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Palm fiber (PF) reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) composite matrix was prepared by employing Injection Moulding Machine (IMM). Palm fiber was collected from ten different trees of different age group from Comilla region in Bangladesh. Three sets of samples were prepared for three different wt% (5%, 10% and 20%) of fiber contents. The mechanical (tensile strength, flexural stress, micro hardness, Leeb's rebound hardness) and physical (bulk density and water absorption) properties were measured. The observed result reveals that the tensile strength (TS) and flexural stress (FS) were decreased with increasing fiber contents in the PF-ABS composites except 10% fiber content.

Reduced graphene oxide has certain unique qualities that make them versatile for a myriad of applications. Unlike graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide is a conductive material and well suited for use in electrically conductive materials, such as solar cell devices. In this study, we report on the synthesis of graphene oxide as well as the fabrication and characterization of dye-sensitized solar cells with a photoanode which is an amalgam of reduced graphene oxide and titanium dioxide. The synthesized reduced graphene oxide and the corresponding photoanode were fully characterized using Ultraviolet-visible, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman Spectrometry. The morphology of the sample was assessed using Atomic Force Microscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. The photovoltaic characteristics were determined by photocurrent and photo-voltage measurements of the fabricated solar cells. The electrical impedances of both sets of devices were also evaluated. Overall, the solar to electric power efficiency of the device with reduced graphene oxide was observed to be higher (2.02%) than the device without the reduced graphene oxide (1.61%).

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steel substrates via closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering technology. These were investigated using XRD, SEM, XPS, UV-Vis, FTIR and nanoindentation techniques. Analysis of the optical properties showed the solar absorptance, in the visible range, of the Ti x M 1ÀxÀy N y films improved significantly from 51% to 81% with AlSi-doping and an increase of solar absorptance of up to 66% was recorded from films doped with Al. Moreover, the Al doping can reduce the thermal emittance in the infrared range from 6.06% to 5.11%, whereas doping with AlSi reduces the emittance to ca. 3.58%. The highest solar selectivity of 22.63 was achieved with TiAlSiN films. Mechanical studies showed enhanced hardness by $32%; enhanced yield strength by $16% and enhanced plastic deformation by $110% of Al and AlSi doped TiN matrix. IntroductionA spectrally selective surface is, generally, used to improve the photothermal conversion performance and, as such, it possesses two characteristics: high absorptance, a in the visible region of solar spectrum (0.3 to 2.5 mm) and low emittance, 3, (i.e., high reection) in the infra-red (IR) region ($2.5 mm) at operating temperatures. An excellent selective surface maximises the absorption of incoming photons in the visible region and minimises photon emission through thermal radiation in the IR energy region. Such a surface can be designed by an absorber-reector assembly. In such an approach, the reector is coated with a highly absorbing layer over the visible solar spectrum, while the infrared region is made transparent. Various types of metal nitrides based selective solar surfaces such as TiN, ZrN, HfN, TiAlN, TiAlON, NbAlN, NbAlON, MoAlN, and WAlN have been investigated by numerous groups.1-11 Over the past few years, transition metal nitride based thin lms have attracted signicant research interest as selective solar surfaces in solar thermal conversion devices. Generally, the energy conversion performance of a selective solar surface depends on the lm materials, lm design and fabrication technique used. A multi-layer lm stack with mixture of metal nitride, metal oxide and metal oxynitride lms e.g., TiAlN/AlON, and TiAl/ TiAlN/TiAlON/TiAlO has been explored for the potential commercial development of selective solar surfaces.3,12 TiAlN/ TiAlON/Si 3 N 4 selective absorbers have been produced on various substrates such as copper, nickel, stainless steel, glass and nimonic alloys.13 However, these materials are yet to be commercialized for solar energy conversion applications. View Article OnlineView Journal | View Issue solar selective surface applications, transition metal oxides based thin lms also received signicant research interests. 15-19Various synthesis methods such as evaporation, electrodeposition, chemical conversion, chemical vapour deposition and magnetron sputtering have been employed in manufacturing selective solar surfaces. Owing to its advantages in large area deposition, dry, clean and environment friendly, magnetron sputtering technique is widely used for syn...