Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Euphorbia milii leaf constituents: Characterization and improved photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under natural sunlight

A facile biosynthesis route was followed to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using Euphorbia milii (E. milii) leaf constituents. The SEM images exhibited presence of spherical ZnO NPs and the corresponding TEM images disclosed monodisperse nature of the ZnO NPs with diameter ranges between 12 and 20 nm. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis revealed that the ZnO NPs have specific surface area of 20.46 m²/g with pore diameter of 2 nm–10 nm and pore volume of 0.908 cm³/g. The EDAX spectrum exemplified the existence of Zn and O elements and non-appearance of impurities that confirmed pristine nature of the ZnO NPs. The XRD pattern indicated crystalline peaks corresponding to hexagonal wurtzite structured ZnO with an average crystallite size of 16.11 nm. The FTIR spectrum displayed strong absorption bands at 512 and 534 cm^?1 related to ZnO. The photocatalytic action of ZnO NPs exhibited noteworthy degradation of methylene blue dye under natural sunlight illumination. The maximum degradation efficiency achieved was 98.17% at an illumination period of 50 min. The reusability study proved considerable photostability of the ZnO NPs during photocatalytic experiments. These findings suggest that the E. milii leaf constituents can be utilized as suitable biological source to synthesis ZnO NPs for photocatalytic applications.     

Synthesis and characterization of polyaniline doped with organic acids

Spectroscopic [UV–visible and Fourier transform IR (FTIR)] and thermal properties of chemically synthesized polyanilines are found to be affected by varying the protonation media (acetic, citric, oxalic, and tartaric acid). The optical spectra show the presence of a greater fraction of fully oxidized insulating pernigraniline phase in polyaniline doped with acetic acid. In contrast, the selectivity in the formation of the conducting phase is higher in oxalic acid as a protonic acid media. The FTIR spectra of these polymers reveal a higher ratio of the relative intensities of the quinoid to benzenoid ring modes in acetic acid doped polyaniline. Scanning electron micrographs revealed a sponge‐like structure derived from the aggregation of the small granules in acetic acid and oxalic acid doped polyaniline. A three‐step decomposition pattern is observed in all the polymers, regardless of the protonic acid used for the doping. The second step loss related to the loss of dopant is found to be higher in the oxalic acid doped polymer. In accordance with these results the conductivity is also found to be higher in oxalic acid doped material. The temperature dependent conductivity measurements show the thermal activated behavior in all the polymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 2043–2049, 2004     

EPR studies of a molybdenyl complex in single crystals of NH4Cl

Electron paramagnetic resonance of [MoOCl₅]^2? has been studied in single crystals of NH₄Cl. At room temperature the interaction of the unpaired electron with both the even and odd isotopes of molybdenum has been observed. The existence of metal-halogen π bonding is established by the observation of the ligand superhyperfine interaction at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Various possible models corresponding to the different spatial configurations of the molybdenyl complex in the lattice are considered to explain the experimentally observed features. The spectra are analysed using the usual spin-hamiltonian corresponding to tetragonal symmetry. The spin-hamiltonian parameters obtained are: g_∥ = 1.964, g_? = 1.945, A_∥ = 75.53 × 10^?4 cm^?1, A_⊥ = 38.42 × 10^?4 cm^?1.     

Low Reynolds Number Interactions between Colloidal Particles near the Entrance to a Cylindrical Pore

The interaction between stable colloidal particles arriving at a pore entrance was studied using a numerical method for the case where the particle size is smaller than but of the same order as the pore size. The numerical method was adapted from a front-tracking technique developed for studying incompressible, multifluid flow by S. O. Unverdi and G. Tryggvason (J. Comp. Phys. 100, 25, 1992). The method is based on the finite difference solution of Navier-Stokes equation on a stationary, structured, Cartesian grid and the explicit representation of the particle-liquid interface using an unstructured grid that moves through the stationary grid. The simulations are in two dimensions, considering both deformable and nondeformable particles, and include interparticle colloidal interactions. The interparticle and particle-pore hydrodynamic interactions, which are very difficult to determine using existing analytical and semi-numerical, semi-analytical techniques in microhydrodynamics, are naturally accounted for in our numerical method and need not be explicity determined. Two- and three-particle motion toward a pore has been considered in our simulations. The simulations demonstrate how the competition between hydrodynamic forces and colloidal forces acting on particles dictate their flow behavior near the pore entrance. The predicted dependence of the particle flow behavior on the flow velocity and the ratio of pore size to particle size are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations of V. Ramachandran and H. S. Fogler (J. Fluid Mech. 385, 129, 1999). Copyright 2000 Academic Press.