Arts,K Purushotham; Radhakrishna,M(Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics,School of Marine Sciences, 2002)
[+]
[-]
Abstract:
The main objective of the present study is to model the gravity fields in terms of lithospheric structure below the western continental margin of India (WCMI) identify zones of crustal mass anomalies and attempt to infer the location of Ocean Continent transition in the Arabian Sea. In this study, the area starting from the western shield margin to the region covering the deep oceanic parts of the Arabian Sea which is bounded by Carlsberg and Cerg and Central Indian ridges in the south, eastern part of the Indus Cone in the west and falling between 630E and 800E longitudes, and 50N - 240N latitudes has been considered. The vast amount of seismic reflection and refraction data in the form of crustal velocities, basement configuration and crustal thicknesses available for the west coast as well as the eastern Arabian Sea has been utilized for this purpose
Glucoamylase was immobilized on acid
activated montmorillonite clay via two different procedures
namely adsorption and covalent binding. The
immobilized enzymes were characterized by XRD,
NMR and N2 adsorption measurements and the
activity of immobilized glucoamylase for starch
hydrolysis was determined in a batch reactor. XRD
shows intercalation of enzyme into the clay matrix
during both immobilization procedures. Intercalation
occurs via the side chains of the amino acid residues,
the entire polypeptide backbone being situated at the
periphery of the clay matrix. 27Al NMR studies
revealed the different nature of interaction of enzyme
with the support for both immobilization techniques.
N2 adsorption measurements indicated a sharp drop in
surface area and pore volume for the covalently bound
glucoamylase that suggested severe pore blockage.
Activity studies were performed in a batch reactor. The
adsorbed and covalently bound glucoamylase retained
49% and 66% activity of the free enzyme respectively.
They showed enhanced pH and thermal stabilities. The
immobilized enzymes also followed Michaelis–Menten
kinetics. Km was greater than the free enzyme that was
attributed to an effect of immobilization. The immobilized
preparations demonstrated increased reusability
as well as storage stability.
Glucoamylase from Aspergillus Niger was immobilized on montmorillonite clay (K-10) by two procedures, adsorption and covalent binding. The immobilized enzymes were characterized using XRD, surface area measurements and 27Al MAS NMR and the activity of the immobilized enzymes for starch hydrolysis was tested in a fixed bed reactor (FBR). XRD shows that enzyme intercalates into the inter-lamellar space of the clay matrix with a layer expansion up to 2.25 nm. Covalently bound glucoamylase demonstrates a sharp decrease in surface area and pore volume that suggests binding of the enzyme at the pore entrance. NMR studies reveal the involvement of octahedral and tetrahedral Al during immobilization. The performance characteristics in FBR were evaluated. Effectiveness factor (η) for FBR is greater than unity demonstrating that activity of enzyme is more than that of the free enzyme. The Michaelis constant (Km) for covalently bound glucoamylase was lower than that for free enzyme, i.e., the affinity for substrate improves upon immobilization. This shows that diffusional effects are completely eliminated in the FBR. Both immobilized systems showed almost 100% initial activity after 96 h of continuous operation. Covalent binding demonstrated better operational stability.
John Kurian,P; Radhakrishna,M(Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics, School of Marine Sciences, 2000)
[+]
[-]
Abstract:
The primary aim of the present study is to acquire a large amount of gravity data, to prepare gravity maps and interpret the data in terms of crustal structure below the Bavali shear zone and adjacent regions of northern Kerala. The gravity modeling is basically a tool to obtain knowledge of the subsurface extension of the exposed geological units and their structural relationship with the surroundings. The study is expected to throw light on the nature of the shear zone, crustal configuration below the high-grade granulite terrain and the tectonics operating during geological times in the region. The Bavali shear is manifested in the gravity profiles by a steep gravity gradient. The gravity models indicate that the Bavali shear coincides with steep plane that separates two contrasting crustal densities extending beyond a depth of 30 km possibly down to Moho, justifying it to be a Mantle fault. It is difficult to construct a generalized model of crustal evolution in terms of its varied manifestations using only the gravity data. However, the data constrains several aspects of crustal evolution and provides insights into some of the major events.
Vanaja, K A; Dr. Jayalekshami, S(Cochin University of Science and Technology, May , 2011)
[+]
[-]
Abstract:
In the present studies, various copper delafossite materials viz; CuAlO2,
CuGaO2, CuFeO2 , CuGa1-xFexO2, CuYO2 and CuCaxY1-xO2 were synthesised by
solid state reaction technique. These copper delafossite materials were grown in
thin film form by rf magnetron sputtering technique. In general copper
delafossites exhibit good optical transparency. The conductivity of the CuYO2
could be improved by Ca doping or by oxygen intercalation by annealing the film in oxygen atmosphere. It has so far been impossible to improve the p-type
conductivity of CuGaO2 significantly by doping Mg or Ca on the Ga site. The ptype
conductivity is presumed to be due to oxygen doping or Cu Vacancies [6].
Reports in literature show, oxygen intercalation or divalent ion doping on Ga
site is not possible for CuGaO2 thin films to improve the p-type conductivity.
Sintered powder and crystals of CuFeO2 have been reported as the materials
having the highest p-type conductivity [14, 15] among the copper and silver
delafossites. However the CuFeO2 films are found to be less transparent in the
visible region compared to CuGaO2. Hence in the present work, the solid
solution between the CuGaO2 and CuFeO2 was effected by solid state reaction,
varying the Fe content. The CuGa1-xFexO2 with Fe content, x=0.5 shows an
increase in conductivity by two orders, compared to CuGaO2 but the
transparency is only about 50% in the visible region which is less than that of
CuGaO2 The synthesis of α−AgGaO2 was carried out by two step process which
involves the synthesis of β-AgGaO2 by ion exchange reaction followed by the
hydrothermal conversion of the β-AgGaO2 into α-AgGaO2. The trace amount of
Ag has been reduced substantially in the two step synthesis compared to the
direct hydrothermal synthesis. Thin films of α-AgGaO2 were prepared on silicon
and Al2O3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. These studies indicate the
possibility of using this material as p-type material in thin film form for
transparent electronics. The room temperature conductivity of α-AgGaO2 was
measured as 3.17 x 10-4 Scm-1and the optical band gap was estimated as 4.12 eV.
A transparent p-n junction thin film diode on glass substrate was fabricated
using p-type α-AgGaO2 and n-ZnO.AgCoO2 thin films with 50% transparency in the visible region were deposited
on single crystalline Al2O3 and amorphous silica substrates by RF magnetron
sputtering and p type conductivity of AgCoO2 was demonstrated by fabricating
transparent p-n junction diode with AgCoO2 as p-side and ZnO: Al as n-side
using sputtering. The junction thus obtained was found to be rectifying with a
forward to reverse current of about 10 at an applied voltage of 3 V.The present
study shows that silver delafossite thin films with p-type conductivity can be
used for the fabrication of active devices for transparent electronics applications.
Description:
Department of Physics,
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Nisha, M; Jayaraj, M K(Department of Physics, December , 2006)
[+]
[-]
Abstract:
The increasing interest in the interaction of light with electricity and
electronically active materials made the materials and techniques for producing
semitransparent electrically conducting films particularly attractive. Transparent
conductors have found major applications in a number of electronic and
optoelectronic devices including resistors, transparent heating elements,
antistatic and electromagnetic shield coatings, transparent electrode for solar
cells, antireflection coatings, heat reflecting mirrors in glass windows and many
other. Tin doped indium oxide (indium tin oxide or ITO) is one of the most
commonly used transparent conducting oxides. At present and likely well into
the future this material offers best available performance in terms of
conductivity and transmittivity combined with excellent environmental stability,
reproducibility and good surface morphology.
Although partial transparency, with a reduction in conductivity, can be obtained
for very thin metallic films, high transparency and simultaneously high
conductivity cannot be attained in intrinsic stoichiometric materials. The only
way this can be achieved is by creating electron degeneracy in a wide bandgap
(Eg > 3eV or more for visible radiation) material by controllably introducing
non-stoichiometry and/or appropriate dopants. These conditions can be
conveniently met for ITO as well as a number of other materials like Zinc oxide,
Cadmium oxide etc.
ITO shows interesting and technologically important combination of properties
viz high luminous transmittance, high IR reflectance, good electrical
conductivity, excellent substrate adherence and chemical inertness. ITO is a key
part of solar cells, window coatings, energy efficient buildings, and flat panel
displays. In solar cells, ITO can be the transparent, conducting top layer that lets
light into the cell to shine the junction and lets electricity flow out. Improving
the ITO layer can help improve the solar cell efficiency. A transparent
ii
conducting oxide is a material with high transparency in a derived part of the
spectrum and high electrical conductivity. Beyond these key properties of
transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), ITO has a number of other key
characteristics. The structure of ITO can be amorphous, crystalline, or mixed,
depending on the deposition temperature and atmosphere. The electro-optical
properties are a function of the crystallinity of the material. In general, ITO
deposited at room temperature is amorphous, and ITO deposited at higher
temperatures is crystalline. Depositing at high temperatures is more expensive
than at room temperature, and this method may not be compatible with the
underlying devices.
The main objective of this thesis work is to optimise the growth conditions of
Indium tin oxide thin films at low processing temperatures. The films are
prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering under various deposition
conditions. The films are also deposited on to flexible substrates by employing
bias sputtering technique. The films thus grown were characterised using
different tools. A powder x-ray diffractometer was used to analyse the
crystalline nature of the films. The energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) and
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for evaluating the composition
and morphology of the films. Optical properties were investigated using the UVVIS-
NIR spectrophotometer by recording the transmission/absorption spectra.
The electrical properties were studied using vander Pauw four probe technique.
The plasma generated during the sputtering of the ITO target was analysed using
Langmuir probe and optical emission spectral studies.
Ajimsha, R S; Jayaraj, M K(Department of Physics, February , 2008)
[+]
[-]
Abstract:
Transparent conducting oxides (TCO’s) have been known and used for technologically important applications for more than 50 years. The oxide materials such as In2O3, SnO2 and impurity doped SnO2: Sb, SnO2: F and In2O3: Sn (indium tin oxide) were primarily used as TCO’s. Indium based oxides had been widely used as TCO’s for the past few decades. But the current increase in the cost of indium and scarcity of this material created the difficulty in obtaining low cost TCO’s. Hence the search for alternative TCO material has been a topic of active research for the last few decades. This resulted in the development of various binary and ternary compounds. But the advantages of using binary oxides are the easiness to control the composition and deposition parameters. ZnO has been identified as the one of the promising candidate for transparent electronic applications owing to its exciting optoelectronic properties. Some optoelectronics applications of ZnO overlap with that of GaN, another wide band gap semiconductor which is widely used for the production of green, blue-violet and white light emitting devices. However ZnO has some advantages over GaN among which are the availability of fairly high quality ZnO bulk single crystals and large excitonic binding energy. ZnO also has much simpler crystal-growth technology, resulting in a potentially lower cost for ZnO based devices.
Most of the TCO’s are n-type semiconductors and are utilized as transparent electrodes in variety of commercial applications such as photovoltaics, electrochromic windows, flat panel displays. TCO’s provide a great potential for realizing diverse range of active functions, novel functions can be integrated into the materials according to the requirement. However the application of TCO’s has been restricted to transparent electrodes,
ii
notwithstanding the fact that TCO’s are n-type semiconductors. The basic reason is the lack of p-type TCO, many of the active functions in semiconductor originate from the nature of pn-junction. In 1997, H. Kawazoe et al reported the CuAlO2 as the first p-type TCO along with the chemical design concept for the exploration of other p-type TCO’s. This has led to the fabrication of all transparent diode and transistors.
Fabrication of nanostructures of TCO has been a focus of an ever-increasing number of researchers world wide, mainly due to their unique optical and electronic properties which makes them ideal for a wide spectrum of applications ranging from flexible displays, quantum well lasers to in vivo biological imaging and therapeutic agents. ZnO is a highly multifunctional material system with highly promising application potential for UV light emitting diodes, diode lasers, sensors, etc. ZnO nanocrystals and nanorods doped with transition metal impurities have also attracted great interest, recently, for their spin-electronic applications
This thesis summarizes the results on the growth and characterization of ZnO based diodes and nanostructures by pulsed laser ablation. Various ZnO based heterojunction diodes have been fabricated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and their electrical characteristics were interpreted using existing models. Pulsed laser ablation has been employed to fabricate ZnO quantum dots, ZnO nanorods and ZnMgO/ZnO multiple quantum well structures with the aim of studying the luminescent properties.
Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on quartz, silicon, and polymer substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD)
technique at different oxygen partial pressures (0.007 mbar to 0.003 mbar). Polycrystalline ZnO films were obtained at
room temperature when the oxygen pressure was between 0.003 mbar and .007 mbar, above and below this pressure the
films were amorphous as indicated by the X-ray diffraction (XRD). ZnO films were deposited on Al2O3 (0001) at
different substrate temperatures varying from 400oC to 600oC and full width half maximum (FWHM) of XRD peak is
observed to decrease as substrate temperature increases. The optical band gaps of these films were nearly 3.3 eV. A
cylindrical Langmuir probe is used for the investigation of plasma plume arising from the ZnO target. The spatial and
temporal variations in electron density and electron temperature are studied. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to
identify the different ionic species in the plume. Strong emission lines of neutral Zn, Zn+ and neutral oxygen are
observed. No electronically excited O+ cations are identified, which is in agreement with previous studies of ZnO plasma
plume.