Computational study on organochlorine insecticides extraction using ionic liquids.

Insecticides pose hazardous environmental effects and can enter the food chain and contaminate water resources. Ionic liquids (ILs) have recently drawn much interest as environmentally friendly solvents and have been an efficient choice for extracting pesticides because of their outstanding thermophysical characteristics and tunable nature. In this study, ILs were screened using COSMO-RS (Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents) to extract organochlorine insecticides from water at 289 K.

Decoration of polylactic acid on graphene oxide for efficient adsorption of methylene blue and tetracycline.

Decorating nanomaterials on graphene oxide (GO) can enhance its adsorption capacity and removal efficiency of water pollutants. In this study, for the first time, nano-sized polylactic acid (PLA) has been successfully decorated on the surface of GO through a facile synthesis approach. The adsorptive efficiency of GO-PLA for removing methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline (TC) from an aqueous solution was examined.

Microwave-assisted conversion of palm kernel shell biomass waste to photoluminescent carbon dots.

In the present work, palm kernel shell (PKS) biomass waste has been used as a low-cost and easily available precursor to prepare carbon dots (CDs) via microwave irradiation method. The impacts of the reacting medium: water and diethylene glycol (DEG), and irradiation period, as well as the presence of chitosan on the CDs properties, have been investigated. The synthesized CDs were characterized by several physical and optical analyses.

Simultaneous removal of Congo red and cadmium(II) from aqueous solutions using graphene oxide-silica composite as a multifunctional adsorbent.

Graphene oxide is a very high capacity adsorbent due to its functional groups and π-π interactions with other compounds. Adsorption capacity of graphene oxide, however, can be further enhanced by having synergistic effects through the use of mixed-matrix composite. In this study, silica-decorated graphene oxide (SGO) was used as a high-efficiency adsorbent to remove Congo red (CR) and Cadmium (II) from aqueous solutions.

Solar photocatalytic degradation of 2-chlorophenol with ZnO nanoparticles: optimisation with D-optimal design and study of intermediate mechanisms.

In this study, the photocatalytic degradation of toxic pollutant (2-chlorophenol) in the presence of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) was investigated under solar radiation. The three main factors, namely pH of solution, solar intensity and calcination temperature, were selected in order to examine their effects on the efficiency of the degradation process. The response surface methodology (RSM) technique based on D-optimal design was applied to optimise the process.

Visible light photocatalytic activity of Fe(3+)-doped ZnO nanoparticle prepared via sol-gel technique.

The optical properties of a ZnO photocatalyst were enhanced with various dopant concentrations of Fe(3+). Doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via a sol-gel method without the use of capping agents or surfactants and was then characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. The results showed that ZnO has a wurtzite, hexagonal structure and that the Fe(3+) ions were well incorporated into the ZnO crystal lattice.