Superhydrophobic nanohybrid sponges for separation of oil/ water mixtures.

The industrial revolution has led to different types of environmental pollution, including frequent leakage of crude oil to marine waters and the contamination of wastewater with immiscible or emulsified oils and organic liquids from various industrial residues. Hence, developing multifunctional materials for oil/water separation is a field of high significance for the remediation of oil-polluted water. Recently, advanced superwetting materials have been employed for oily wastewater treatment.

Preparation of pH-Indicative and Flame-Retardant Nanocomposite Films for Smart Packaging Applications.

There is an increasing demand for sustainable and safe packaging technologies to improve consumer satisfaction, reduce food loss during storage and transportation, and track the quality status of food throughout its distribution. This study reports the fabrication of colorimetric pH-indicative and flame-retardant nanocomposite films (NCFs) based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and nanoclays for smart and safe food packaging applications. Tough, flexible, and transparent NCFs were obtained using 15% nanoclay loading (PVA-15) with superior properties, including low solubility/swelling in water and high thermal stability with flame-retardant behavior.

Hybrid Porous Silicon Biosensors Using Plasmonic and Fluorescent Nanomaterials: A Mini Review.

During the last two decades, porous silicon (PSi) has been proposed as a high-performance biosensing platform due to its biocompatibility, surface tailorability, and reproducibility. This review focuses on the recent developments and progress in the area related to hybrid PSi biosensors using plasmonic metal nanoparticles (MNPs), fluorescent quantum dots (QDs), or a combination of both MNPs and QDs for creating hybrid nanostructured architectures for ultrasensitive detection of biomolecules. The review discusses the mechanisms of sensitivity enhancement based on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) of MNPs, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) in the case of MNPs/QDs donor-acceptor interactions, and photoluminescence/fluorescence enhancement resulting from the embedded fluorescent QDs inside the PSi microcavity.

Isolation and characterization of microcrystalline cellulose from date seeds (Phoenix dactylifera L.).

This article reports the isolation and characterization of microcrystalline cellulose from date seeds of the date palm tree. The raw ground date seeds (RG-DS) are composed of cellulose matrix wrapped by lignin and hemicellulose as amorphous components. Cellulose was isolated from RG-DS through the following sequence: dewaxing, delignification/(bleaching) and acid hydrolysis.

A Flexible Optical pH Sensor Based on Polysulfone Membranes Coated with pH-Responsive Polyaniline Nanofibers.

A new optical pH sensor based on polysulfone (PSU) and polyaniline (PANI) was developed. A transparent and flexible PSU membrane was employed as a support. The electrically conductive and pH-responsive PANI was deposited onto the membrane surface by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization (COP).

Analytical method development using functionalized polysulfone membranes for the determination of chlorinated hydrocarbons in water.

In this study, functionalized polysulfone membrane has been utilized as a sorbent for the extraction of chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) in water samples. Two different functionalized polysulfones (i) phosphonic acid functionalized polysulfone (PPSU-A) with different forms (cross-linked and non cross-linked) membranes and (ii) phosphonic ester functionalized polysulfone (PPSU-E) with different forms (cross-linked and non cross-linked) were evaluated for the extraction of CHCs in water. A 10 ml of spiked water sample was extracted with 50mg piece of the functionalized membrane.