Publications

This research attempts to find a new approach for the removal of arsenic (As) from drinking water by developing a novel solution. To the author’s knowledge, iron-loaded activated carbons (Fe-AC) have not been previously applied for the removal of As in a synergistic process using ozonation and catalytic ozonation processes. The As was investigated using drinking water samples in different areas of Lahore, Pakistan, and the As removal was compared with and without using catalysts. The results also suggested that the catalytic ozonation process significantly removes As as compared with single ozonation and adsorption processes. Moreover, a feed ozone of 1.0 mg/min and catalyst dose of 10 g was found to maintain a maximum removal efficiency of 98.6% within 30 min. The results of the catalyst dose–effect suggested that the removal of As tends to increase with the increase in catalysts amount. Hence, it is concluded that the Fe-AC/O3 process efficiently removes As in water. Moreover, it was established that the Fe-AC/O3 process might be regarded as an effective method for removing As from drinking water compared to the single ozonation and adsorption processes.

The magnesium perchlorate-mediated reaction of [60]fullerene with aldehydes and triethylamine generated a series of rare amino-substituted cyclopentafullerenes with high stereoselectivity.

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.

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.

In this current study, −NH2 functions are introduced on Polyethersulfone (PES) by a nitration reaction then a reduction reaction to fabricate PES-NH2 materials with a better hydrophilicity property. The structure of PES-NH2 was first confirmed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Then, the resultant polymer was doped with different concentrations of ZnCdCrO nanocomposites. The polymeric nanocomposites materials were characterized using FT-IR, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis (TA), and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy while the morphology was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The performance PES-NH2-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites was investigated by sensor-probe towards the selective detection of Hg2+. The results showed the excellent thermal properties of PES-NH2-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites in comparison with non-doped polymer (PES-NH2). Here, Hg2+ ionic sensor was prepared using a flat glassy carbon electrode (GCE) coated with a thin-layer of PES-NH2-ZnCdCrO nanocomposites (20%) with nafion conducting nafion binder (5%). To evaluate the analytical performances of Hg2+ ion sensor, a calibration curve was drawn by plotting the current versus concentration. The sensitivity (0.6566 μAμM-1 cm−2) and detection limit (14.46 ± 0.72 pM) are calculated using the slope of the calibration curve. It was determined the linearity (r2 = 0.9941) over the large linear dynamic range (LDR) (0.1 nM to 0.1 mM). Thus, this research approach might be an important route to the selective detection of environmental toxin (Hg2+ cation) from the aqueous system in broad scales for the safety of health care, environmental, and aquatic fields.

Here, molybdenum sulfide (MoS2) was characterized and its performance as an adsorbent for Co(II)/Ni(II) removal from water was estimated in batch experiments. The nanomaterial exhibits thin-layered structure and contains numerous hydroxyl groups. High pH enhanced Co(II)/Ni(II) sorption, while ionic strength had no effect. The chemical sorption between the binding sites of MoS2 and Co(II)/Ni(II) limited the rate. The Freundlich isotherm correlated better than Langmuir isotherm. The maximum sorption capacity for Co(II)/Ni(II) was 370.10/375.94 mg· g−1, obviously exceeding other adsorbents. Both adsorptions were endothermic and spontaneous processes. This study indicates the intrinsic value of MoS2 in removing heavy metals from water.

A simple thermal process for the one-step preparation of highly concentrated (up to 0.21 M) but well-stable silver colloids with a bimodal size distribution is developed for the first time, carried out by directly heating an aqueous solution of concentrated AgNO3 and poly[(2-ethyldimethylammonioethyl methacrylate ethyl sulfate)-co- (1-vinylpyrrolidone)] (PQ11), a kind of cationic polyelectrolyte, at 100 °C without the extra introduction of other reducing agents and protective agents. Time-dependent UV-vis spectra were collected to gain further insight into the Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) formation process. Most importantly, it is found that the colloidal solution can form stable films on bare electrode surfaces and the AgNPs contained therein exhibit notable catalytic activity toward the reduction of H2O2, leading to a H2O2 sensor with a fast amperometric response time of less than 2 s. The linear detection range is estimated to be from 100 μM to 150 mM (r = 0.9995), and the detection limit is estimated to be 1.8 μM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.