Publications

S-scheme-based hydrothermal synthesis of SiO2@CuFe2O4-AgI composites was effectively described in this work. The photo-degradation of hazardous dyes like methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) was utilized to test nanocomposites with variable weight percent of AgI for photocatalytic activity in the visible range. In terms of photocatalytic activity, SiO2@CuFe2O4-AgI with a 15% AgI loading beat both pure and hybrid composites. In terms of MO degradation, the hybrid composite with 15% AgI loading degrades 16 times and 8 times faster than pristine CuFe2O4 and AgI samples, respectively, while in terms of MB degradation, it degrades 18.67 times faster and 9.33 times faster than pristine samples. The increased surface area decreased the recombination rate of photogenerated e− -h+ pairs, quicker separation of photogenerated carriers, and high redox capacity of SiO2@CuFe2O4-AgI (15%) all contribute to improved photocatalytic performance. The hybrid composite is chemically stable and reusable even after 10 cycles. Because of the coordinated Fermi level between CuFe2O4 and AgI, SiO2 acts as a transfer bridge for electrons in a layered structure. Furthermore, the scavenger experiment demonstrates that •O2-, •OH, and h+ are significant reactive species that efficiently aided the photodegradation of dyes. Current research proposes a novel and cost-efficient method for creating a stable semiconductor-based photocatalytic system and a viable strategy for future applications.

Conjugated polyelectrolyte/MWCNT/poly(pyrrole) (CPE-K/MWCNT/PPY) composites have been prepared by a simple solution mixing technique. Synthesis of PPY/CPE/MWCNT composites was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. These nanocomposites of CPE-K/MWCNT/PPY were deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) in order to fabricate a reliable Mg2+ cationic sensor. A plot called the calibration curve is produced from the current as a function of concentration of Mg2+ ion. This plot was found to be linear in the range 0.1 nM to 0.01 mM, which is defined as the linear dynamic range. According to the surface area of the GCE (0.0316 cm2) and the slope of the calibration curve, a high sensitivity (19.4968 µA µM–1 cm–2) of the Mg2+ ion sensor was calculated. A significant lower limit of detection (97.71 ± 4.89 pM) was obtained in association with a signal to noise ratio of 3. Sensor parameters such as reproducibility, long-time stability, and short response time were measured and found to be quite satisfactory. This new approach to Mg2+ detection with high sensitivity is suggested for application as a novel multifunctional sensing system. Besides, it was found to be very effective to analyze real environmental samples.

Electrocatalytic N2 reduction provides an attractive alternative to Haber-Bosch process for artificial NH3 synthesis. The difficulty of suppressing competing proton reduction, however, largely impedes its practical use. Herein, we design a hydrophobic octadecanethiol-modified Fe3P nanoarrays supported on carbon paper (C18@Fe3P/CP) to effectively repel water, concentrate N2, and enhance N2-to-NH3 conversion. Such catalyst achieves an NH3 yield of 1.80 × 10−10 mol·s−1·cm−2 and a high Faradaic efficiency of 11.22% in 0.1 M Na2SO4, outperforming the non-modified Fe3P/CP (2.16 × 10−11 mol·s−1·cm−2, 0.9%) counterpart. Significantly, C18@Fe3P/CP renders steady N2-fixing activity/selectivity in cycling test and exhibits durability for at least 25 h. First-principles calculations suggest that the surface electronic structure and chemical activity of Fe3P can be well tuned by the thiol modification, which facilitates N2 electroreduction activity and catalytic formation of NH3.

Abstract The aim of this investigation is the characterization of interaction of different bile salts – sodium cholate (NaC), sodium deoxycholate (NaDC) and sodium taurocholate (NaTC) with amphiphilic drug imipramine hydrochloride (IMP) because the bioavailability of lipophilic drugs following oral administration strongly depends on the presence of food components. These bile salts improve the bioavailability of poorly absorbable drugs by lowering the surface tension of the gastrointestinal fluid or by solubilization. The interactions in the binary systems (drug and bile salts) were studied by determining various physicochemical parameters like critical micelle concentration ( cmc ), ideal cmc ( cmc id ), counterion dissociation ( g ), standard Gibbs free energy ( ΔG m 0 ), enthalpy ( ΔH m 0 ), and entropy of micellization ( ΔS m 0 ), micellar mole fractions of bile salt ( X 1 Rub , X 1 M , X 1 Rod ), micellar mole fraction of bile salt in ideal state ( X 1 id ), interaction parameter ( β ), activity coefficients ( f 1 , f 2 ), and excess free energy of mixing ( ΔG ex ) of the mixed micelles using Clint's, Rubingh's, Motomura's and Rodenas's theories for mixed micellar systems. All the results point out synergism and attractive interactions in the mixed systems of drug and bile salts. NaDC is more effective in reducing the cmc of drug IMP as compared to NaC and NaTC because it binds strongly to the positively charged drug ions and reduces the head group area more in comparison to other. This study will give insight into the selection of drugs in different applications as their properties get modified by interaction with bile salts, thus influencing their solution behavior which, in turn, modifying the phase-forming behavior, microemulsion, clouding phenomenon, besides solubilization. The modification of solubilization ability in a medium can be exploited for the purpose of selective encapsulation and release.

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.

Stable proton conducting composite membranes (CM1-CM3) based on polybenzimidazole (PBI) and various weight percent (35, 50 and 65 wt %) of inorganic hetero poly acids (IHA) were prepared by dissolving PBI in methanesulfonic acid and required amount of IHA was then added to PBI solution. IHA were prepared by acid-catalyzed condensation of various ratios of silicotungstic acid (TSA) (35, 50 and 65 wt %) and silica (TEOS) (65, 50 and 35 wt %) using sol-gel procedure. These materials were characterized morphologically, studied their intrinsic structures and intimate relation with proton conductivity. It was found that thermal properties and proton conductivity of the composite membrane are strongly dependent on the IHA which increased with increase of IHA content. The composite membrane containing 65 wt % of IHA showed highest thermal property and proton conductivity. Composite membrane containing 65 wt% of IHA displayed highest conductivity of 2.91x10-1 S/cm at 150 °C. Thus introduction of IHA into PBI matrix is an efficient route to improve thermal properties and proton conductivity of PBI.

In the title compound, C(14)H(21)NO(4)S, the O-S-O angle is 120.06 (11)°, with the S atom adopting a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. In the crystal, N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds connect the mol-ecules along the a axis, generating an infinite chain. The disordered C atoms of the isobutyl group were refined with the C-C distances restrained to 1.52 (1) Å and the occupancy ratio refined to 0.504 (3):0.496 (3).