Manganese-cobalt oxide as an effective bifunctional cathode for rechargeable Zn-air batteries with a compact quad-cell battery design.

Metal-air batteries, which are economical and ecological alternatives to Li-ion batteries, have become an important energy storage system. In this study, bimetallic oxides of widely accepted transition metal oxides like MnCoO and NiFeO have been explored to fabricate an efficient rechargeable Zn-air battery. The synthesis of these materials involves a single step direct decomposition of constituent metallic salts using polyvinyl pyrrolidone as a stabilizer cum nanostructure growth modifier by a simple open-air spray pyrolysis.

Tuning DNA electrical conductivity by silver photo-doping.

Photodoping of silver into bulk DNA is studied by measuring its ambient electrical conductivity. Mechanically pressed pellets of pure DNA and chemically modified Ag-DNA were prepared and were further coated with silver paste on either side of pellets to monitor the photodoping process. The electrical conductivity of these pellets was continuously measured under white light irradiation.

Large-scale synthesis of copper sulfide by using elemental sources via simple chemical route.

Copper sulfide is a low-cost and non-toxic material which is very attractive and promising for various applications. There is a need of a large-scale production of this material by simple methods. Here, a simple and ambient method is proposed for a large-scale preparation of copper sulfide.

A Simple and Portable Setup for Thermopower Measurements.

Thermoelectric energy conversion technology has received significant attention because of its promising applications and environmentally clean nature. The innovative design of efficient thermoelectric materials is assisted by simple and reliable techniques for fast and accurate testing. Here, a simple approach for rapid measurement of the Seebeck coefficient is described using commonly available materials based on hot and cold probes; both probes are heated by built-in microheaters.

Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of symmetrical thiophene based 2,5-disubstiuted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles: highly fluorescent materials for OLED applications.

Symmetrical 2,5-disubstituted thiophene derivatives containing 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety bearing different aromatic substitutions were synthesized by employing convenient and simple synthetic protocols using thiophene-2,5,dicarboxylic acid as a starting material. The structures of these target molecules were established by their analytical and spectral data. The photophysical and electrochemical studies were carried out on these compounds and found that they exhibit good fluorescent properties with high quantum yield.