Field emission investigation of single Fe-doped SnO2 wire

Tin oxide submicronwires doped with Fe element were prepared by the thermal evaporation method. Morphological and structural characterizations revealed wires with sub micron size and crystalline in nature. The field electron emission from the single Fe:SnO₂ wire was carried out in conventional field emission microscope. The Fowler–Nordheim plot obtained from I–V characteristics of the wire showed a linear behavior typical that of metal. The field enhancement factor estimated from the slope of the F–N plot is 7455 cm^?1, indicating that the field emission is from nanometric features of the emitter. A current density of 10 A/cm² has been obtained at an applied field of 4.845 × 10³ V/μm. The field emission current–time record at a current level of 1 μA for more than 3 h duration is promising for various field emissions based applications.     

A novel route of synthesis of WS2 thin film and its characterization

WS₂ thin films have been deposited by chemical deposition technique using citric acid as a complexing agent at 343 K. X-ray pattern shows that crystalline nature with hexagonal- and orthorhombic-mixed phase. The films show that good optical properties high absorption and band gap value was found to be 1.31 eV. The specific conductivity of the film was found to be in order of 10⁻³ (Ω cm)⁻¹.     

Bismuth-Oxide-Decorated Graphene Oxide Hybrids for Catalytic and Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2

Global warming challenges are fueling the demand to develop an efficient catalytic system for the reduction of CO₂, which would contribute significantly to the control of climate change. Herein, as-synthesized bismuthoxide-decorated graphene oxide (Bi₂O₃@GO) was used as an electro/thermal catalyst for CO₂ reduction. Bi₂O₃@GO is found to be distributed uniformly, as confirmed by scanning electron and transmission electron microscopic analysis. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows that the Bi₂O₃ has a β-phase with 23.4 m² g⁻¹ BET surface area. Significantly, the D and G bands from Raman spectroscopic analysis and their intensity ratio (I_D/I_G) reveal the increment in defective sites on GO after surface decoration. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) analysis shows clear signals for Bi, C, and O, along with their oxidation states. An ultra-low onset potential (−0.534 V vs. RHE) for the reduction of CO₂ on Bi₂O₃@GO is achieved. Furthermore, potential-dependent (−0.534, −0.734, and −0.934 vs. RHE) bulk electrolysis of CO₂ to formate provides Faradaic efficiencies (FE) of approximately 39.72, 61.48, and 83.00 %, respectively. Additionally, in time-dependent electrolysis at a potential of −0.934 versus RHE for 3 and 5 h, the observed FEs are around 84.20 % and 87.17 % respectively. This catalyst is also used for the thermal reduction of CO₂ to formate. It is shown that the thermal reduction provides a path for industrial applications, as this catalyst converts a large amount of CO₂ to formate (10 mm ).     

Treatment feasibility of highly alkaline and highly radioactive liquid waste—a novel approach

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Typical Radioactive liquid waste with high alkalinity, high concentration of solvent degradation products along with high 134+137Cs content was...     

Metal free oxidative CC bond cleavage: Facile and one-pot tandem synthesis of benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxides

An interesting protocol for the synthesis of benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxides through iodine-catalyzed one-pot dehomologative oxidation of styrenes and readily available 2-aminobenzenesulfonamide has been developed. Diverse benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxides were prepared using I₂ as a catalyst, TBHP as an oxidant and Na₂CO₃ as a base. This reliable, metal and ligand free conversion involves dehomologation of styrene to aromatic aldehyde which on subsequent cyclisation affords benzothiadiazine-1,1-dioxides in good yield.     

Transition metal free one pot synthesis of aryl carboxylic acids via dehomologative oxidation of styrenes

Iodine/NaOH-catalyzed one-pot dehomologative oxidation of styrenes to aryl carboxylic acids has been reported. A wide range of carboxylic acids are obtained using iodine (I₂) as a catalyst, tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) as an oxidant and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as a base. This reliable conversion involves dehomologation of styrene to aromatic aldehyde which on subsequent oxidation affords aryl carboxylic acid. This protocol was used for gram-scale synthesis as it is free from chromatographic purification. This is the first report for the oxidative transformation of styrenes into aryl carboxylic acids under transition metal-free conditions.     

Study of the structural phase transformation,and optical behavior of the as synthesized ZnO–SnO2–TiO2 nanocomposite

Bulk nanocomposites ZnO–SnO₂–TiO₂ were synthesized by solid-state reaction method. The X-ray diffraction patterns and Raman spectra of bulk nanocomposite as a function of sintering temperature (700 °C–1300 °C) indicate that the structural phases of SnO₂ and TiO₂ depend on the sintering temperature while the ZnO retains its hexagonal wurtzite phase at all sintering temperatures and SnO₂ started to transform into SnO at 900 °C and completely converted into SnO at 1100 °C, whereas the titanium dioxide (TiO₂) exhibits its most stable phase such as rutile at low sintering temperature (≤900°C) and it transforms partially into brookite phase at high sintering temperature (≥ 900 °C). The optical band gap of nanocomposite ZnO–SnO₂–TiO₂ sintered at 700 °C, 900 °C, 1100 °C and 1300 °C for 16 hours is calculated using the transformed diffuse reflectance ultra violet visible near infra red (UV–VisNIR) spectra and has been found to be 3.28, 3.29, 3.31 and 3.32 eV, respectively.     

Nanostructured tungsten oxide thin films by the reactive pulsed laser deposition technique

Preparation of nanostructured tungsten oxide thin films using the reactive pulsed laser ablation technique is reported. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of deposited films are systematically studied by changing the ambient oxygen pressure (pO₂). Structural dependence of tungsten oxide films on ambient oxygen pressure is discussed using grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) and micro-Raman spectra. The section analysis using atomic force microscopy exposed the smooth surface features of the deposited films. The blue shift in optical bandgap with an increase in ambient oxygen pressure is expounded in terms of electronic band structure of tungsten oxide. The influence of oxygen pressure on optical constants like extinction coefficient, band edge sharpness, refractive index and optical bandgap is also conveyed. The temperature variation of electrical resistance for films deposited at 0.12 mbar furnishes evidence for its semiconducting nature. PACS 68.55-a; 72.80.Ga; 81.15.Fg; 81.07.Bc; 78.68.+m; 78.20.Ci     

Studying the interaction of alpha-gal carbohydrate antigen and proteins by quartz-crystal microbalance

The interaction of alpha-galacosyl antigen and its binding protein (anti-Gal antibody) has been studied by quartz crystal microbalance through a SAM immobilization technique which overcomes the nonspecific interactions and molecule trapping for current piezoelectric biosensors.