Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

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Present paper investigates the dissolution behavior of copper from chalcopyrite concentrate sample using cupric chloride solution in detail. Response surface modeling (RSM) in combination with d-optimal design (DOD) was utilized for modeling and optimizing the cupric chloride leaching process. At first, a quadratic polynomial model was developed for the relationship between the recovery of copper and influential factors. The predictions indicated an excellent agreement with the experimental data (with R² of 0.9399). Then, the effects of main factors including pH (1-4), liquid/solid ratio (2-7 mL/g), temperature (70-90 °C), CuCl₂ concentration (6-35 g/L), and leaching time (0.5-16) were determined. The findings demonstrated that the temperature and CuCl₂ concentration were the most effective factors on the dissolution rate of copper from chalcopyrite sample, while liquid/solid ratio had the lowest impact. The recovery of copper increased linearly with an increment in the liquid/solid ratio and the decrease in the pulp pH. Additionally, the recovery enhanced by increasing the temperature and CuCl₂ concentration owing the generation of Cu–Cl complexes species and reached a plateau point and then almost remained unchanged. Meanwhile, it was found out that the recovery of copper was independent of the interaction between factors. Moreover, the optimization of leaching process was carried out by Design Expert (version 7) software and desirability function method and the highest recovery of copper was found to be about 86.1% at a pH of ~1.4, temperature of 89 °C, liquid/solid ratio of 6.8 mL/g, CuCl₂ concentration of 21.79 g/L and leaching time of ~8 h.
 

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Modification of MnFe₂O₄@SiO₂ core-shell nanoparticles with (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) was investigated. The magnetite MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles with an average size of ~33 nm were synthesized through a simple co-precipitation method followed by coating with silica shell using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS); that has resulted in a high density of hydroxyl groups loaded on nanoparticles. The prepared MnFe₂O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles were further functionalized with APTES via silanization reaction. For having suitable surface coverage of APTES, controlled hydrodynamic size of nanoparticles with a high density of amine groups on the outer surface, the APTES silanization reaction was investigated under different reaction temperatures and reaction times. Based on dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential results, the best conditions for the formation of APTES-functionalized MnFe₂O₄@SiO₂ nanoparticles were defined at a reaction temperature of 70 °C and the reaction time of 90 min. The effectiveness of our surface modification was established by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The prepared magnetite nanostructure can be utilized as precursors for synthesizing multilayered core-shell nanocomposite particles for numerous applications such as medical diagnostics, drug, and enzyme immobilization, as well as molecular and cell separation.

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Flash sintering of 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) as solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrolyte is studied. The relation between relative density, shrinkage, sample temperature during the flash, and incubation time, with the electric field strength, current density, as well as contact paste, are modeled by response surface methodology (RSM). The electric field strength and current density varied from 50 to 400V.cm^-1 and 50 to 200mA.mm^-2, respectively. Also, platinum (Pt) and lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) used as contact paste. Results show that using LSM paste lead to higher density and more shrinkage compare with Pt paste. Contrary, the electric field strength has no significant effect on density and shrinkage. However, a minimum electric field strength equal to 80 V.cm^-1 is necessary for flash onset. As the field increases, the incubation time decreases dramatically. Compare with samples with LSM paste, samples with Pt contact paste reach to a higher temperature during the flash. Flash sintered 8YSZ shows the mean grain size of 0.3μm, which is about half of the conventionally sintered 8YSZ. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy reveals despite lower mean grain size, the resistivity of flash sintered 8YSZ is lower than conventionally sintered 8YSZ.

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Microscopic studies has shown that adjacent to the interface between cement paste and aggregate, there exists an area with high porosity and low binding compounds that is referred to as interfacial transition zone (ITZ). ITZ in concrete and mortar imposes a number of negative effects, including flexural and compressive strengths reduction and permeability enhancement. That’s why many research attempts have been devoted to limit ITZ and its negative effects. The present study investigates the possibility of utilizing fine Portland cement (PC) clinker as a reactive aggregate in mortar for the same purpose. For this, natural quartz sand in normal mortar (NM) was totally replaced with PC clinker of the same particle size distribution and the most important engineering properties of the new mortar referred to as Reactive Aggregate Mortar (RAM) were measured and compared with NM as control. The results of compressive strengths measurements represented 65% and 21% increases at curing ages of 7 and 90 days, respectively, for RAM compared to NM. Chloride penetration depth in RAM displayed reductions by about 33% and 26% after 14 and 28 days of exposure, respectively. The effect of PC clinker reactivity on the microstructure and size of ITZ was studied by using scanning electron microscopy.

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The work reported in this paper was focused on the investigation of surface morphological, microstructural, and optical features of polycrystalline BaTiO₃ thin film deposited on p-type Si < 100 > substrate using e-beam PVD (physical vapor deposition) technique. The influence of annealing over the surface morphology of the thin film was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy characterization methods. When the annealing temperature was increased from as-deposited to 800 °C there was a significant growth in the grain size from 28.407 nm to 37.89 nm. This granular growth of BaTiO₃ made the thin film appropriate for nanoelectronic device applications. The roughness of the annealed film got increased from 31.5 nm to 52.8 nm with the annealing temperature. The optical bandgap was computed using Kubelka-Munk (KM) method which got reduced from 3.93 eV to 3.87 eV for the as-deposited to the 800 °C annealed film. The above reported properties made the annealed film suitable for optoelectronic applications. For polycrystalline BaTiO₃ thin film the refractive index varied from 2.2 to 1.98 from 400 to 500 nm and it was 2.05 at 550 nm wavelength. The broad peaks in Raman spectra indicated the polycrystalline nature of the thin film. It had been also observed that with the annealing temperature the intensity of the Raman bands got increased. From these results, it was proved that annealing significantly improved the crystallinity, microstructural, surface morphological and optical features of the barium titanate thin film which made it suitable as sensors in biomedical applications as it is cost-effective, lead-free and environment friendly material.

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The low velocity impact (LVI) response of pure and glass fiber reinforced polymer composites (GFRP) with 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 wt% of functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was experimentally investigated. LS-DYNA simulation was used to model the impact test of pure and incorporated GFRP with 0.3 wt% of SWCNT in order to compare experimental and numerical results of LVI tests. All tests were performed in two different levels of energy. In 30J energy, the specimen containing 0.5 wt% SWCNT was completely destructed. The results showed that the incorporated GFRP with 0.3 wt% SWCNT has the highest energy absorption and the back-face damage area of this sample was smaller than other specimens. TEM images from specimens were also analyzed and showed the incorporation of well-dispersed 0.1 and 0.3 wt% of SWCNT, while in specimens containing 0.5 wt% of CNT, tubes tended to be agglomerated which caused a drop in LVI response of the specimen. The contact time of impactor in numerical and experimental results was approximately equal; however, the maximum contact forces in LS DYNA simulation results were higher than the experimental results which could be due to the fact that in the numerical modeling, properties are considered ideal, unlike in experimental conditions.

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Porous nanostructured SnO₂ with a sheet-like morphology was synthesized through a simple green substrate-free gelatin-assisted calcination process using Tin tetracholoride pentahydrate as the SnO₂ precursor and porcine gelatin as the template. Crystalline phase, morphology, microstructure, and optical characteristics of the as-prepared material were also investigated at different calcination temperatures using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV-visible absorption, and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), respectively. XRD patterns of all the samples revealed the presence of a tetragonal crystalline structure with no other crystalline phases. Moreover, the synthesized hierarchical sheets assembled with nanoparticles displayed a large surface area and porous nanostructure. The calculated optical band gap energy varied from 2.62 to 2.87 eV depending on the calcination temperature. Finally, photoluminescence spectra indicated that the nanostructured SnO₂ could exhibit an intensive UV-violet luminescence emission at 396 nm, with shoulders at 374, violet emission peaks at 405 and 414 nm, blue-green emission peak at 486 nm, green emission peak at 534 nm and orange emission peak at 628 nm.

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The synthesed foam-shaped zeolite ZSM-5 material w:::as char:::acterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET technique. The adsorption performances of the material were evaluated for the basic blue-41 dye removal. A maximum removed amount of 161.29 mg/g  at 323K was achieved. Experimental kinetic data of this new adsorbent fitted well the pseudo-second order model. The apparent diffusion coefficient values was in the range of 10^-12 cm²/s. The regeneration tests revealed that the adsorption efficiency of the foam-shaped zeolite was retained after three  regeneration runs, with a loss of 6% of the original adsorbed value.

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Copper oxide thin layers were elaborated using the sol-gel dip-coating. The thickness effect on morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties was studied. Copper chloride dihydrate was used as precursor and dissolved into methanol. The scanning electron microscopy analysis results showed that there is continuity in formation of the clusters and the nuclei with the increase of number of the dips. X-ray diffractogram showed that all the films are polycrystalline cupric oxide CuO phase with monoclinic structure with grain size in the range of 30.72 - 26.58 nm. The obtained films are clear blackin appearance, which are confirmed by the optical transmittance spectra. The optical band gap energies of the deposited films vary from 3.80 to 3.70 eV. The electrical conductivity of the films decreases from 1.90.10^-2 to 7.39.10^-3 (Ω.cm)^-1

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ABSTRACT
In this paper, novel Nanohybrid CuO-Fe₃O₄/Zeolite nanocomposites (HCFZ NCs) have been synthesized to improve the adsorption capacity and activity for removing the Arsenic and Lead cations from the contaminated water solutions. The nanohybrid 4, 10, and 20 -HCFZ NC samples were investigated by XRD, FT-IR, TEM, FESEM, EDX, and BET. The characterization results of these catalysts confirmed the presence of CuO and Fe₃O₄ NPs in nanospherical shapes as Nanohybrid Cu and Fe oxides on the zeolite surface. Notably, the 10-HCFZ NC sample showed the highest removal efficiency of harmful metallic pollutants from the water in comparison to the prepared neat zeolite, 4-HCFZ NC, and 20-HCFZ NC samples, with a percentage removal of (97.9 %) for Pb ions and (93.5 %) for As ions within 30 minutes (100 ppm). According to the adsorption isotherms results, R² values for the Langmuir isotherm were the highest, suggesting that the experimental results fit better the Langmuir isotherm model. Generally, according to the obtained results, there is a possibility of enhancing the efficiency of Nanohybrid CuO-Fe₃O₄/Zeolite NCs to remove Arsenic and Lead ions from polluted aqueous solutions.
 

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The beneficiation of coal tailings is usually difficult by common oily collectors in the flotation process, so
it is necessary to use a suitable method for clean coal recovery from coal tailing dams. Thus, this study was aimed
to investigate the behavior of dissolved air flotation by zero prewetting time for the clean coal recovery and to
optimize the conditions of zero prewetting time for an effective flotation. In this regards, the effects of the process
parameters, i.e., pH, frother type, collector type on the rougher flotation recovery of coal tailings were assessed and
optimized. Additionally, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to understand the functional
groups of oily collectors on the surface of floated products. The findings indicated that the frother type and the
interactive effects between the type of frother and collector had the most effect on the performance of flotation. It
was also found that under the optimal conditions (150 g/t Methyl isobutyl carbinol, 1500 g/t gas oil, and pH 4), the
combustible recovery, yield reduction factor, and flotation efficiency index of coal reached to 67.79%, 0.056%, and
37%, respectively. Meanwhile, the FTIR analysis confirmed that the less adsorption of gas oil collector occurred in
the presence of SDS (Sodium dodecyl sulfate) as frother due to the interaction of SDS and collectors

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In this work, blast furnace slag (BFS) was used as an adsorbent material for the removal of Pb(II) ions in solution in batch mode. The physico-chemical analyzes used indicated that the BFS is essentially composed of silica, lime, and alumina. Its specific surface area corresponds to 275.8m²/g and its PZC is around 3.8.
The adsorption study indicated that the maximum amount of Pb(II) adsorbed under optimum conditions (agitation speed (V_ag): 150rpm; pH: 5.4; particle size (Øs): 300µm, T: 20°C) is 34.26mg/g after 50 minutes of agitation, and adsorption yield is best for feeble initial concentrations. The most appropriate isothermal model was that of Langmuir, and the adsorption speed was better characterized by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The adsorption mechanism revealed that internal diffusion is not the only mechanism that controls the adsorption process; there is also external diffusion, which contributes enormously in the transfer of Pb(II) from solution to adsorbent. Thermodynamic study indicated that the Pb(II) adsorption on the blast furnace slag (BFS) was spontaneous, exothermic, and that the adsorbed Pb(II) is more ordered at the surface of the adsorbent. Finally, we estimate that BFS is a superb adsorbent for water containing Pb(II).
 

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This work aims to prepare and study amorphous carbon nitride (CNx) films. Films were deposited by reactive magnetron radiofrequency (RF) sputtering from graphite target in argon and nitrogen mixture discharge at room temperature. The ratio of the gas flow rate was varied from 0.1 to 1. Deposited films were found to be amorphous. Highest Nitrogen concentration achieved was 42 atomic percent which is very rare and therefore, the highest nitrogen to carbon atomic ratio was 0.76. The incorporation of nitrogen promotes the clustering of diamond-like sites at the expense of graphitic ones leading to the decrease of the disorder. The film surface becomes rough with increasing nitrogen concentration. Films are optically transparent in the 200-900 nm wavelength range with a wide gap varying between 3.59 and 3.63 eV. There is an increase in resistivity from 15 to 87.4 x10^-3Ω.cm for a-CN_x thin films for 0.1< R_F < 0.8 and a less decrease for   R_F > 0.8. Pore size increases in the films, but has little influence on band gaps. On the other hand, increasing the pore size reduces electrical interaction between particles by increasing resistivity.

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The growth of industries, populations, and industrial activities includes environmental pollutants. Pollution causes problems such as reduced light transmission, anaerobic conditions, and complications such as allergies and cancer for humans and other living organisms. The adsorption method is one of the most attractive, and efficient methods for removing environmental pollutants such as pharmaceuticals. Among the standard methods for wastewater treatment, adsorption is more efficient than other methods and is more economical. They have a meager price. Adsorption of pollutants can be an excellent way to remove toxic substances from polluted waters and industrial effluents. In this review, pharmaceutical removal by adsorption process was reviewed in details.

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In this research work, Cadmium Sulphide thin film deposited on to glass substrate in a non-aqueous medium at 80 °C. The various physical preparative parameters and the deposition conditions, such as the deposition time and temperature, concentrations of the chemical species, pH, speed of mechanical stirring, etc., were optimized to yield good quality films. The as-prepared sample is tightly adherent to the substrate's support, less smooth, diffusely reflecting and was analyzed for composition. The synthesized film is characterized using X- ray diffraction (XRD), electrical and optical properties. It appears that the composites are rich in Cd. The grown CdS thin film had an orange-red color. A band gap of CdS thin film is 2.41 eV.  The average crystallite size of the CdS film was 21.50 nm. The resistivity of the CdS thin film is about 5.212 x 10⁵ W cm.
 

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With increasing energy demand and depletion of fossil fuel resources, it is pertinent to explore the renewable and eco-friendly energy resource to meet global energy demand. Recently, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as plausible candidates in the field of photovoltaics and considered as potential contender of silicon solar cells in the photovoltaic market owing to their superior optoelectronic properties, low-cost and high absorption coefficients. Despite intensive research, PSCs still suffer from efficiency, stability, and reproducibility issues. To address the concern, the charge transport material (CTM) particularly the electron transport materials (ETM) can play significant role in the development of efficient and stable perovskite devices. In the proposed research, we synthesized GO-Ag-TiO₂ ternary nanocomposite by facile hydrothermal approach as a potential electron transport layer (ETL) in a regular planar configuration-based PSC. The as synthesized sample was examined for morphological, structural, and optical properties using XRD, and UV-Vis spectroscopic techniques. XRD analysis confirmed the high crystallinity of prepared sample with no peak of impurity. The optimized GO-Ag-TiO₂ ETL exhibited superior PCE of 8.72% with J_sc of 14.98 mA.cm^-2 ,V_oc of 0.99 V, and a fill factor of 58.83%. Furthermore, the efficiency enhancement in comparison with reference device is observed which confirms the potential role of doped materials in enhancing photovoltaic performance by facilitating efficient charge transport and reduced recombination. Our research suggests a facile route to synthesize a low-cost ETM beneficial for the commercialization of future perovskite devices.
 

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