Scheme 1 Low acidic and neutral solutions. Scheme 2 High acidic solutions.This journal is

A simple two-step approach has been employed to synthesize a cobalt–nickel–copper ternary metal oxide, involving electrochemical precipitation/deposition followed by calcination. The ternary metal hydroxide gets precipitated/deposited from a nitrate bath at the cathode in the catholyte chamber of a two-compartment diaphragm cell at room temperature having a pH ≈ 3. The microstructure of the ternary hydroxides was modified in situ by two different surfactants such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide in the bath aiming for enhanced storage performance in the electrochemical devices. The effect of the surfactant produces a transition from microspheres to nanosheets, and the effect of micelle concentration produces nanospheres at a higher ion concentration. The ternary hydroxides were calcined at 300 °C to obtain the desired ternary mixed oxide materials as the electrode for hybrid supercapacitors. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of the ternary metal oxide product. The scanning electron microscopy images associated with energy-dispersive analysis suggest the formation of a nanostructured porous composite. Ternary metal oxide in the absence and presence of a surfactant served as the cathode and activated carbon served as the anode for supercapacitor application. DTAB-added metal oxide showed 95.1% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles, achieving 188 F/g at a current density of 0.1 A/g, and thereafter stable until 5000 cycles, inferring that more transition metals in the oxide along with suitable surfactants at an appropriate micellar concentration may be better for redox reactions and achieving higher electrical conductivity and smaller charge transfer resistance. The role of various metal cations and surfactants as additives in the electrolytic bath has been discussed.

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The dual effect of in-situ addition of anionic surfactants, sodium octyl sulfate (SOS), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) produced from waste low grade manganese residue is discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), BET-surface area studies, thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to determine the structure and chemistry of the EMD. All EMD samples were found to contain predominantly γ-phase MnO 2 , which is electrochemically active for energy storage applications. FESEM images showed that needle, rod and flower shaped nano-particles with a porous surface and platy nano-particles were obtained in the case of EMD deposited with and without surfactant respectively. Thermal studies showed loss of structural water and formation of lower manganese oxides indicating high stability of the EMD samples. The cyclic voltammetry and charge -discharge characteristics implied the presence of surfactants enhances the energy storage within the MnO 2 structure. Addition of the surfactant at its optimum concentration greatly increased the EMD surface area, which in turn improved the cycle life of the EMD cathode. EMD obtained in the presence of 25, 50, 25 ppm of SOS, SDS, and STS respectively showed an improved cycle life relative to the EMD obtained in the absence of surfactant. EMD obtained without surfactant showed a capacity fade of 20 mAh g −1 within 15 discharge-charge cycles, while surfactant modified samples showed stable cyclic behavior of capacity 95 mAh g −1 even after 15 cycles. Global demand for new energy materials and energy storage devices is increasing rapidly and in parallel with the quest for alternative energy resources. Substantial research and development effort continues to be invested in the synthesis of an economically viable, ecofriendly storage device from a natural source. Among the various energy storage devices, alkaline rechargeable batteries have become the ultimate choice for energy storage systems in the portable electronics market as well as electric transport systems.1-3 Worldwide research and development programs in this area have been underway for more than a century, 2 with most attention focused on Zn-Mn, Ni-Cd, Ni-Fe, Ni-Zn, Ni-MH, and Li-ion rechargeable systems.4 Among these, ZnMn alkaline batteries have held a strong position in the battery market for many decades.Manganese dioxide, used as the active material in Zn-MnO 2 batteries, can be prepared both by chemical synthesis (chemical manganese dioxide, CMD) or electrochemical deposition (electrodeposited manganese dioxide, EMD) methods. Adequate primary Mn resources are available from which manganese dioxide can be produced, but the rapidly growing demand for manganese/manganese oxide has made it increasingly important to develop processes for economic recovery of manganese from low-grade mang...

The effect of non-ionic surface active agents (surfactants) Triton X-100 (TX-100) and and their role in potassium intercalation in electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) produced from manganese cake has been investigated. Electrosynthesis of MnO 2 in the absence or presence of surfactant was carried out from acidic MnSO 4 solution obtained from manganese cake under optimized conditions. A range of characterization techniques, including field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Rutherford back scattering (RBS), and BET surface area/porosity studies, was carried out to determine the structural and chemical characteristics of the EMD. Galvanostatic (discharge) and potentiostatic (cyclic voltammetric) studies were employed to evaluate the suitability of EMD in combination with KOH electrolyte for alkaline battery applications. The presence of surfactant played an important role in modifying the physicochemical properties of the EMD by increasing the surface area of the material and hence, enhancing its electrochemical performance. The TEM and RBS analyses of the discharged EMD (c-MnO 2 ) material showed clear evidence of potassium intercalation or at least the formation of a film on the MnO 2 surface. The extent of intercalation was greater for EMD deposited in the presence of TX-100. Discharged MnO 2 showed products of Mn 2+ intermediates such as MnOOH and Mn 3 O 4 .

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In current years, drowsy driver detection is the most necessary procedure to prevent any road accidents, probably worldwide. The aim of this study was to construct a smart alert technique for building intelligent vehicles that can automatically avoid drowsy driver impairment. But drowsiness is a natural phenomenon in the human body that happens due to different factors. Hence, it is required to design a robust alert system to avoid the cause of the mishap. In this proposed paper, we address a drowsy driver alert system that has been developed using such a technique in which the Video Stream Processing (VSP) is analyzed by eye blink concept through an Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) and Euclidean distance of the eye. Face landmark algorithm is also used as a proper way to eye detection. When the driver’s fatigue is detected, the IoT module issues a warning message along with impact of collision and location information, thereby alerting with the help of a voice speaking through the Raspberry Pi monitoring system.

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