Aviation is one of the largest transportation sectors and is operated on fossil fuels, being responsible for about 2% of global CO2 emissions. In order to reduce the environmental impact, biofuels emerged as a promising solution. Additionally, a possible approach to improve the performance of biofuels is to add nanoparticles, leading to the concept of nanofuel. The present work evaluates the nanofuel droplet combustion of a biofuel containing high aluminum particle concentrations. To enhance the nanofuel stability, a preliminary study focusing on the addition of a surfactant was mandatory. Particle size of 40 nm and three particle concentrations from 1.0 to 4.0 wt.% were considered. The results show that the oleic acid effectively improves the stability, and no visible oxidation of the nanoparticles was reported. Regarding the single droplet combustion, the observations show that the addition of nanoparticles promotes micro-explosions, contrary to the combustion of pure biofuel, and increases the overall droplet burning rate.

This study examines the burning characteristics and disruptive burning phenomena of single droplets of aluminum nanoparticles (n-Al) stably suspended in a biofuel (HVO). The biofuel used in the present work is a promising alternative fuel already tested in the aviation sector to reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions. Experiments were conducted with two particle sizes (40nm and 70nm) and two particle concentrations (0.5 wt.% and 1.0 wt.%) to study its influence when added to the biofuel. The effect of size and concentration of the aluminum nanoparticles was studied at 1100 °C in a drop tube furnace. This experimental facility allows the study of combustion characteristics of falling droplets, ensuring there is no influence of the supporting fiber on the burning rate and disruptive burning phenomena occurrence. A CMOS high - speed camera coupled with a high magnification lens was used to evaluate the droplet size, burning rate, and micro-explosions. Based on this procedure, pure biofuel droplets were compared with those of biofuel blended with nanoparticles. The results suggest that the combustion characteristics of pure HVO can be enhanced with the addition of aluminum nanoparticles. Furthermore, by decreasing the particle size, a slight increase in the burning rate of nanofuels was noticed. Additionally, an increase in the particle concentration leads to a pronounced increase in the burning rate. The particle concentration also influences the delay and intensity of micro-explosions, disruptive burning phenomena detected at the end of the droplet lifetime.

O objetivo da presente dissertação consiste em desenvolver e avaliar o potencial de uma membrana biopolimérica de acetato de celulose (AC), contendo nanopartículas de prata (Ag-NPs) e/ou alumínio (Al-NPs) no tratamento e remediação de meios aquáticos. Para esse efeito, foram sintetizadas membranas de AC contendo Ag-NPs e/ou Al-NPs através do método de evaporação do solvente, obtendo-se Ag-NPs por redução química do nitrato de prata (AgNO3) com o agente redutor, borohidreto de sódio (NaBH4). As Al-NPs foram obtidas por síntese in situ de um precursor à base de alumínio, o isopropóxido de alumínio (Al(Pr-i-O)3) na presença de ácido clorídrico (HCl). Investigou-se ainda o efeito da estabilização das Ag-NPs através da incorporação de um surfactante, o poloxamer 407 (P407). As membranas de AC contendo Ag-NPs com e sem a presença do P407 foram caracterizadas através de ensaios de microscopia eletrónica de varrimento (SEM), espectroscopia dispersiva de raios-X (EDS), dispersão de luz dinâmica (DLS), espectroscopia de infravermelho por transformada de Fourier (FTIR), análise termogravimétrica (TGA), espectroscopia UV-Visível, análise dinâmico-mecânica (DMA) e medição de ângulos de contacto, assim como através de estudos da atividade antibacteriana. Como o principal objetivo desta dissertação consiste no desenvolvimento de uma membrana de nanocompósito para duas possíveis aplicações no tratamento de água contaminadas, inibir/remover microrganismos e o ião fosfato, foram realizados estudos da atividade antibacteriana, assim como estudos cinéticos de adsorção de fósforo. Da caracterização das membranas obtidas conclui-se que a incorporação de Ag-NPs na matriz de AC induziu uma melhoria das propriedades térmicas e mecânicas relativamente às de AC puro. Enquanto, a incorporação de P407 introduziu modificações superficiais na matriz de AC tornando-a mais hidrofílica. Resultados obtidos no estudo cinético de adsorção de fósforo nas membranas contendo Ag-NPs e Al-NPs confirmaram a eficiência destas membranas na remoção do fósforo. Relativamente ao carácter antibacteriano destas, este foi comprovado in situ, no qual se verificou o efeito bactericida nos testes realizados em águas com bactérias em suspensão.

The development and realization of a plasmonic structure based on the LSP interaction of metal nanoparticles with an embedding matrix of amorphous silicon is proposed. As a planned application, this structure will need to be usable as the basis for a sensor device applied in biomedical applications, after proper functionalization with selective antibodies. The final sensor structure needs to be low-cost, compact, and disposable. The study reported in this paper aims to analyze varied materials for nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous silico matrix. Metals of interest for nanoparticles composition are aluminum and gold. As a comparison term, a non-plasmonic material like alumina, resulting from oxidation of Al nanoparticles, is also considered. As a preliminary approach to this device, we study in this work the optical properties of spherical metal nanoparticles embedded in an amorphous silicon matrix, as a function of size and metal type. Following an analysis based on the exact solution of the Mie theory, experimental measurements realized with arrays of metal nanoparticles are compared with the simulations.