A review on the surface modification of materials for 3D-printed diagnostic devices.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing in tissue engineering and biosensing of analytes by using biocompatible materials or modifying surface structures is an upcoming area of study. This review discusses three common surface modification techniques, alkaline hydrolysis, UV light photografting, and plasma treatment. Alkaline hydrolysis involves the reaction of an alkaline solution with the surface of a material, causing the surface to develop carboxyl and hydroxyl groups.

Defect Enriched Tungsten Oxide Phosphate with Strategic Sulfur Doping for Effective Seawater Oxidation.

The intrinsic ability of defects within the electrocatalysts can be judiciously utilized in designing robust electrocatalysts for efficient seawater oxidation. Herein, we have fabricated a novel tungsten oxide phosphate (WPO) with optimized sulfur doping triggering the insertion of a large number of defect sites. This allows for boosted OER performance in alkaline freshwater as well as seawater, avoiding the unwanted chlorine evolution reaction.

New age chloride shielding strategies for corrosion resistant direct seawater splitting.

Electrocatalytic direct seawater splitting is considered to be one of the most desirable and necessary approach to produce substantial amount of green hydrogen to meet the energy demand. However, practical seawater splitting remains far-fetched due to the electrochemical interference of multiple elements present in seawater, among which chlorine chemistry is the most aggravating one, causing severe damages to electrodes. To overcome such limitations, apart from robust electrocatalyst design, electrolyte engineering along with in depth corrosion engineering are essential aspects, which needs to be thoroughly judged and explored.

Nickel-Vanadium-Manganese Trimetallic Nitride as Energy Saving, Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Water Splitting via Urea Electrocatalysis.

Hydrogen production through pure water electrolysis is often found less economic as it requires high potential for water oxidation. The presence of urea in water involving effective urea oxidation can be considered as an effective strategy to produce hydrogen economically. Herein, we develop trimetallic nickel vanadium manganese nitride porous microspheres as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for both urea oxidation reaction (UOR) as well as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) mechanisms.

Transition Metal Non-Oxides as Electrocatalysts: Advantages and Challenges.

The identification of hydrogen as green fuel in the near future has stirred global realization toward a sustainable outlook and thus boosted extensive research in the field of water electrolysis focusing on the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). A huge class of compounds consisting of transition metal-based nitrides, carbides, chalcogenides, phosphides, and borides, which can be collectively termed transition metal non-oxides (TMNOs), has emerged recently as an efficient class of electrocatalysts in terms of performance and longevity when compared to transition metal oxides (TMOs). Moreover, the superiority of TMNOs over TMOs to effectively catalyze not only OERs but also HERs and ORRs renders bifunctionality and even trifunctionality in some cases and therefore can replace conventional noble metal electrocatalysts.

Deforestation susceptibility assessment and prediction in hilltop mining-affected forest region.

This work mainly focused on deforestation susceptibility (DS) assessment and its prediction based on statistical models (FR, LR & AHP) in the Saranda forest, India. Also, efforts had been made to quantify the effect of mining on deforestation. We had considered twenty-five (twenty present and five predicted) causative variables of deforestation, including climate, natural or geomorphological, forestry, topographical, environmental, and anthropogenic.

Rhizoremediation prospects of Polyaromatic hydrocarbon degrading rhizobacteria, that facilitate glutathione and glutathione-S-transferase mediated stress response, and enhance growth of rice plants in pyrene contaminated soil.

Rhizoremediation is a strategy where pollutant degrading bacteria are augmented through plant roots using plant-microbe interaction. Therefore, for effective rhizoremediation of pyrene contaminated soil, bacterial strains were experimented for amelioration of stress response in host plant along with biodegradation ability. A total of 28 bacteria, having ability to degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were isolated from contaminated sites and checked for their plant growth promoting attributes, such as indole acetic acid (IAA) production, phosphate solubilization, atmospheric nitrogen fixation and siderophore release.