There is much interest in developing metal-free halogenated graphene such as fluorinated graphene for various catalytic applications. In this work, a fluorine-doped graphene oxide photocatalyst was investigated for photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of a volatile organic compound (VOC), namely gaseous methanol. The fluorination process of graphene oxide (GO) was carried out via a novel and facile solution-based photoirradiation method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroplastics (MPs) pollution has become a serious environmental issue worldwide, but its potential effects on health remain unknown. The administration of polystyrene MPs (PS-MPs) to mice for eight weeks impaired learning and memory behavior. PS-MPs were detected in the brain especially in the hippocampus of these mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
April 2022
Recently, spinel ferrites have attracted great attention as a SERS-active substrate for the detection of organic contaminants. In this paper, we report the synthesis of silver enriched MOF-derived CuFeO (Ag-CFO) composite using a simple MOF template process. The as-synthesized Ag-CFO exhibits an excellent sensitivity towards the detection of Rhodamine 6G dye at the lowest concentration of 10 M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany revolutionary approaches are on the way pertaining to the high occurrence of tooth decay, which is an enduring challenge in the field of preventive dentistry. However, an ideal dental care material has yet to be fully developed. With this aim, this research reports a dramatic enhancement in the rehardening potential of surface-etched enamels through a plausible synergistic effect of the novel combination of γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) and nano-hydroxyapatite (nano-HAp) paste, within the limitations of the study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA rapid, cost-effective and accurate detection of heavy metal ions is crucial for human health monitoring and environmental protection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has become a reliable method due to its outstanding performance for the identification of contaminants. In this paper, silver phosphate microcubes (AgPO) were fabricated using two different precipitation methods for ultrasensitive SERS detection of heavy metal ions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral biological membranes have been served as scattering materials of random lasers, but few of them include natural photonic crystals. Here, we propose and demonstrate a facile approach to fabricating high-performance biological photonic crystal random lasers, which is cost-effective and reproducible for mass production. As a benchmark, optical and lasing properties of dye-coated Lepidoptera wings, including Papilio ulysses butterfly and Chrysiridia rhipheus moth, are characterized and show a stable laser emission with a superior threshold of 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSequentially precipitated Mg-promoted nickel-silica catalysts with ageing performed under various ultrasonic intensities were employed to study the catalyst performance in the partial hydrogenation of sunflower oil. Results from various characterisation studies showed that increasing ultrasonic intensity caused a higher degree of hydroxycarbonate erosion and suppressed the formation of Ni silicates and silica support, which improved Ni dispersion, BET surface area and catalyst reducibility. Growth of silica clusters on the catalyst aggregates were observed in the absence of ultrasonication, which explained the higher silica and nickel silicate content on the outer surface of the catalyst particle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRandom lasers had been made by some biomaterials as light scattering materials, but natural photonic crystals have been rarely reported as scattering materials. Here we demonstrate the ability of natural photonic crystals to drive laser actions by sandwiched the feathers of the Turquoise-Fronted Amazon parrot and dye between two plastic films. Parrot feathers comprise abundant photonic crystals, and different color feathers compose of different ratios of the photonic crystal, which directly affect the feather reflectance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotocatalytic degradation is a promising method to remove organic pollutants from water. Photocatalysts based on two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS nanomaterials have gained tremendous popularity. This is due to their narrow band gap and high visible light absorption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising technology that utilizes exoelectrogens cultivated in the form of biofilm to generate power from various types of sources supplied. A metal-reducing pathway is utilized by these organisms to transfer electrons obtained from the metabolism of substrate from anaerobic respiration extracellularly. A widely established model organism that is capable of extracellular electron transfer (EET) is Shewanella oneidensis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA series of heteroatom-containing porous carbons with high surface area and hierarchical porosity were successfully prepared by hydrothermal, chemical activation, and carbonization processes from soybean residues. The initial concentration of soybean residues has a significant impact on the textural and surface functional properties of the obtained biomass-derived porous carbons (BDPCs). SRAC5 sample with a BET surface area of 1945 m g and a wide micro/mesopore size distribution, nitrogen content of 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe superlative mechanical properties of spider silk and its conspicuous variations have instigated significant interest over the past few years. However, current attempts to synthetically spin spider silk fibers often yield an inferior physical performance, owing to the improper molecular interactions of silk proteins. Considering this, herein, a post-treatment process to reorganize molecular structures and improve the physical strength of spider silk is reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNowadays, humans spend most of their time indoors and are frequently exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from various sources. The photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) method is a relatively more efficient method than the adsorption method for removing VOCs from the environment. In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was partially reduced photoreduction under ultraviolet light (UV-A) irradiation and then used as a photocatalyst to degrade VOCs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn spite of all the efforts towards deciphering the silk spinning process of spiders, the underlying mechanism is yet to be fully revealed. In this research, we designed a novel approach that allowed us to quantitatively evaluate the concentration change of silk dope during the liquid-to-solid spinning process of the orb-weaver . As a prior characterization of the optimal silking conditions, we first gauged the influence of silking-rate, ranging from 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Res
January 2019
Pharmaceutical residues are emerging pollutants in the aquatic environment and their removal by conventional wastewater treatment methods has proven to be ineffective. This research aimed to develop a three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA) for the removal of diclofenac in aqueous solution. The preparation of rGOA involved facile self-assembly of graphene oxide under a reductive environment of L-ascorbic acid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper remarks the general correlations of the shape and crystallinity of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) support on gold deposition and carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation. It was found that due to the larger rutile TiO₂ particles and thus the pore volume, the deposited gold particles tended to agglomerate, resulting in smaller catalyst surface area and limited gold loading, whilst anatase TiO₂ enabled better gold deposition. Those properties directly related to gold particle size and thus the number of low coordinated atoms play dominant roles in enhancing CO oxidation activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNew insight on the conversion of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) to nano-sized alpha tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) provides a faster pathway to calcium phosphate bone cements. In this work, synthesized ACP powders were treated with either water or ethanol, dried, crystallized between 700 and 800 °C, and then cooled at different cooling rates. Particle size was measured in a scanning electron microscope, but crystallite size calculated by Rietveld analysis.
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