Synthesis,crystal structure,and electrochemical properties of Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes with two unsymmetrical N2O2 Schiff base ligands

Nickel(II) and copper(II) complexes of two unsymmetrical tetradentate Schiff base ligands [Ni(Me-salabza)] (1), [Cu(Me-salabza)] (2) and [Ni(salabza)] (3), {H₂salabza = N,N′-bis[(salicylidene)-2-aminobenzylamine] and H₂Me-salabza = N,N′-bis[(methylsalicylidene)-2-aminobenzylamine]}, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic methods. The crystal structures of 2 and 3 complexes have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Both copper(II) and nickel(II) ions adopt a distorted square planar geometry in [Cu(Me-salabza)] and [Ni(salabza)] complexes. The cyclic voltammetric studies of these complexes in dichloromethane indicate the electronic effects of the methyl groups on redox potential.     

Removal and preconcentration of lead(II), cadmium(II) and chromium(III) ions from wastewater samples using surface functionalized magnetite nanoparticles

The potential removal and preconcentration of lead(II), cadmium(II), and chromium(III) ions from wastewaters were investigated and explored. Magnetite nanoparticles were chemically modified with p-nitro aniline. The aniline-coated magnetite nanoparticles (ANMNPs) were fully characterized by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and TEM measurements. Batch studies were performed to address various experimental parameters for the removal and determination of these ions. ANMNPs showed high tendency to investigated metal ions, in this order: Cr(III) > Cd(II) > Pb(II), owing to the strong contribution of surface loaded aniline. The potential applications of ANMNPs adsorbent for removal and preconcentration of Pb(II), Cr(III), and Cd(II) from wastewaters as well as drinking tap water samples were successfully accomplished giving recovery values of (98–101 %), without any noticeable interference of the wastewater or drinking tap water matrices.     

Theoretical investigation of functionalized fullerene nano carrier drug delivery of fluoxetine

In recent years, fullerene nanoparticles have received extensive attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties. Properly modified fullerene nanoparticles have excellent biocompatibility and significant anti-tumor activity and anti-depression, which makes them have broad application prospects in the field of cancer anti-depression. The present study used the density functional theory (DFT) calculations to perform a theoretical examination of the interaction of fluoxetine (F) as medicine with the functionalized fullerene O and NO (F–O and F–NO surface in gas phase physiological media. According to DFT calculations, adsorption energies were ?3396.6350645, ?3540.2952907, ?6778.526894, and ?6952.251487 kJ for F/P complexes (fullerene O and NO (F–O and F–NO surface) respectively, proposing the possibility of the adsorption process of F molecule onto the fullerene surface concerning the energetic perspective. Calculations of electronic parameters aimed at determining the molecule's reactivity. Bandgap of F–O and F–NO were 0.03715, 0.04328 respectively, by this value we can recognize the reactivity of complexes.     

Poly (methyl methacrylate) grafted wheat straw for economical and eco-friendly treatment of oily wastewater

Cellulose - The sustainable development of oil–gas and petrochemical industries necessitates the development of cost-effective and eco-friendly technologies to treat mass-produced oily...     

The economic viability of a thermal power plant: a case study

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The present paper deals with the economic viability of a coal-fired power plant (CFPP) situated in the northern part of India. The plant with a...     

An efficient meshfree point collocation moving least squares method to solve the interface problems with nonhomogeneous jump conditions

We are going to study a simple and effective method for the numerical solution of the closed interface boundary value problem with both discontinuities in the solution and its derivatives. It uses a strong‐form meshfree method based on the moving least squares (MLS) approximation. In this method, for the solution of elliptic equation, the second‐order derivatives of the shape functions are needed in constructing the global stiffness matrix. It is well‐known that the calculation of full derivatives of the MLS approximation, especially in high dimensions, is quite costly. In the current work, we apply the diffuse derivatives using an efficient technique. In this technique, we calculate the higher‐order derivatives using the approximation of lower‐order derivatives, instead of calculating directly derivatives. This technique can improve the accuracy of meshfree point collocation method for interface problems with nonhomogeneous jump conditions and can efficiently estimate diffuse derivatives of second‐ and higher‐orders using only linear basis functions. To introduce the appropriate discontinuous shape functions in the vicinity of interface, we choose the visibility criterion method that modifies the support of weight function in MLS approximation and leads to an efficient computational procedure for the solution of closed interface problems. The proposed method is applied for elliptic and biharmonic interface problems. For the biharmonic equation, we use a mixed scheme, which replaces this equation by a coupled elliptic system. Also the application of the present method to elasticity equation with discontinuities in the coefficients across a closed interface has been provided. Representative numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed methodology for the closed interface problems. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 31: 1031–1053, 2015     

Cu-based atom transfer radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate using a novel tridentate ligand with mixed donor atoms

This study is aimed at atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of methyl methacrylate (MMA) using a novel catalyst. The bis-(2-dodecylsulfanyl-ethyl)-amine (SNS) tridentate ligand with mixed donor atoms was synthesized in high purity using inexpensive reagents and was reacted with copper(I) bromide to produce the CuBr/SNS catalyst. The catalyst mediated living polymerization of MMA yielding polymers with controlled molecular masses and narrow molecular mass distributions (PDI < 1.25). Also, the kinetic plot exhibited a linear increase of ln([M]₀/[M]) versus time, indicating constant concentration of propagating radicals during the polymerization. The products were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, UV-VIS, GC and elemental analyses (CHNS) and by GPC.     

The effect of 3D printing on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone filament and scaffold

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing becomes an attractive technique to fabricate tissue engineering scaffolds through its high control on fabrication and repeatability using the printing parameters. This technique can be combined by the finite element method (FEM), and tissue‐specific scaffolds with desirable morphological and mechanical properties can be designed and manufactured. In this study, the influential 3D printing parameters on the morphological and mechanical properties of polycaprolactone (PCL) filament and scaffold were studied experimentally and numerically. First, the effects of printing parameters and process on the properties of extruded PCL filament were investigated. Then, using FEM, the effects of filament specifications on the overall characteristics of the scaffold were evaluated. Results showed that both the printing process in terms of resting time and remaining time and the printing parameters like pressure, printing speed, and printing path length have influenced the filament properties. In addition, both the filament diameter and elastic modulus had significant effects on the properties of scaffold especially, a 20% increase in the filament diameter caused the scaffold compressive elastic modulus to rise by around 72%. It is concluded that the printing parameters and process must be tuned very well in fabricating scaffolds with the desired morphology and mechanical property.     

Schemes for Single Electron Transistor Based on Double Quantum Dot Islands Utilizing a Graphene Nanoscroll,Carbon Nanotube and Fullerene

The single electron transistor (SET) is a nanoscale switching device with a simple equivalent circuit. It can work very fast as it is based on the tunneling of single electrons. Its nanostructure contains a quantum dot island whose material impacts on the device operation. Carbon allotropes such as fullerene (C₆₀), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoscrolls (GNSs) can be utilized as the quantum dot island in SETs. In this study, multiple quantum dot islands such as GNS-CNT and GNS-C₆₀ are utilized in SET devices. The currents of two counterpart devices are modeled and analyzed. The impacts of important parameters such as temperature and applied gate voltage on the current of two SETs are investigated using proposed mathematical models. Moreover, the impacts of CNT length, fullerene diameter, GNS length, and GNS spiral length and number of turns on the SET’s current are explored. Additionally, the Coulomb blockade ranges (CB) of the two SETs are compared. The results reveal that the GNS-CNT SET has a lower Coulomb blockade range and a higher current than the GNS-C₆₀ SET. Their charge stability diagrams indicate that the GNS-CNT SET has smaller Coulomb diamond areas, zero-current regions, and zero-conductance regions than the GNS-C₆₀ SET.     

Synthesis of 2D Germanane (GeH): a New,Fast, and Facile Approach

Germanane (GeH), a germanium analogue of graphane, has recently attracted considerable interest because its remarkable combination of properties makes it an extremely suitable candidate to be used as 2D material for field effect devices, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis. Up to now, the synthesis of GeH has been conducted by substituting Ca by H in a β‐CaGe₂ layered Zintl phase through topochemical deintercalation in aqueous HCl. This reaction is generally slow and takes place over 6 to 14 days. The new and facile protocol presented here allows to synthesize GeH at room temperature in a significantly shorter time (a few minutes), which renders this method highly attractive for technological applications. The GeH produced with this method is highly pure and has a band gap (E_g) close to 1.4 eV, a lower value than that reported for germanane synthesized using HCl, which is promising for incorporation of GeH in solar cells.