NiO/ZnO Composite Derived Metal-Organic Framework as Advanced Electrode Materials for Zinc Hybrid Redox Flow Battery

NiO/ZnO composite derived metal-organic framework (MOF) is used as to modify carbon felt (CF) via a conventional solid-state reaction followed by ultrasonication. The prepared electrode material is used in zinc-hybrid redox flow batteries (RFBs) due to their high redox activity of Zn²⁺/Zn. The electrochemical performance of composite modified CF and pre-treated CF was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 0.5 M aqueous zinc chloride with 5 M potassium hydroxide solutions showed clear confirmation for enhanced electrocatalytic activity. The unique porous structure of NiO/ZnO-derived MOF with increased surface area improves the battery behavior significantlyThe peak current ratio for the as-prepared material is about 3 times higher than that of the pre-treated CF due to more active sites. Zinc-based RFB with modified CF electrode exhibited better electrochemical performance with voltage efficiency (VE, 88 %), which is higher than true redox flow batteries.     

Common Best Proximity Points: Global Optimal Solutions

Let S:A→B and T:A→B be given non-self mappings, where A and B are non-empty subsets of a metric space. As S and T are non-self mappings, the equations Sx=x and Tx=x do not necessarily have a common solution, called a common fixed point of the mappings S and T. Therefore, in such cases of non-existence of a common solution, it is attempted to find an element x that is closest to both Sx and Tx in some sense. Indeed, common best proximity point theorems explore the existence of such optimal solutions, known as common best proximity points, to the equations Sx=x and Tx=x when there is no common solution. It is remarked that the functions x→d(x,Sx) and x→d(x,Tx) gauge the error involved for an approximate solution of the equations Sx=x and Tx=x. In view of the fact that, for any element x in A, the distance between x and Sx, and the distance between x and Tx are at least the distance between the sets A and B, a common best proximity point theorem achieves global minimum of both functions x→d(x,Sx) and x→d(x,Tx) by stipulating a common approximate solution of the equations Sx=x and Tx=x to fulfill the condition that d(x,Sx)=d(x,Tx)=d(A,B). The purpose of this article is to elicit common best proximity point theorems for pairs of contractive non-self mappings and for pairs of contraction non-self mappings, yielding common optimal approximate solutions of certain fixed point equations. Besides establishing the existence of common best proximity points, iterative algorithms are also furnished to determine such optimal approximate solutions.     

Biosynthesis, purification and characterization of silver nanoparticles using Escherichia coli

The application of nanoscale materials and structures, usually ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm), is an emerging area of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Nanomaterials may provide solutions to technological and environmental challenges in the areas of solar energy conversion, catalysis, medicine, and water-treatment. The development of techniques for the controlled synthesis of nanoparticles of well-defined size, shape and composition, to be used in the biomedical field and areas such as optics and electronics, has become a big challenge. Development of reliable and eco-friendly processes for synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is an important step in the field of application of nanotechnology. One of the options to achieve this objective is to use ‘natural factories’ such as biological systems. This study reports the optimal conditions for maximum synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) through reduction of Ag⁺ ions by the culture supernatant of Escherichia coli. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were purified by using sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The purified sample was further characterized by UV–vis spectra, fluorescence spectroscopy and TEM. The purified solution yielded the maximum absorbance peak at 420 nm and the TEM characterization showed a uniform distribution of nanoparticles, with an average size of 50 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum of the silver nanoparticles exhibited 2θ values corresponding to the silver nanocrystal. The size-distribution of nanoparticles was determined using a particle-size analyzer and the average particle size was found to be 50 nm. This study also demonstrates that particle size could be controlled by varying the parameters such as temperature, pH and concentration of AgNO₃.     

Synthesis of PHB nanoparticles from optimized medium utilizing dairy industrial waste using Brevibacterium casei SRKP2: A green chemistry approach

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural, biodegradable polymers accumulated by bacteria under nutritional exhausted condition where carbon source is in excess. A gram positive bacterium (designated strain SRKP2) that potentially accumulated polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) was isolated from dairy industrial waste. From its morphological and physiological properties and nucleotide sequence of its 16S rRNA, it was suggested that strain SRKP2 was similar to Brevibacterium casei. PHAs were synthesized from a medium containing dairy waste, yeast extract and sea water. The synthesized PHAs were characterized by FT-IR as Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the production of PHB. From the optimized medium the yield of PHB was found to be 2.940 g/L. Here we report the direct use of dairy waste and sea water as potential sources for the production of PHB. Produced PHB was used to synthesize nanoparticles using solvent displacement technique.     

Best proximity point theorems: exposition of a significant non-linear programming problem

The primary goal of this work is to address the non-linear programming problem of globally minimizing the real valued function x → d(x, Tx) where T is presumed to be a non-self mapping that is a generalized proximal contraction in the setting of a metric space. Indeed, an iterative algorithm is presented to determine a solution of the preceding non-linear programming problem that focuses on global optimization. As a sequel, one can compute optimal approximate solutions to some fixed point equations and optimal solutions to some unconstrained non-linear programming problems.     

Vibro-acoustic behavior of an isotropic plate with arbitrarily varying thickness

This paper presents numerical simulation studies on the vibro-acoustic characteristics of an isotropic square plate with six different types of unidirectionally, arbitrarily varying thickness. Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to predict the free and forced vibration characteristics while Boundary Element Method (BEM) is used to predict the sound radiation characteristics. It is found that influence of taper ratio on mode shapes are significant. The resonant amplitude is influenced by changes in mode shapes along with excitation location. The influence of taper ratio and excitation location is significant on overall sound power level except for increasing-decreasing thickness variation. It is found that resonant amplitude and overall sound power level behavior is same for both linear and parabolic variation.     

Spectroscopic,Computational, Antimicrobial,DNA Interaction,In Vitro Anticancer and Molecular Docking Properties of Biochemically Active Cu(II) and Zn(II) Complexes of Pyrimidine-Ligand

Biochemically active Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes [CuL(ClO₄)₂(1) and ZnL(ClO₄)₂(2)] have been synthesized from N,N donor Schiff base ligand L derived from4,6-dichloropyrimdine-5-carboxaldehyde with 4-(2-aminoethyl)morpholine. The L, complexes 1 and 2 have been structurally characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H-NMR, FTIR, MS, UV-Visible and ESR techniques. The results obtained from the spectral studies supports the complexes 1 and 2 are coordinated with L through square planar geometry. DFT calculations results supports, the ligand to metal charge transfer mechanism can occur between L and metal(II) ions. The antimicrobial efficacy results have been recommended that, complexes 1 and 2 are good anti-pathogenic agents than ligand L. The interaction of complexes 1 and 2 with calf thymus (CT) DNA has been studied by electronic absorption, viscometric, fluorometric and cyclic voltammetric measurements. The calculated K_b values for L, complexes 1 and 2 found from absorption titrations was 4.45?×?10⁴, L; 1.92?×?10⁵, 1 and 1.65?×?10⁵, 2. The Ksv values were found to be 3.0?×?10³, 3.68?×?10³and 3.52?×?10³ for L, complexes 1 and 2 by using competitive binding with ethidium bromide (EB). These results suggest that, the compounds are interacted with DNA may be electrostatic binding. The molecular docking studies have been carried out to confirm the interaction of compounds with DNA. Consequently, in vitro anticancer activities of L, complexes 1 and 2 against selected cancer (lung cancer A549, liver cancer HepG2 and cervical carcinoma HeLa) and normal (NHDF) cell lines were assessed by MTT assay.     

Thermal degradation kinetics of structurally diverse poly(bispropargyl ethers-bismaleimide) blends

Structurally diverse bispropargyl ethers using resorcinol,quinol,4,4￠-dihydroxy biphenyl,bisphenol-A,4,4￠-dihydroxy diphenyl ketone,4,4￠-dihydroxy diphenylsulphone,trimethyl indane bisphenol and tetramethyl spirobiindane bisphenol were prepared by using phase transfer catalyst.Synthesized materials were separately blended with 4,4￠-bismaleimido diphenyl methane(BMIM)in mole ratios(0.5:0.5).The materials were thermally cured and the structural characterisation and the thermal properties of these cross-linked materials are investigated using Fourier-transform infrared(FTIR)spectrophotometer and thermogravimetric analyzer(TGA).Among the different materials investigated poly MRPE,poly MBPEBPA and poly MSPE show higher onset degradation temperature of 300°C indicating higher thermal stability.The degradation kinetics is investigated using Flynn-Wall-Ozawa(FWO),Vyazovkin(VYZ)and Friedman(FRD)methods.Amongst the various cured materials investigated,the activation energy(Ea-D)values obtained for poly MRPE and poly MKPE were observed to increase continuously froma=0.2 to 0.8 and the values range from 199 kJ/mol to 245 k J/mol and 153 k J/mol to 295 k J/mol respectively.The crosslinked materials resulting from these bispropargyl monomers definitely need more energy for bond cleavage due to the presence of more aromatic units.The volatile products obtained during the thermal degradation of the polymers were analyzed using thermogravimetric-Fourier transform infrared analyses(TG-FTIR).The phenols,substituted phenols,carbon monoxide,carbon dioxide and small amount of aniline were found to be the major products during thermal degradation of these cured blends.