Publications

Here, we have designed an efficient multipurpose photocatalytic system based on iron-doped tin oxide (Fe-SnO2) which exhibited excellent catalytic activity toward dyes degradation and hydrogen production. The synthesized photocatalyst was characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. Fe-SnO2 was tested in degradation of different dyes i.e., congo red (CR), acridine orange (ArO) and methyl orange (MO) and among these dyes, Fe-SnO2 was more efficient and selective toward CR which was degraded more than 95% in 30 min. Further, the catalytic efficiency of Fe-SnO2 was also evaluated toward photocatalytic hydrogen generation from aqueous solutions of methanol, ethanol, propanol, potassium hydroxide and Na2S + Na2SO3, where Fe-SnO2 displayed high catalytic activity toward hydrogen generation from methanol solution under sunlight. Moreover, the catalytic activity of Fe-SnO2 toward CR degradation and hydrogen production was optimized by using different combinations of operating conditions and no major loss in activity was observed upon running the same photocatalyst sample in different batches.

Highly dispersed Co nanoparticles on biomass Juncus derived carbon achieve superb nitrite reduction performances with a faradaic efficiency of 96.9% and an NH 3 yield of 2.8 mol h −1 g Co −1 . The catalytic mechanism is revealed by DFT calculations.

The hybridization of plant cellulose fillers in polymeric laminates is applied in different applications because of several benefits. The present investigation deals with the fabrication of four other eight-layer laminates by reinforcing bio fillers (coir, sisal, and hemp), Titanium carbide (TiC) nanoparticles, and ranging the stacking sequence of synthetic fabrics (carbon, Kevlar, Basalt, and Innegra) with bio/synthetic epoxy from wet layup technique. The fabricated laminate's characteristics were appraised by examining density, porosity, water absorption, flexural, impact strength, shore hardness, and thermal stability. It was observed from the experimental outcomes that the 3F8LTSE (Sisal, hemp, coir fillers, 2 layers of Carbon, Kevlar, Basalt, Innegra fabrics, and Titanium carbide reinforced synthetic epoxy) composite exhibited higher mechanical characteristics with a higher flexural strength (312.58 MPa), impact strength (35.13 kJ/m2), and shore D hardness (84.95), and decreased water absorption capacity by justifying its adequate for lightweight structures. The scanning electron microscope displayed the fiber pull out, debonding, and dispersion of fillers within the matrix of the composite. The current study also evaluates the prediction and performance of the artificial neural network (ANN) to model the physical, mechanical and thermal characteristics of bio/synthetic epoxy hybrid composites. However, the ANN model was more precise and proved that it is a primary method to optimize the properties of the fabricated bio/synthetic epoxy laminate.

Exploitation of efficient and earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is of great importance. Herein, we report that the formation of an amorphous Mn-Co-P shell on MnCo₂O₄ can boost its OER activity in alkaline media. The core-shell Mn-Co-P@MnCo₂O₄ nanowire array on Ti mesh (Mn-Co-P@MnCo₂O₄/Ti) shows excellent electrochemical catalytic activity and requires an overpotential of 269 mV to drive 10 mA cm^-2 in 1.0 M KOH, which is 93 mV less than that for the MnCo₂O₄ nanoarray. Notably, this catalyst also shows strong long-term electrochemical durability with its activity being maintained for at least 100 h and achieves a high turnover frequency of 1.06 s^-1 at an overpotential of 450 mV.

The tandem heterojunction photoelectric cell has been fabricated on the basis of organic-inorganic hybrid of AlPc-H2Pc (aluminium phthalocyanine-metal free phthalocyanine) and n-Si using pressing technique along with vapor deposition. Initially, the AlPc-H2Pc heterojunction films of thickness 150 nm were deposited on the ITO coated glass and the n-Si substrates as well by vapor deposition. Both the substrates (ITO glass and n-Si) were pressed and fixed together by keeping the deposited heterojunction films face to face. The pressing was done at elevated temperature (60-80 degrees C), while fixing was carried out by using adhesive. A 100 nm thick silver (Ag) film was deposited on the back of n-Si substrate. The complete architecture of the device was as ITO/AlPc:H2Pc/n-Si/Ag. The AFM and UV-visible spectroscopy were used to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the organic (AlPc-H2Pc) films, respectively. The cell was characterized for current-voltage behavior in dark and also under illumination. The values of I-SC, V-oc, fill factor (FF) and efficiency under illumination of 290 W/m(2) were equal to 0.7 V, 2.17 mA/cm(2), 0.33 and 1.1%, respectively.

Four new donor–π–acceptor organic dyes (YF01–04), containing naphthalene-substituted amines as an electron donor and cyanoacrylic acid as an electron acceptor, were designed and synthesized, and their photophysical properties and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) performances were characterized. Dyes YF02 and YF04, with 2,6-disubstituted naphthalene frameworks, were superior than their analog dyes YF03 and YF01, having 1,2-disubstituted naphthalene moiety, in incident-photo-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) and total solar-to-electric conversion efficiency (η). The DSCs based on YF02, comprised of diphenylamine moiety as the donor, produced the highest η of 5.29% compared to 4.03% of the analog dye YF04, which has pyrrolidine as the donor. Remarkably, a high open-circuit photovoltage (Voc) of 0.799–0.807 V was achieved in the cases of YF02–03, which have diphenylamine-donors. To better understand the structure–property relationship for DSCs application, molecular modelling was performed on YF01–04 and vertical electronic excitations were calculated using long-range corrected energy functional WB97XD and CAM-B3LYP at the basis set level DGDZVP, which were in excellent agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, the equilibrium molecular geometries of dyes YF01–04 were calculated at the density function theory (DFT) level using the hybrid energy functional B3LYP and basis set DGDZVP. The torsion angles (θ) between the naphthalene moiety and diphenylamine donor in YF02 and YF03 were more twisted than that of the pyrrolidine-donor dyes YF01 and YF04, precluding efficient intermolecular π–π charge transfer, which translated into high Voc. Compared to the reference dye TA-St-CA, which is based on diphenylamine as an electron donor linked to a phenyl ring, YF02 achieved higher Voc, which indicated that naphthalene substituted with diphenylamine is more efficient in retarding charge recombinations.

Electrochemical N₂ reduction has emerged as a sustainable and eco-friendly route for the artificial synthesis of NH₃ under ambient conditions, but active electrocatalysts are needed to drive the N₂ reduction reaction (NRR). Here, Bi nanodendrites are reported as an efficient NRR electrocatalyst for N₂ to NH₃ conversion with excellent selectivity. In 0.1 M HCl, this catalyst achieves a large NH₃ yield of 25.86 μg h^-1 mg^-1_cat. and a high faradaic efficiency of 10.8% at -0.60 V and -0.55 V versus a reversible hydrogen electrode, respectively, with high electrochemical durability.

This review summarized recent advances of metal phosphides/carbon composite as anode for rechargeable ion batteries, providing an in-depth understanding of contribution of carbon materials into the electrochemical performance in metal phosphides.