Fundamentals and comprehensive insights on pulsed laser synthesis of advanced materials for diverse photo- and electrocatalytic applications.

The global energy crisis is increasing the demand for innovative materials with high purity and functionality for the development of clean energy production and storage. The development of novel photo- and electrocatalysts significantly depends on synthetic techniques that facilitate the production of tailored advanced nanomaterials. The emerging use of pulsed laser in liquid synthesis has attracted immense interest as an effective synthetic technology with several advantages over conventional chemical and physical synthetic routes, including the fine-tuning of size, composition, surface, and crystalline structures, and defect densities and is associated with the catalytic, electronic, thermal, optical, and mechanical properties of the produced nanomaterials.

Surface modified glass substrate for sensing E. coli using highly stable and luminescent CdSe/CdS core shell quantum dots.

CdSe/CdS core shelled quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by colloidal synthesis using a binary ligand system and a non-coordinating, reusable solvent n-octadecane (nOD). Both the synthesis of CdSe and CdSe/CdS core shelled quantum dots were achieved by hot injection technique at much lower temperatures than reported earlier. The use of binary ligand facilitated enough nucleation and growth.

Photo-active float for field water disinfection.

The present study investigates the antibacterial activity of a photoactive float fabricated with visible light active N-F-TiO2 for the disinfection of field water widely contaminated with Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria like, Salmonella typhimurium (Gram negative), Escherichia coli (Gram negative), Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive), Bacillus species (Gram positive), and Pseudomonas species (Gram negative). The antibacterial activity can be attributed to the unique properties of the photocatalyst, which releases reactive oxygen species in aqueous solution, under the illumination of sunlight. N-F-TiO2 nanoparticles efficiently photocatalyse the destruction of all the bacteria present in the contaminated water, giving clean water.

Photoactive titania float for disinfection of water; evaluation of cell damage by bioanalytical techniques.

A photoactive float was fabricated with the modified titania to cause a feasible disinfection of water, contaminated with E. coli. The commercially available titania was doped with neodymium by pulverization technique to enhance its activity in sunlight and a multiapproach technique was used to evaluate the extended efficiency of the doped sample.