Research Publications Authored by SLIIT Staff

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This collection includes all SLIIT staff publications presented at external conferences and published in external journals. The materials are organized by faculty to facilitate easy retrieval.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Degradation

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    PublicationOpen Access
    ZIF-8 confined carbon dots/bilirubin oxidase on microalgal cells to boost oxygen reduction reaction in photo-biocatalytic fuel cells for pollutants removal
    (Elsevier B.V., 2026-01) Qing, S; Lu, X; Jiang, Y; Thambiliyagodage, C; Song, B; Xia, A; Zhang, J.R; Zhu, W; Jiang, L.P; Wu, X
    Photocatalytic fuel cells provide promising opportunities for sustainable wastewater treatment and energy conversion. However, their applications are challenged by the sluggish oxygen reducton reaction (ORR) kinetics at cathodes owning to the low O2 solubility and diffusion rate. Herein, we proposed a photo-biocatalytic fuel cell (PBFC) with a novel hybrid biocathode based on artificially engineered algal cells coated by ZIF-8 confined carbon dots/bilirubin oxidase (ZIF-8/CDs/BOD@algae). Microalgae absorbed CO2 and provided O2 in situ for BOD catalysts. Due to effective absorption of O2 by imidazole and confinement of hydrophobic porous ZIF-8, oxygen diffusion has been accelerated in MOF/enzyme systems. Importantly, the introduction of CDs alleviated the poor conductivity of ZIF-8 and improved the electron transfer rate of BOD. Thus, the biocathode exhibited a high current density of 1767 μA/cm2, a 2.26-fold increase compared with that of CDs/BOD/algae biocathode. Also, it displayed enduring operational stability for up to 60 h since the firmly wrapped ZIF-8 shells could encapsulate proteins and protect algae from the external stimulation. When coupled with Mo:BiVO4 photoanodes, the PBFC exhibited a remarkable power output of 131.8 μW/cm2 using tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) as a fuel and an increased degradation rate of TCH. Therefore, this work not only establishs an effective confinement strategy for enzyme to enrich oxygen, but also unveils new possibilities for modified microalgal cells aiding photoelectrocatalytic systems to recover energy from wastewater treatment.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Effect of Co-pollutants on the Photocatalytic Activity of Fe doped ZnO Nanoparticles on the Degradation of Methylene Blue
    (IEEE, 2022-07-18) Thambiliyagodage, C; Lokuge, N
    ZnO nanoparticles and Fe doped ZnO nanoparticles with varying Fe concentrations as 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, and 0.1% respective to Zn, was successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. As revealed by both studies Fe has successfully doped to ZnO without causing any lattice distortions. Synthesized catalysts were photocatalytically active in degrading methylene blue under sunlight. The effect of co-pollutants; Rhodamine B, Pb 2+ , PO43− and S2O32− on the rate of photodegradation was studied and it was found that Rhodamine B, Pb 2+ , and PO43− reduce the rate and S2O32− increases the rate of photodegradation.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Decay in Mechanical Properties of Catalyst Coated Membranes Subjected to Combined Chemical and Mechanical Membrane Degradation
    (Wily, 2014-11-28) Rajapakse, R. K. N. D; Wang, G. G; Lauritzen, M; Kjeang, E; Lim, C; Ghataurah, J; Khorasany, R. M. H; Goulet, M. A; Alavijeh, A. S
    The mechanical stability of catalyst coated membranes (CCMs) is an important factor for the overall durability and lifetime of polymer electrolyte fuel cells. In this article, the evolution of the mechanical properties of degraded CCMs is comprehensively assessed. A combined chemical and mechanical accelerated stress test (AST) was applied to simulate field operation and rapidly generate partially degraded CCM samples for tensile and expansion experiments under both room and fuel cell conditions. The tensile results indicated significant reductions in ultimate tensile strength, toughness, and fracture strain as a function of AST cycles, accompanied by a mild increase in elastic modulus. The increased brittleness and reduced fracture toughness of the CCM, caused primarily by chemical membrane degradation, is expected to play an important role in the ultimate failure of the fuel cell. The expansion tests revealed a linear decay in hygrothermal expansion, similar in magnitude to the loss of mechanical strength. The decline in CCM sensitivity to environmental changes leads to non-uniform swelling and contraction that may exacerbate local degradation. Interestingly, the hygrothermal expansion in the late stages of degradation coincided with the fracture strain, which correlates to in situ development of fractures in chemically weakened membranes.
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    PublicationEmbargo
    Mechanical degradation of fuel cell membranes under fatigue fracture tests
    (Elsevier, 2015-01-01) Khorasany, Ramin M.H; Alavijeh, A. S; Kjeang, E.; Wang, G.G.; Rajapakse, R. K. N. D
    The effects of cyclic stresses on the fatigue and mechanical stability of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes are experimentally investigated under standard fuel cell conditions. The experiments are conducted ex-situ by subjecting membrane specimens to cyclic uniaxial tension at controlled temperature and relative humidity. The fatigue lifetime is measured in terms of the number of cycles until ultimate fracture. The results indicate that the membrane fatigue lifetime is a strong function of the applied stress, temperature, and relative humidity. The fatigue life increases exponentially with reduced stresses in all cases. The effect of temperature is found to be more significant than that of humidity, with reduced fatigue life at high temperatures. The maximum membrane strain at fracture is determined to decrease exponentially with increasing membrane lifetime. At a given fatigue life, a membrane exposed to fuel cell conditions is shown to accommodate more plastic strain before fracture than one exposed to room conditions. Overall, the proposed ex-situ membrane fatigue experiment can be utilized to benchmark the fatigue lifetime of new materials in a fraction of the time and cost associated with conventional in-situ accelerated stress testing methods.