Kinetic modeling of ZnO-rGO catalyzed degradation of methylene blue

Photodegradation of organic pollutants strongly depends on design of metal oxide semiconductor photocatalysts. Graphene, if composited with ZnO, can effectively enhance its photocatalytic performance for the eradication of pollutants from aqueous medium. Here in, ZnO-rGO is reported as highly active catalyst for degradation of methylene blue. A 200-mg/L solution of methylene blue dye was completely degraded within 1 h in comparison to 74% and 56% degradation over ZnO and rGO, respectively. The commonly used mechanisms of heterogeneous catalytic reactions, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism, and the Eley-Rideal mechanisms, were used to describe the reaction kinetics. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism was found as more favorable in this study. Apparent activation energy, E_ap, true activation energy, E_T, entropy, ΔS, and enthalpy, ΔH were calculated as 36.2 kJ/mol, 13.1 kJ/mol, 197.5 J/mol, and 23.1 kJ/mol, respectively.     

Targeting the cytochrome bc1 complex for drug development in M. tuberculosis: review

Molecular Diversity - The terminal oxidases of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway play a significant role in the survival and growth of M. tuberculosis, targeting these components lead to...     

Effect of Ag doping concentration on the electronic and optical properties of anatase TiO2: a DFT-based theoretical study

The electronic and optical properties of pure and Ag-doped anatase TiO₂ have been calculated by spin-polarized density functional theory. Ag-doped TiO₂ with different Ag doping concentrations ranging from 2.08 to 8.33 % was investigated, and the electronic and optical properties evaluated. Substitutional Ag doped at Ti sites introduced Ag 4d states just above the valence-band maximum, which may help in shifting visible-light excited electrons to the conduction band. Our results show that increasing the doping concentration will enhance visible-light absorption up to Ag doping concentration of 6.25 %; however, further increase of the doping concentration leads to a decrease in visible-light absorption. These results indicate the possibility of tailoring the band gap and optical absorption of TiO₂ doped with Ag by varying the doping concentration. The enhanced visible-light absorption for Ag-doped TiO₂ with doping concentration of 6.25 % may be due to the existence of widely distributed Ag 4d states above the valence-band maximum and the optimal doping concentration. Ag doping shifted the absorption edge of TiO₂ towards visible light, consistent with recent experimental results. Our calculation results provide a reasonable explanation for the experimental findings.     

Vasicine as tridentate ligand for enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes

The first report of natural l-vasicine as tridentate chiral ligand for the enantioselective addition of diethylzinc to a variety of aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes is described. The ligand generates R-isomer of the secondary alcohols upto 98% ee. The quinazoline structure possibly imparts rigidity to the ligand and hence, consistently high enantioselectivity. The importance of the quinazoline ring was also supported by the reaction with other related ligands, partially lacking the structural features, thus resulting in poor enantioselectivity.     

Defects-engineered tailoring of tri-doped interlinked metal-free bifunctional catalyst with lower gibbs free energy of OER/HER intermediates for overall water splitting

Controllable tailoring of metal-free/carbon-based nanostructures tends an encouraging way to enhance the bifunctional activity of electrodes, but a great challenge owing to the sluggish kinetics of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, a facile tempted-defects assisted fractionation strategy is presented to synthesize N, S, and O tri-doped metal-free catalyst (DE-TDAP). Due to this effective tempted-defects and heteroatoms interlinking in DE-TDAP, it delivers the lowest overpotential toward both the OER (346 mV) and HER (154 mV) at 10 mA cm^?2. Remarkably, the DE-TDAP-electrode carries only a cell voltage of 1.81 V at 10 mA cm^?2 for overall water splitting and long-term stability. Considerably, the density functional theory (DFT) calculation exposes that the tailored-defects in tri-doped interlinking could enhance bifunctional catalytic performance devising from lower Gibbs free energy of OER/HER intermediates on active sites. This struggle henceforth provides a perceptive understanding of the synergetic principles of heteroatom-interlinking-tailoring nanostructures in water splitting.     

Efficient barrier properties of mechanically enhanced agro-extracted cellulosic biocomposites

The objective of this work was to prepare the mechanically stable hydrophobic biocomposites by incorporating the cellulose fibers into the polymer matrices for their applications in biomedical and food packaging. Herein, two different types of biocomposites were prepared by mixing polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) with the agro-extracted cellulose, separately at 170 °C. The influence of the cellulose fibers on the thermal, mechanical, and barrier properties of polymer matrices (PLA and PHB) was observed. With an increase in the cellulose content in PLA and PHB, the tensile strength of the biocomposite materials significantly improved with the enhancement of 24.45% and 32.08%, respectively, compared with the pure PLA and PHB. Furthermore, a decrease of 74.16% and 73.49% in the water vapor transmission rate and oxygen transmission rate, respectively, was observed for cellulose/PHB biocomposites. This study highlights that adding cellulose fibers significantly improves the mechanical and the barrier properties of PLA and PHB, suggesting their biocomposites for use in biodegradable polymer industries.     

Nephroprotective Effects of Alhagi camelorum against Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rats

Alhagi camelorum (AC) is an old plant with a significant therapeutic value throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The overuse of cisplatin (Cis > 50 mg/m²) is associated with observed nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity, gastrotoxicity, myelosuppression, and allergic reactions. Remedial measures are needed for the protection of nephrotoxicity against cisplatin. Thus, we investigated the nephroprotective effects of AC plant extract to prevent cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in albino Wistar rats. The presence of polyphenols, phenolic compounds, tannins, and saponins was revealed during phytochemical investigation, and a significantly intense antioxidant activity was recorded. There were no toxicological symptoms in the treated rats, and no anatomical, physiological, or histological abnormalities were found compared to the control rats. The results of correcting cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity revealed that the extract has a significant ability to treat kidney damage, with most parameters returning to normal after only three weeks of therapy. It is concluded that co-administration of cisplatin with AC extract showed exceptional nephroprotective effects at a dose of 600 mg/kg for Cis-induced nephrotoxicity.