Publications by authors named "Muhammad Abdullah Khan"

This study investigates how wheat gluten (WG) films in the presence of salicylic acid are influenced by thermal pretreatment. Unlike previous methods conducted at low moisture content, our procedure involves pretreating WG at different temperatures (65 °C, 75 °C, and 85 °C), in a solution with salicylic acid. This pretreatment aims to enhance protein unfolding, thus providing more opportunities for protein-protein interactions during the subsequent solvent casting into films.

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The growing usage of antibiotics and their subsequent release in water bodies have become a serious environmental concern. In this study, heterostructured photocatalysts CN/NbO have been synthesized using a simple hydrothermal method and applied to facilitate the degradation of the widely used antibiotic levofloxacin. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis and PL to establish the structure-property relationship.

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Generating highly dispersed metal NPs of the desired size on surfaces such as porous silica is challenging due to wettability issues. Here, we report highly active and well-dispersed Pd incorporated mesoporous MCM-41 (Pd@MCM) using a facile impregnation via a molecular approach based on hydrogen bonding interaction of a palladium β-diketone complex with surface silanol groups of mesoporous silica. Controlled thermal treatment of so obtained materials in air, argon, and hydrogen provided the catalysts characterized by electron microscopy, nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy.

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Over the past decade, layered double hydroxides (LDH) have been the subject of extensive investigations owing to their remarkable water splitting catalytic activity. Stability and porosity are several of the features of LDH which help them to serve as efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts. Based on these considerations, we synthesized NiCo(OH) LDH and probed its OER electrocatalytic performance.

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The aim of the study was to evaluate the radiation levels, radiological doses and excess lifetime cancer risk possessed by the urban soils that were collected from the vicinity of the exclusive mining and excavation centers of Dera Ghazi Khan. The high purity germanium detector was utilized for assessment of naturally occurring radionuclides (NORMs) in soil and results showed that the average activity concentrations of Ra, Th, and K (37 Bq/kg, 43.07 Bq/kg, 737 Bq/kg respectively) surpassed the world's average documented values (35 Bq/kg, 30 Bq/kg, and 400 Bq/kg respectively).

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Highly efficient, well-dispersed PtRu alloy nanoparticles supported on high surface area microporous carbon (MPC) electrocatalysts, are prepared and tested for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). The MPC is obtained by controlled carbonization of a zinc-benzenetricarboxylate metal-organic framework (Zn-BTC MOF) precursor at 950°C, and PtRu (30 wt.%) nanoparticles (NPs) are prepared and deposited a polyol chemical reduction method.

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To investigate cost affordable and robust HER and OER catalysts with significant low overpotentials, we have successfully embedded FeCoSe spheres on smooth surfaces of graphitic carbon nitride that demonstrated high stability and electrocatalytic activity for H production. We systematically analyzed the composition and morphology of FeCoSe/g-CN and attributed the remarkable electrochemical performance of the catalyst to its unique structure. FeCoSe/g-CN showed a superior HER activity, with quite low overpotential value (83 mV at -20 mA cm in 0.

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With an aim to reveal the mechanism of protein-water interaction in a predominantly two phase model protein system this study investigates the frequency and temperature dependence of dielectric constant epsilon' and loss factor epsilon'' in cow horn keratin in the frequency range 30 Hz to 3 MHz and temperature range 30-200 degrees C at two levels of hydration. These two levels of hydration were achieved by exposing the sample to air at 50% relative humidity (RH) at ambient temperature and by evacuating the sample for 72 h at 105 degrees C. A low frequency dispersion (LFD) and an intermediate frequency alpha-dispersion were the two main dielectric responses observed in the air-dried sample.

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