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Removal of methyl iodide (CH 3 I) from the air present within nuclear facilities is a critical issue. In case of any nuclear accident, there is a great need to mitigate the radioactive organic iodide immediately as it accumulates in human bodies, causing severe consequences. Current research focuses on removing organic iodides, for which the surface of activated carbon (AC) was modified by impregnating it with different metals individually, i.e. Ag, Ni, Zn, Cu and with the novel combination of these four metals (AZNC). After the impregnation of metals, triethylenediamine (TEDA) was coated on metal impregnated activated carbon (IAC) surface. The adsorption capacity of the combination of four metals IAC was found to be 276 mg/g as the maximum for the trapping of CH 3 I. Whereas TEDA-metal impregnation on ACs enhanced the removal efficiency of CH 3 I up to 352 mg/g. After impregnation, adsorption capacity of AZNC and AZNCT is significantly higher as compared to AC. According to the finding, t 5% of AZNCT IAC is 46 min, which is considerably higher than the t 5% of other tested adsorbents. According to isotherm fitting data, Langmuir isotherm was found superior for describing CH 3 I sorption onto AC and IACs. Kinetics study shows that pseudo second order model represented the sorption of CH 3 I more accurately than the pseudo first order. Thermodynamic studies gave negative value of ΔG which shows that the reaction is spontaneous in nature. Based on the findings, AZNCT IAC appears to have a great potential for air purification applications in order to obtain clean environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd) is a common toxic trace element found in agricultural soils which is mainly due to anthropogenic activities. Cadmium posed a significant risk to humans all around the world due to its cancer-causing ability. The current study demonstrated the effects of soil-applied biochar (BC) and foliar-applied titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) (at a rate of 0.5% and 75 mg/L respectively) alone or in combination on growth and Cd accumulation in wheat plants under field experiment. Soil applied BC and foliar TiO 2 NPs, as well as BC coupled with TiO 2 NPs, reduced Cd contents in grains by 32%, 47%, and 79%, than control respectively. The usage of NPs and BC boosted the plant height as well as chlorophyll contents by lowering oxidative injury and changing selected antioxidant enzyme activities in leaves than control plants. The combined use of NPs and BC prevented excess Cd accumulation in grains over the critical level (0.2 mg/kg) for cereals. The health risk index (HRI) due to Cd was reduced by 79% by co-composted BC + TiO 2 NPs treatment than control. Although, HRI was lower than one for all treatments but this may exceed the limit if grains obtained from such field consumed over long periods. In conclusion, TiO 2 NPs and BC amendments can be implemented in fields across the globe where excess Cd is present in soils. Additional studies on the use of such approaches in more precise experimental settings are needed in order to address this environmental problem at larger scale., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Nanoparticles (NPs) preparation using a green as well as environmentally acceptable processes has achieved a lot of attention in recent decade. The current study compared the synthesis of titania (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles synthesized from leaf extracts of two plant species (Trianthema portulacastrum, Chenopodium quinoa) and traditional approach by chemical preparation. The effects of no calcination on the physical characteristics of TiO 2 NPs as well as their antifungal effects were examined and compared with the already reported calcinated TiO 2 NPs. The produced TiO 2 NPs were evaluated using high-tech techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), and elemental mapping. TiO 2 NPs prepared by sol-gel technique (T1) and prepared from extractions from leaves of T. portulacastrum (T2), and C. quinoa (T3) were either calcinated or non calcinated and tested against fungal disease (Ustilago tritici) of wheat for antifungal efficacy. The -peak (2θ) at 25.3 was confirmed by XRD to be connected with the anatase (101) form in both cases but before calcination, NPs were lacking the rutile and brookite peaks. The results showed that all types of TiO 2 NPs examined had good antifungal activity against U. tritici, but those made from C. quinoa plant extract have good antifungal activity against disease. TiO 2 NPs which are produced by the green methods (T2, T3) have the highest antifungal activity (58%, 57% respectively), while minimal activity (19%) was recorded when NPs were synthesized using the sol-gel method (T1) with 25 μl/mL. Non calcinated TiO 2 NPs have less antifungal potential than calcined TiO 2 NPs. It can be concluded that calcination may be preferred for efficient antifungal activity when using titania nanoparticles. The green technology may be used on a larger scale with less damaging TiO 2 NP production and can be utilized against fungal disease on wheat crop to reduce crop losses worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)