T Kuvarega completed his PhD in 2013 from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa and continued with Post-doctoral studies at the same University until January 2015. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit at the University of South Africa. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals.

Abstract:

The photocatalytic performance of a number of non-metal, metal co-doped TiO2 for the degradation of a dye under simulated solar radiation was investigated. The synthesised materials were characterised by FTIR, Raman Spectroscopy, XRD, DRUV-Vis, SEM and TEM. The N, metal co-doped TiO2 containing 0.5 wt.% of the metal consisted mainly of the anatase phase, with a particle size range of 15 - 28 nm. The TiO2 particles were largely spherical with some showing metal clusters dispersed on their surfaces. Co-doping shifted the material absorption edge well into the visible region. Band gap reduction was more pronounced for the N, PGM co-doped TiO2 compared to N, base metal co-doped samples. Co-doping led to an enhancement in the photocatalytic activity of the materials for the degradation of eosin yellow. N, Pd co-doped TiO2 was the most effective photocatalyst (99.9% dye removal) while N, Cu co-doped TiO2 showed the least activity (25.5% dye removal). The mechanism for the photocatalytic enhancement was proposed on the basis of formation of an electron deficient Schottky barrier at the semiconductor-metal interface, which act as an electron sink and thus retards electron-hole recombination. It was shown that the ability of the photocatalyst to degrade the dye depends on the nature and type of the metal dopant in co-doped TiO2 system.

Biography:

Antonio Riul Jr has graduated in Physics with PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He has experience with conducting polymers, nanostructured thin films (LB and LbL), e-tongues, and has published more than 60 papers (h-factor 21), with interest in emerging tecnologies to the development of sensors.

Abstract:

The layer-by-layer (LbL) technique is an easy, flexible an elegant bottom-up strategy that has been widely used to promote surface modification at nanoscale level, as well as for multilayer formation of advanced fuctional materials. We will show LbL films in sensor and fuel cell applications, exploring as well microfluidics and 3D-printing technologies. Microfluidics deals with the precise control and manipulation of liquids at the submillimetre scale, integrating research fields with emergent technologies in a cost-effecive manner. 3D printing is a fully automated process offering rapid prototyping to built complex structures with high resolution without experts, with the addtitional potential of using materials beyond polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) realms. The 3D printing technology can be used to facilitate the integration and fabrication of microfluidic devices, and here an e-tongue set-up was printed in less than 1h, being able to distinguish tastants below the human threshold. We also show the use of LbL films of graphene nanoplatelets in Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs). Briefly, DMFC are promising devices for clean energy generation, however, the major impedment to commercial applications is the methanol crossover from anode to cathode. Graphene nanoplateles of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide stabilized in poly(styrenesulfonic acid) sodium salt (GPSS) were LbL assembled onto Nafion® membranes in order to serve as a barrier to hamper the methanol permeation. The characterization of the modified LbL modified membranes indicated positive barrier property of the graphene nanoplatelets to the methanol permeation in a DMFC setup.

Biography:

Núria Ferrer-Anglada is a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain. She obtained a PhD on Solid State Physics at the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse, France) and a PhD on Physics at the University of Barcelona, Spain. She worked on conducting polymers. More recently her field of research was focused on the spectroscopic and electrical characterization of carbon nanotubes, in particular flexible and transparent electrodes. Actually she works on graphene and other low dimensional materials, as MoS2. She published more than 35 papers in indexed journals.

Abstract:

In the increasing research field of 2D materials such graphene, Molybdenum disulfide MoS2 attracted a great interest due to potential applications as thin film transistors, light-emitting diodes or or photodetectors. Differently than graphene, the existence of a direct bandgap in monolayer MoS2, gives the possibility of performing MoS2 field-effect transistors or optoelectronic devices. We analyzed by THz-Time Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) of CVD obtained MoS2 deposited on a sapphire substrate. The advantage of THz-TDS method is that we can get significant parameters related to the sample quality like conductivity, permittivity or attenuation, without the need of depositing any electrical contacts or sample preparation.

Biography:

Metwally Madkour received his PhD degree in Inorganic Chemistry from Menoufia University in 2015. He is working as a teaching assistant at Kuwait University. His research interests include synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, nanophotocatalysis, and wastewater treatment. He published 6 research papers since 2011.

Abstract:

Semiconductor quantum dots are promising candidates for the future optoelectronic applications and energy applications. Doped semiconductors with noble metals such as Au and Ag are called a plasmonic photocatalyst. In this study, eco-friendly well dispersed undoped ZnS quantum dots, QDs, and noble metal doped ZnS QDs (loading amount 4 wt.%) were successfully synthesized on large scale via a green aqueous route at room temperature. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized via different techniques such as: XRD, XPS, TEM and SEM. The synthesized nanoparticles with its small particle size of 4.5 nm revealed quantum size effect in terms of blue shift in the absorption behaviour with optical band gap, Eg, of 5.06 eV. The photocatalytic activities of bare and doped ZnS QDs were assessed toward the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. The results revealed a superior photo-efficiency upon doping with noble metal nanoparticles. This superior photocatalytic behaviour of the noble metal doped ZnS QDs photocatalysts could be mainly attributed to Schottky barrier of noble metals which prevents the recombination of the charge carriers and prolongs the lifetime of the photogenerated electrons.

Biography:

Muataz A Atieh is a senior scientist at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) and Associate Professor at College of science and Enginering, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from University Putra Malaysia in 2005. His research focuses on design and fabrication of different types of CVD reactors for production of micro and nano materials for different applications. He produced different materials from nanostructure materials such as carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, nanocatalyst and graphen to. He published more 100 journal papers and confernces.

Abstract:

The development of new classes of fluids with enhanced heat transfer capabilities has been the subject of significant research. One area of interest in this field involves the use of additives to improve the properties of heat-transfer fluids. Metal and metal oxide additives are of particular interest in heat-transfer fluid applications, especially when they are manufactured on the Nanoscale. Since then, the suspension of nanoparticles in conventional heat-transfer fluids has been shown to improve the thermal conductivity and convective heat-transfer performance by an order of magnitude over the traditional base fluids (ethylene glycol, water, oils). A key consideration in using nanoparticles in heat-transfer fluids to produce nanofluids that yield reliable results is to ensure that the nanofluid is stable.By incorporating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in fluids, it is expected that such nanofluids would exhibit major improvement in thermal conductivity due to the very high thermal conductivity of CNT. To the best of our knowledge, there is no published work on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids using water as base fluid containing modified CNTs and their behavior as a heat-transfer fluid in turbulent flow regimes, where most of practical flows fall. Therefore, this study focuses on the measurement of the basic thermo-physical properties of CNTs impregnated with iron oxide on their surfaces, such as specific heat capacity (Cp), and thermal conductivity.

Biography:

Anna Stavitskaya received her PhD in 2015 from Gubkin State University of Oil&Gas and has 12 publications in petrochemistry.

Abstract:

Halloysite nanotubes are formed by 10-15 revolution of kaolin aluminosilicate sheets and have diameter of 50 nm, a lumen of 15 nm and length 500-1000 nm. It is environmental freindly, natural and cheap tubule nanomaterial available in thousand tons. Halloysite surface is SiO2 and the tube inside is Al2O3 which are oppositely charged at pH range 3-9. Due to this, halloysite may be considered as efficient divalent nanoadsorbent both for cations and anions. It is possible to load metal ions selectively into 15 nm diameter halloysite lumens and synthesise nanorods or peapod-like packing of metal nanoparticles, as demostrated for silver, gold and magnetite; heavy metal ions, however, do not penetrate into 0.7-1.0 nm interlayer space of the roll. Halloysite tubes have surface area of 60 m2/g, but enabling access to the interlayer space increases its adsorption capacity to 500-900 m2/g. Some polar organic compounds such as ethyleneglycole, acetonitryle, dimethylsulfoxide intercalate the tube wall interlayer. Furfural has shown especially good intercalation abilities providing further formation of organic ligands of different types. In particular, Schiff bases are provided for Pt, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ni, Cu, and Au ion nucleation from aqueous or alcoholic solutions at elevated temperatures. This allowed for simple exclusion of metal ions from solutions. Reducing the sample resulted in formation of metal nanoparticles in the nanotube interior and freeing the ligands which allows for repetition of the process. Heavy metal nanoparticles of 1-5 nm were formed both in the lumen and in the interlayer space of the tube walls.

Biography:

Ahmad Kayvani Fard is pursuing his PhD in Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and is a Research Associate at Qatar Environmental & Energy Research Instituye (QEERI) School of Science and Engineering. He has published more than 5 papers in reputed journals and his main focus is on water desalination and water treatment using membrane and nano materials.

Abstract:

Water with oil contamination is one of the challenges in water resources management. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have caught a lot of attention as a new type of adsorbents due to their exceptional capacity for oil adsorption. In this work, we report on the synthesis and laboratory evaluation of multiwall carbon nanotubes decorated with different loadings of Fe2O3 and Al2O3 nanoparticles for oil-water separation. Pristine and modified CNTs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), The Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) technique, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of adsorbent dosage, contact time, and agitation speed were examined on the oil spilling efficiency using batch adsorption experiments. The sorption capacities of modified CNTs were found to be greater than 7 g/g for gasoline oil. The modified CNTs due to their hydrophobic nature do not absorb water and has superior selectivity for organic compounds such as oil and organic solvents. These interesting materials show practical solution for water treatment especially in oil and gas industries.

Biography:

Soon-Uk Yoon is studying as a PhD candidate at INHA University, Incheon, Korea since 2014. He had a bachelor’s and master degree in environmental engineering in 2010 and 2012, respectively from INHA university, Korea. After graduation of academic working, he worked as a researcher at Korea Environmental Institute. He was in the water and environmental strategy research group. His area of interest includes, environmental engineering, water and wastewater treatment, biological treatment of soil/groundwater, and reduction of organic compound or sludge.

Abstract:

Use of treated wastewater can be a sustainable water resource management policy. However, high organic matters and pathogen load along with the array of emerging recalcitrant micro-pollutants, that escape the sewage treatment plant, requires expensive advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) before use. Utilization of treated waste water in managed aquifer recharge (MAR), either in the form of riverbank filtration (RBF), lake bank filtration (LBF) and artificial recharge (AR) are costeffective and have been shown to degrade recalcitrant pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). Carbamazepine (CBZ) and diatrizoate (DTZ) are two such persistent pharmaceuticals not degraded in in sewage treatment process. CBZ is an antiepileptic drug prescribed in seizure disorder, bipolar disorder, neuralgia, schizophrenia and depression. DTZ is used as iodinated X-ray contrast agents. Objective of this study was to evaluate removal of CBZ, and DTZ in simulated MAR with functionalized iron oxide nanoparticle and biological treatment. A long cylindrical acrylic column was filled with sand (0.8 ~ 1.2 mm). Hydraulic conductivity, flow rate and retention time were calculated before injecting CBZ and DTZ containing artificial wastewater at estimated load of 7.89 μg/g and 10.62 μg/g, respectively. The effluent concentration at different sampling point on the column during the experimental period was analyzed by SPE-HPLC. When inoculated with a mixed microbial culture, previously known for its metabolic potential, 89.63% of CBZ and 83.66% of DTZ were removed. Because the degradation capacity of pharmaceutical substances was more than 70% in the long-term operation in the soil layer, it will be combined the adsorption and bio-degradation process. This study not only confirmed the ability of MAR to treat the CBZ and DTZ in physicochemical and biological process, but also envisioned the possibility to treat the effluents from sewage plants.