Publications by authors named "Afshin Tarat"

As practical interest in the flexible or wearable thermoelectric generators (TEGs) has increased, the demand for the high-performance TEGs based on ecofriendly, mechanically resilient, and economically viable TEGs as alternatives to the brittle inorganic materials is growing. Organic or hybrid thermoelectric (TE) materials have been employed in flexible TEGs; however, their fabrication is normally carried out using wet processing such as spin-coating or screen printing. These techniques require materials dissolved or dispersed in solvents; thus, they limit the substrate choice.

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Background: Toxicological evaluation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is essential for occupational health and safety, particularly where bulk manufactured ENMs such as few-layer graphene (FLG) are concerned. Additionally, there is a necessity to develop advanced in vitro models when testing ENMs to provide a physiologically relevant alternative to invasive animal experimentation. The aim of this study was to determine the genotoxicity of non-functionalised (neutral), amine- and carboxyl-functionalised FLG upon both human-transformed type-I (TT1) alveolar epithelial cell monocultures, as well as co-cultures of TT1 and differentiated THP-1 monocytes (d.

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Few-layer graphene (FLG) has garnered much interest owing to applications in hydrogen storage and reinforced nanocomposites. Consequently, these engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are in high demand, increasing occupational exposure. This investigation seeks to assess the inhalation hazard of industrially relevant FLG engineered with: (i) no surface functional groups (neutral), (ii) amine, and (iii) carboxyl group functionalization.

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Graphene exhibits both high electrical conductivity and large elastic modulus, which makes it an ideal material candidate for many electronic devices. At present not much work has been conducted on using graphene to construct thermoelectric devices, particularly due to its high thermal conductivity and lack of bulk fabrication. Films of graphene-based materials, however, and their nanocomposites have been shown to be promising candidates for thermoelectric energy generation.

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We report for the first time a procedure in which Nafion/Graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) thin films are fabricated using a modified layer-by-layer (LbL) method. The method consists of dipping a substrate (quartz and/or glassy carbon electrodes) into a composite solution made of Nafion and GNPs dissolved together in ethanol, followed by washing steps in water. This procedure allowed the fabrication of multilayer films of (Nafion/GNPs) by means of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic‒hydrophobic interactions between Nafion, GNPs, and the corresponding solid substrate.

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We have developed a low-cost technique using a conventional microwave oven to grow layered basic zinc acetate (LBZA) nanosheets (NSs) from a zinc acetate, zinc nitrate and HMTA solution in only 2 min. The as-grown crystals and their pyrolytic decomposition into ZnO nanocrystalline NSs are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL). SEM and AFM measurements show that the LBZA NSs have typical lateral dimensions of 1 to 5 μm and thickness of 20 to 100 nm.

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