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Pollution with oil spills, a major contributor to water contamination, has a remarkable effect on the economy, biodiversity, and environment. To protect marine species and environment, efforts should be undertaken for developing efficient ways to remove oil spills. The current work discusses the oil spill removal using magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) functionalized with hydrophobic polyethyleneimine (HPEA). In this respect, nonylphenol pentaethylenehexamine (NTEPA) and nonylphenol triethylenetetramine (NDETA) were prepared by a simple one-step method and used as capping agents in the synthesis of hydrophobically modified magnetite nanoparticles designated as NDETA/Fe3O4 (magnetite as a core and NDETA as a shell) and NTEPA/Fe3O4 (magnetite as a core and NTEPA as a shell). The prepared MNPs were characterized using FTIR, XRD, TEM, DLS, TGA, and DSA to determine their physical and chemical properties. Additionally, MNPs were applied as oil spill collectors with high efficiencies that reached 93% and 90% for NDETA/Fe3O4 and NTEPA/Fe3O4, respectively, at low magnetite to oil ratios.

The stem bark of Acacia caesia, or Senegalia caesia, richly available in the Western Ghats of Tamilnadu and Kerala, India, does potentially offer a ligno-cellulosic fiber, which was characterized i...

In the present study, combustion technique is adopted to study the impact of Mg2+ ion doping on ZnAI2O4 nanoparticles (NPs). L-arginine is used as a fuel component. The Mg2+ ions play a pivotal role in persuading various characteristics of ZnAI2O4 NPs. Various characterization technqiues such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Thermo-gravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were carried out in order to synthesize the nanoparticles. Single phase cubic spinel structure of ZnAl2O4 (gahnite) formation was confirmed from the XRD characterization process of the nanoparticles. Estimated average crystallite size range of 11.85 nm to 19.02 nm was observed from Debye-Scherrer. Spherical morphology with uniform distributions was observed from HR-SEM characterization images. From the band gap studies, the attained band gap values were found to lie within 5.41 eV–4.66 eV range. The ZnAl2O4 and Mg:ZnAl2O4 NPs exhibited super-paramagnetic nature confirmed by magnetic measurements. The obtained results make ZnAl2O 4and Mg:ZnAl2O4 NPs appropriate for various optical, catalytic, energy and data storage applications.

This work addresses manufacture, testing and simulation of foot valve lever (FVL) for monoblock pump industry, using a cost-effective casting design process. The impact of different types of sands, such as air-set, dry and sodium silicate as well as gating designs, namely H-, U- and O-type, were studied with respect to surface roughness and porosity. The mold pattern was produced using additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Both experimental and numerical investigations were performed on the temperature distribution of molten metal at random locations for the different gating configurations or designs, considering mold filling and solidification. It was evident from the experimental investigation that contribution of air-set sand and O-type gating architecture showed limited consistency effects. Importantly, gating architecture was the most influential parameter to determine all specified quality outcomes, independent of sand mold. An order of O

This study aimed to examine the integrity of two-cavity sand casting products in relation to the angular orientation of gating design. Two angular orientations of 60° and 45° were investigated experimentally and numerically and compared with the efficiency of a 90° gating system. The FLOW three-dimensional (3D) simulation was conducted to detect smooth filling and describe the pattern of molten aluminium LM4 (Al–Si5Cu3) alloy flow. From the results obtained, the turbulent flow was observed with vortex, which created a larger surface gap to allow air entrapment in molten metal. For both instances, casting discontinuities such as blow holes, pin holes, sponge shrinkage, sand inclusions, and dross were observed on the cut 2 mm machined surfaces of the moulded components with various degrees of intensity. Visual analysis, optical microscopy, ultrasonic and X-ray measurements were conducted to check the accuracy of the experimental components. All the defect detection methods depicted the fewest manufacturing defects with 45° angular orientation, which was attributed to uninterrupted flow of molten metal and low backflow strain. The component with 90° exhibited significant defects due to turbulent flow, entrapment of air bubbles, lack of mould filling, and uneven solidification. These factors consequently caused irregular cracks in the material. Therefore, practically, 45° angular orientation of gating design with two-cavity mould set-up is hereby recommended for optimum/best quality sand casting of aluminium LM4 (Al–Si5Cu3) alloy components, as required in many manufacturing companies.

Cuminol (4-Isopropylbenzyl alcohol), found in the essential oils of several plant sources, is an important constituent of several cosmetics formulations. The interaction of cuminol with model plasma protein bovine serum albumin was studied in this paper. The experimental studies were mainly carried out using fluorescence spectrophotometry aided with UV visible and CD spectroscopies. Intrinsic fluorescence measurements showed that there was a weak binding between cuminol and BSA. The mechanism of binding involved static quenching with around 1:1 binding. The binding was chiefly supported by hydrophobic forces although a little contribution of hydrogen bonding was also found in the interaction and the values of enthalpy change were negative with positive entropy change. The secondary structure of BSA didn't change significantly in presence of low concentrations of cuminol, however, partial unfolding of the former taken place when the concentration of the latter increased. Molecular docking analyses showed cuminol binds at the intersection of subdomains IIA and IIIA, i.e. its binding site is in between Sudlow sites I and II. Molecular dynamics simulations results have shown that BSA forms a stable complex with cuminol and the structure of the former didn't change much in presence of later. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Nanotechnology and materials science are highly developing sectors where several new materials are investigated. One area includes iron oxide nanoparticles with superparamagnetic behavior. Since nanomaterials are prone to be associated with high levels of intrinsic toxicity and can have adverse effects if not properly guided. So, toxic mechanisms associated with nanomaterials are like that of a therapeutic drug or any other toxic compound. In that way, by ignoring the general pathways of cell death followed by the nanomaterials, the present report covers the points to control the growth of cancer cells by employing engineered nanoparticles (NPs) to induce therapeutic toxicity. We discuss the pathways for the induction of toxicity to the cancer cells using the superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with and without surface ligands, and the ligand efficiency towards controlling toxicity is covered. Also, the therapeutic means of controlling the cancer cells, such as generating heat and releasing anticancer drugs in an externally organized manner, are also discussed. Overall, the report links the physical properties of SPIONs related to their natural or therapeutical toxicity by connecting physicochemical and toxicology principles.

This study reports the experimental and computational investigation on the binding of a common anticancer drug, gemcitabine, with the model plasma protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA). Several experimental and computational methods, such as intrinsic and synchronous fluorescence, UV-visible, and circular dichroism spectroscopies, consensus molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation have been employed to elucidate the binding mechanism. Gemcitabine altered the UV-visible spectrum of BSA, which is a clear indication of the complex formation between them. The visual inspection of observed fluorescence quenching results at λ

© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1080/10667857.2021.1915056

Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the financial support through the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSPD2023R724), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. The interaction of indomethacin with human serum albumin (HSA) has been studied here considering the primary and secondary binding sites. The Stern–Volmer plots were linear in the lower concentration range of indomethacin while a downward curvature was observed in the higher concentration range, suggesting the presence of more than one binding site for indomethacin inside HSA due to which the microenvironment of the fluorophore changed slightly and some of its fraction was not accessible to the quencher. The Stern–Volmer quenching constants (KSV) for the primary and secondary sites were calculated from the two linear portions of the Stern–Volmer plots. There was around a two-fold decrease in the quenching constants for the low-affinity site as compared to the primary binding site. The interaction takes place via a static quenching mechanism and the KSV decreases at both primary and secondary sites upon increasing the temperature. The binding constants were also evaluated, which show strong binding at the primary site and fair binding at the secondary site. The binding was thermodynamically favorable with the liberation of heat and the ordering of the system. In principle, hydrogen bonding and Van der Waals forces were involved in the binding at the primary site while the low-affinity site interacted through hydrophobic forces only. The competitive binding was also evaluated using warfarin, ibuprofen, hemin, and a warfarin + hemin combination as site markers. The binding profile remained unchanged in the presence of ibuprofen, whereas it decreased in the presence of both warfarin and hemin with a straight line in the Stern–Volmer plots. The reduction in the binding was at a maximum when both warfarin and hemin were present simultaneously with the downward curvature in the Stern–Volmer plots at higher concentrations of indomethacin. The secondary structure of HSA also changes slightly in the presence of higher concentrations of indomethacin. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed at the primary and secondary binding sites of HSA which are drug site 1 (located in the subdomain IIA of the protein) and the hemin binding site (located in subdomain IB), respectively. From the results obtained from molecular docking and MD simulation, the indomethacin molecule showed more binding affinity towards drug site 1 followed by the other two sites. publishersversion published

The present study deals with the adsorptive removal of Escherichia coli (E. coli) by making use of chitosan-silica/calcium carbonate (CS-SiO2/CaCO3) nanocomposites (NCs) where it was synthesized using the waste eggshells and rice husks occurred by natural sources. The bioadsorbent CS-SiO2/CaCO3 NCs were synthesized by incorporating eggshell-CaCO3 nanoparticles (NPs) and rice husk-SiO2 NPs in chitosan NPs solution. The adsorbents were characterized using HRTEM, BET, DLS, and TGA. The characterization of NCs revealed the formation of adsorbents in the range of 10–50 nm and some structural changes to the spectra of adsorbents before and after the adsorption of E. coli was revealed by the FTIR analysis. Moreover, the adsorption efficiency of E. coli over the adsorbents after 35 min of incubation was about 80% for CS-SiO2/CaCO3 NCs. Further, the kinetics of adsorption studies were observed to be well-fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model with an adsorption capacity of 3.18 × 101 (CFU E. coil per gram of CS-SiO2/CaCO3). From the analysis, the synthesized bioadsorbent demonstrated the potential for ameliorating the inherent risk of pathogens in water.

The present study deals with the green synthesis, physical characterization, and antibacterial activity testing of various metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) formed by making use of the star fruit ext...

Silver nanoparticles decorated on nanotubes morphology of Bismuth doped manganese oxide (Bi-MnOx) was prepared by Triton-X-100 polymer assisted precipitation process. In the second step, Ag nanoparticle with very fine particle size and graphene nanoparticle deposition by high power ultra-sonication method. Biogenic route synthesized silver nanoparticles have forms the spherical particle morphology with particle size obtained

The present work proposes an improved multi-gate designs (MGDs) in sand casting process, using both experimental and simulation (FLOW 3D) approaches, aiming to produce defect-free component. In this regard, the variant MGDs were developed and compared with the existing designs reported in the previous studies. Accordingly, the following new MGDs: side sprue serial connection (SSSC), centre sprue serial connection (CSSC), side sprue parallel connection (SSPC), centre sprue parallel connection (CSPC) and centre sprue runner extension parallel connection (CS-RE-PC) were modelled for both techniques. The experimental set-ups were developed for the aforementioned designs to study the flow behaviour of aluminium alloy and water. The validity of aluminium alloy flow characteristics in closed mould condition was checked with the water mould experimentation. The quality of the casting was examined by visual inspection, optical microscopy, ultrasonic and X-ray tests. From the results obtained, it was evident that CS-RE-PC mould set-up or design was most suitable with a runner system for four-cavity application. This design exhibited best flow rate, as a nearly defect-free casting component was produced. Comparison of the FLOW 3D simulation results with similar experimental findings provided potential opportunity to reduce both cast product rejection rate and rework, and consequently it aids enhancement of the productivity and profitability in a manufacturing/casting industry.

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is the naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite and the most studied material as a bone substituent. Considering HAP's inherent properties, this study explored changes in HAP's characteristics from doping with other metals such as Fe. To form pure HAP and Fe-HAP with different amounts of Fe, we used the hydrothermal approach, and the composites that formed were thoroughly analyzed for their crystallinity, surface bonding, morphology, magnetic behavior, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and in vitro cytotoxicity. The powder XRD studies confirmed the samples' crystallinity, and the lowest crystalline size was 19.7 nm in 10Fe-HAP. The FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of HAP by the hydroxyl, phosphate, and carbonate groups. The FESEM demonstrated that the morphology of the pure HAP was rod-shaped, which transformed into spheres after Fe doping. The EDS analysis confirmed the successful formation of HAP and Fe-HAP composites. The magnetic studies indicated the diamagnetic behavior of the pure HAP, while the Fe-doped HAPs had a superparamagnetic nature with saturation magnetizations (Ms) of 2Fe-HAP, 4Fe-HAP, and 10Fe-HAP at 0.0062, 0.0092, and 0.029 emu/g respectively. Assessment of the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and cytotoxicity indicated that the Fe-doped HAPs were superior to the pure HAP, and among the Fe-HAPs, the 10Fe-HAP) had the highest amount of Fe and the best characteristics. The studies also indicated that Ca2+ interactions influenced the cells via HAP doping with that of Fe, equally increasing the physicochemical and biological properties.

Cadmium oxide (CdO) had long been investigated for decades as prototypical wide-band-gap transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) possessing excellent n-type ability having its implications in the field of photo electronics. Despite this, there exists an uncertainty on the toxicity of CdO content during the synthesis and product retrieval which limits their use in biological applications. In this context, an approach to enhance the inbuilt properties of CdO particles by the means of loading (in coating form) with gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) to generate Au@CdO nanoconstructs (NCs) has been reported. Thus, formed Au@CdO NCs have been characterized by various spectroscopic and electron microscopic analysis for the structural, optical, and biological properties. For example, the UV–Vis spectroscopy revealed a typical λmax of CdO at 302 nm, and for the Au@CdO, a shift toward 496 nm was observed. The diffraction pattern demonstrated the crystalline phase corresponding to (1 1 1) plane with mean grain sizes of 24.9 and 30.6 nm for the CdO and Au@CdO, respectively. The FTIR and optical studies highlighted the intermolecular bonding with an increased bandgap confirming the efficient coating of Au onto CdO. The FESEM demonstrated spherical-to-elliptical-shaped anisotropic particles following the coating of CdO with Au and the grain size getting increased from 30 to 42 nm. On testing of the photocatalytic activity, we found that the Au@CdO NCs efficiently degraded the Rhodamine B dye (96% in 180 min) following the irradiation under artificial UV light. Furthermore, the Au@CdO NCs showed a significant antimicrobial effect at 80 μg/mL associated with a decline in the cell count. Alongside, the IC50 of Au@CdO against A549 and PBMC cells was fixed at 46.87 and 55.14 μg/mL, respectively. Such multifaceted Au@CdO NCs possessing optical properties might present themselves as the potential candidates for the extended photocatalytic and biomedical applications.

Novel ruthenium arene complexes of flavonoid derivatives were synthesized and characterized. The structure of complex 1 was determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Ruthenium complexes display strong DNA interactions. Zero-order relativistic approximation (ZORA) was employed for the B3LYP/DFT calculation to validate the structures of 2 and 3. Frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analysis was performed for getting a trend of DNA binding propensity of the complexes. The ruthenium complexes 1–3 were tested against pathogens, viz. Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, Chromobacterium violaceum ATCC 12472, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The ruthenium complexes exhibited potential acting as biofilm inhibitors and showed significant activity as quorum sensing inhibitors. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal microscopy visualized biofilm inhibition, and a substantial reduction in microcolonies was observed. Furthermore, essential quorum sensing (QS) regulated functions that play a crucial role in biofilm formation were also studied, i.e., exopolysaccharide (EPS) production and swarming motility. A significant reduction was recorded at the tested sub-MICs.

© 2020 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Natural Fibers on 06/12/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/15440478.2020.1848743.

Ruthenium and copper nanoparticles were incorporated into MCM-41-like mesoporous silica via a fast sol-gel method at 80 °C using rice husk ash (RHA) as the silica source. The physico-chemical characterization of the synthesized materials was carried out using various analytical techniques. The X-ray diffraction results indicated that the mesoporous silica synthesized in this study had the standard MCM-41 structure. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results showed that ruthenium and copper ions were successfully incorporated into the hexagonal framework of the mesoporous materials. The transmission electron microscopy results revealed that the RHA-MCM-41, MCM-41-10Ru, and MCM-41-10Ru10Cu samples consisted of ordered mesoporous straight channels. MCM-41-10Cu consisted of copper nanospheres. MCM-41-10Ru and MCM-41-10Ru10Cu showed ruthenium nanoparticle agglomerates distributed on their external MCM-41 framework surfaces. In the case of MCM-41-10Cu and MCM-41-10Ru10Cu, copper ions were homogeneously dispersed on the internal surface of the agglomerated porous silica matrix. The as-prepared Ru- and Cu-doped MCM-41 catalyst was used for the acetylation of glycerol. The catalyst showed a high conversion of 98% and high shape selectivity towards the formation of diacetin and triacetin unlike conventional silica-based catalysts, which show selectivity towards the formation of monoacetin.

Catalytic degradation of organic water pollutants has emerged as a cost- and energy-effective technique to treat wastewater. In this work, new silver and magnetite nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared with a protic poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) based on a quaternized diethylethanolamine cation combined with 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate-co-vinylpyrrolidone (QAMPSA/VP) as a capping and a reducing agent. The morphology, particle size, surface charge, thermal stability, and magnetic properties of QAMPS/VP-Ag and Fe3O4 NPs were investigated to determine the efficiency of the PIL as a reducing and a capping agent to protect the produced NPs from oxidation or thermal degradation. The activation energy, enthalpy, and entropy of the catalytic degradation of the cationic methylene blue (MB) dye in the presence of QAMPS/VP-Ag and Fe3O4 NPs were determined. The data elucidated that MB was completely degraded in 8 min in the presence of QAMPS/VP-Fe3O4 NPs as a Fenton oxidation catalyst. Moreover, their good magnetic properties allowed their easy separation and reuse for five cycles without losing their magnetic or catalytic properties.

Nano cobalt and porous zinc–cobalt oxide particles were synthesized using the concept of coordination compounds of the type [M(II)L,L′] (where M(II) = Co(II) & Zn(II) L= 4-hydroxy benzaldehyde and L′ = piperazine) and were thoroughly characterized. Because the precursors are coordination compounds possessing specific geometry in the crystal lattice, uniform and appropriately sized homo- and heterometallic nanocrystals of Co3O4 and ZnO·Co3O4 were obtained after a thermal process. The homo and hetero composite particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT IR spectroscopy and electrochemistry. The paramagnetic chemical shift of the methyl protons in DMSO due to the nanoparticles was studied by NMR spectroscopy, which indicated that the cobalt particles were ferromagnetic. The structural design modification and surface area of Co3O4 was improved by adding the ZnO component. DFT calculations were done to validate the nano structure. Supercapacitance ability of the nanoparticles was studied by cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical calculations were performed to determine the microelectronic characteristics of the material. The specific capacitance was estimated at 207.3 and 51.1 F g−1 for the ZnO·Co3O4 and Co3O4 electrodes, respectively. Clearly, ZnO·Co3O4 exhibited a much higher specific capacitance than the Co3O4 nanocrystal, which was attributed to better conductivity and higher surface area. The capacitance activity showed multifold enhancement due to the porous nature of Zn oxide in the heterometallic nano ZnO·Co3O4 composite.

In this study, an electrochemical DNA biosensor was developed based on the fabrication of silicon nanowires/platinum nanoparticles (SiNWs/PtNPs) on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) for the detection of Sus scrofa mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in food utilizing a new hybrid indicator, ferrocenylnaphthalene diimide (FND). The morphology and elemental composition of the SiNWs/PtNPs-modified SPCE was analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to study the electrical contact between the PtNPs and the screen-printed working electrode through SiNWs, while electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to measure the charge transfer resistance of the modified electrode. The results clearly showed that the SiNWs/PtNPs were successfully coated onto the electrode and the effective surface area for the SiNWs/PtNPs-modified SPCE was increased 16.8 times as compared with that of the bare SPCE. Differential pulse voltammetry used for the detection of porcine DNA with FND as an intercalator confirmed its specific binding to the double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) sequences. The developed biosensor showed a selective response towards complementary target DNA and was able to distinguish non-complementary and mismatched DNA oligonucleotides. The SiNWs/PtNPs-modified SPCE that was fortified with DNA hybridization demonstrated good linearity in the range of 3 × 10−9 M to 3 × 10−5 M (R2 = 0.96) with a detection limit of 2.4 × 10−9 M. A cross-reactivity study against various types of meat and processed food showed good reliability for porcine samples.

A new series of lanthanum(III) complexes was synthesized using a p-anisidine-appended 1-hydroxy-2-acetonapthanone (3) Schiff base and characterized via spectroscopic methods. The ligand was synthesized via sonication and the crystalline product was characterized using X-ray crystallography. The genotoxicity of the compound was assessed primarily by the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) test and the in vitro mammalian chromosome aberration test; in both cases, the samarium complex 5 was found to be non-mutagenic. The anti-tumor activity of complexes 4, 5, and 6 was assayed against HeLa tumor cells and screened using the MTT assay. The IC50 value of complex 5 was found to be 34 ± 1.2 μg mL−1 and this compound exhibited superior activity towards the cells compared to 4 and 6. These results were further confirmed by Hoechst 33258 staining and AO/EI dual staining, which indicated that the cells underwent an apoptosis mechanism in a dose-dependent manner. The apoptosis was further confirmed by the formation of ladders in the DNA fragmentation assay, and the western blot analysis of complex 5 suggested that the cells underwent the caspase-3-dependent pathway with PARP cleavage. Furthermore, the docking studies of complex 5 with HSA showed that it was situated in a hydrophilic cavity held by the electrostatic attraction of four hydrogen-bonding interactions. PDB ID:1BNA binds with complex 5 via strong π–π stacking interactions, which facilitate binding with the major grooves of DNA strands. The above-mentioned results illustrate that for complex 5, mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis occurs via caspase-3 activation. Complex 5 binds with DNA via intercalation because of S-phase cell cycle arrest in the HeLa cells.

In this work, nanospherical hydroxyapatite (HAP) was prepared that has combined properties of controlled drug delivery, biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity to have applications in the biomedical sector. The composite was formed by the sintering of HAP in the presence of Gum acacia (GA) as an emulsifier (at 600 °C) and the composite's physical properties like nucleation, size, shape, crystallinity, and surface area were characterized using spectroscopic, electron microscopic and BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller) studies. Typical results of the FTIR study revealed the presence of characteristic phosphate and carbonate groups of HAP and XRD provided the mean crystallite size of GA-HAP in the range of 20–50 nm. The electron micrograph of GA-HAP showed nanorods with a smooth surface interspersed in GA with particle size

The uncertainties in ZnO-mediated toxicity and particle stability in a biological system remain a challenge and mitigate against deployment as next-generation nanoparticles (NPs), especially in biomedical applications. With that perspective, the present study investigates the surface chemical properties of ZnO NPs coated with three different surfactant biomolecules, namely polyethylene glycol (PEG), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to control the toxicity-induced potentials. On the testing of the surface-functionalized ZnO NPs, notable changes in the particle sizes, morphology, zeta potential, and hydrodynamic size compared to the pure ZnO NPs are observed. In addition, FTIR spectroscopy, TGA, XRD, XPS, and HRTEM analysis showed significant changes in the surface structures and surface functional groups of the three different ZnO NPs on surface functionalization. Following the physical characterization, the cell viability of rat liver BRL-3A-treated ZnO–PEG, ZnO–CTAB, and ZnO–SDS compared to pure ZnO NPs ( ZnO–CTAB > ZnO–PEG, i.e., anionic > cationic > non-ionic. Overall from the analysis, the study stresses the importance of having a suitable surface ligand for the ZnO NPs so as to use them in the biomedical sector.

New magnetic silica imidazolium ionic liquid nanocomposites were synthesized by a sol–gel technique. The (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTS) was condensed with glyoxal and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde in acetic acid to produce an amino-modified silica ionic liquid (Si-IIL). The APTS was condensed with TEOS in ethanol and water to prepare amino-modified SiO2 nanoparticles. The produced amino-modified SiO2 silica was condensed with glyoxal and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde in acetic acid to produce chemically bonded silica SiO2-IIL. The SiO2-IIL and Si-IIL were used as capping agents during and after the formation of magnetite nanoparticles in ammonia to produce magnetic SiO2-IIL-Fe3O4 and Fe3O4-Si-IIL adsorbents, respectively. Their chemical structure, morphology, crystalline lattice structure, surface charges, particle sizes, and magnetic characteristics elucidated the formation of core–shell and highly dispersed magnetic nanocomposites. The saturation magnetization values of Fe3O4-Si-IIL and SiO2-IIL-Fe3O4 were 35.3 and 30.8, respectively. The uniform dispersed disconnected spherical morphologies appeared for Fe3O4-Si-IIL hybrid and the core–shell spherical morphology obtained with SiO2-IIL-Fe3O4 hybrid NPs. The Fe3O4-Si-IIL and SiO2-IIL-Fe3O4 show an excellent high chemical adsorption capacities as 460.3 and 300.9 mg·g–1, respectively (not reported in the literature) when used as an adsorbent to remove CB-R250 water pollutant under optimum conditions. Their applicability and reusability as fast and highly effective adsorbents for Coomassie blue (CB-R250) organic water pollutants were investigated.

The present work investigates the mechanical strengths retention and prediction of maximum service life of sets of laminated composites by analyzing their diffusion coefficients and activation energies, using Fick’s law and Arrhenius principle. Jute fiber woven mat reinforced epoxy laminated composites (JFMRLCs) were prepared by simple hand lay-up and compression molding methods. The layering patterns of 0º balanced laminate of [0º/0º/0º/0º/0º], 30º angle-ply laminate of [0º/+30º/0º/-30º/0º] and 45° angle-ply laminate of [0°/+45°/0°/-45°/0°] were used to prepare the composite samples, according to classical laminated plate theory (CLPT). The composites were immersed in water at different periods of 10, 20, 30 and 40 days aging. The effects of the various periods of aging on their mechanical properties were studied. The results showed that the weights of the composite samples increased by increasing the aging periods. The mechanical properties of aged (wet) composites were compared with the unaged (dry) counterparts to predict their strengths retention. The composite with 45° layering pattern exhibited the maximum strength retention. Also, the same composite sample with layering pattern of 45° produced the maximum activation energy, based on Arrhenius principle. The tensile fractured surfaces were analyzed to investigate into their fiber-matrix interfacial bonds through images obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Summarily, it was evident that optimum JFMRLCs with layering pattern of 45° exhibited best mechanical properties. Hence, they can act as suitable, sustainable, low cost and environmentally friendly composite materials for structural marine and other related engineering applications.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were isolated from Decidua Basalis (DB) and studied for their final cellular product measures, such as safety, purity, quality, quantity, and integrity that are ascribed as cellular products. This research aimed to isolate MSCs for expansion under the clinical scale level with potency, secretion of cytokines, growth factors secreted by DB-MSCs, and their role in wound healing. Placentas isolated from DB were expanded up to the 10th passage, and their characteristics were assessed by phenotypic characterization using a flow cytometer and analyzed for trilineage differentiation by cytochemical staining. Growth factors (GF), interleukins (IL), chemokines, and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) were measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The harvested cells from the placenta yield 1.63–2.45 × 104cells/cm2 at P(0), 3.66–5.31 × 104cells/cm2 at P(1), 4.01–5.47 × 104cells/cm2 at P(2), and 3.94–5.60 × 104cells/cm2 at P(10) accordingly; up to 4.74 × 109 P(2) DB-MSCs were harvested within 9–11 days. The viability of the freshly harvested cells was greater than 90% in all cases. It is able to differentiate into chondrocytes, adipocytes, and osteogenic cells, proving their ability to differentiate into a trilineage. Thus, this study put an insight into a secure and conventional approach toward their ability to differentiate into multiple lineages and secrete factors related to immune regulation, making DB-MSCs a potential source in various therapeutic applications.

This current study proposed a new computationally efficient and comparatively accurate algorithm for calculating both static and dynamic coefficients of friction from high-frequency data. Its scope embraced an application in a real-time friction-based system, such as active braking safety systems in automobile industries. The signal sources were from a heavy-duty reciprocating dry sliding wear test platform, focused on experimental data related to friction induced by stick-slip phenomena. The test specimen was a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-coated basalt/vinyl ester composite material, tested at a large scale. The algorithm was primarily aimed to provide scalability for processing significantly large tribological data in a real-time. Besides a computational efficiency, the proposed method adopted to evaluate both static and dynamic coefficients of friction using the statistical approach exhibited a greater accuracy and reliability when compared with the extant models. The result showed that the proposed method reduced the computation time of processing and reduced the variation of the absolute values of both static and dynamic frictions. However, the variation of dynamic friction was later increased at a particular threshold, based on the test duration.

Background The primary role of bone tissue engineering is to reconcile the damaged bones and facilitate the speedy recovery of the injured bones. Whilst, some of the investigated metallic implants suffer from stress-shielding, palpability, biocompatibility, etc. Consequently, the biodegradable scaffolds fabricated from polymers have gathered much attention from researchers and thus helped the tissue engineering sector by providing many alternative materials whose functionality is similar to that of natural bones. Material and methods Herein, we present the fabrication and testing of a novel composite, magnesium (Mg)-doped hydroxyapatite (HAp) glazed onto polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds where polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) used as a binder. For the composite formation, Creality Ender-3 pro High Precision 3D Printer with Shape tool 3D Technology on an FSD machine operated by Catia design software was employed. The composite has been characterized for the crystallinity (XRD), surface functionality (FTIR), morphology (FESEM), biocompatibility (hemolytic and protein absorption), and mechanical properties (stress-strain and maximum compressive strength). Results The powdered XRD analysis confirmed the semicrystalline nature and intact structure of HAp even after doping with Mg, while FTIR studies for the successful formation of Mg-HAp/PVA@PLA composite. The FESEM provided analysis indicated for the 3D porous architecture and well-defined morphology to efficiently transport the nutrients, and the biocompatibility studies are supporting that the composite is blood compatible with the surface being suitable enough for the protein absorption. Finally, the composite's antibacterial activity (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) and the test of mechanical properties supported for the enhanced inhibition of active growth of microorganisms and maximum compressive strength, respectively. Conclusion Based on the research outcomes of biocompatibility, antibacterial activity, and mechanical resistance, the fabricated Mg-HAp/PVA@PLA composite suits well as a promising biomaterial platform for orthopedic applications by functioning towards the open reduction internal fixation of bone fractures and internal repairs.

Aerospace and automobile industries are facing challenges in developing lightweight materials with high corrosion and wear resistance. The magnesium (Mg) alloys are superior to their monolithics, as they have maximum strength-to-weight ratio. These challenges can be solved with application of Mg-based hybrid composites. Therefore, this study investigated the hybridizing effect of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) reinforcement on tribological performance of magnesium–boron carbide (Mg–B4C) hybrid composites, fabricated by powder metallurgy technique. Wear tests under dry sliding condition were carried out on the prepared composite samples with different proportions/weight percentage (wt%), using a pin-on-disc apparatus. Mg, MoS2, B4C and their various composites were characterized, using X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The experiments were conducted using L27 orthogonal array with five factors at three levels that affected the tribological performance. The wear resistance of the hybrid Mg–B4C–MoS2 composites significantly increased when compared with Mg–B4C and Mg–MoS2 composites, due to the refined effect of both reinforcements. Analysis of variance and grey-relational analysis result showed that increase in MoS2, sliding distance (DSl) and load (LSl) significantly influenced the tribological performance of the hybrid composites. Mg–10wt%B4C–5wt%MoS2 exhibited significant best improvement on the multi-response tribological performance. The optimum quantity of MoS2 reinforcement was around 7 wt%. Beyond this threshold proportion, wear was significantly increased, due to the agglomeration of MoS2 particles. Hardness of the composites increased with hybridized reinforcements. SEM micrographs depicted the homogeneous dispersion of reinforcements in the Mg matrix. Also, SEM micrographs of the worn surfaces confirmed that delamination wear mechanism was dominant on the Mg hybrid composites.

The monitoring of chemical and antibiotic residues like amoxicillin, penicillin, tetracycline, and vancomycin in the food originating from the animal and plant sources can prevent the humans from getting exposed to the antibiotic-induced allergic reactions and also decreased immunity towards the microbial population. By taking into consideration the necessity of developing effective and sensitive techniques for milk containing Penicillin G antibiotics in an easy and cost-effective mode, the present work deals with the electrochemical sensor made up of nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs). In order to enhance the chemical stability and biocompatibility, the NiNPs were crosslinked with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and the formed composite was thoroughly characterized using the physical characterization techniques. In addition, the qualitative analysis results confirmed the nanocomposite’s synergetic effect towards the oxidation of Penicillin G. Further, the quantitative analysis towards the use of a nanocomposite electrode due to the changes in pH, scan rate, accumulation time and potential, nanoparticle (NP) amount, etc. was optimized. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation of Penicillin G with this composite were detected to be 0.00031 μM and 0.00100 μM, respectively. Overall, from the results, it can be indicated that the fabricated NiNP sensor can find its applications as a potential electrode material for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of Penicillin G in liquid samples.

Two new amphiphilic ionic liquids (AILs) were synthesized through the opening reaction of the epoxy ring of glycidyl 4-nonylphenyl ether (GNE) using ethanol amine (EA), followed by quaternization u...

Rutile phase of titanium oxide and platinum nanoparticle decorated rutile titania is prepared by a surfactant free hydrothermal process in acidic condition. The pure rutile phase of TiO2 particle is forms the specific cauliflower morphology. Hydrothermal process in presence of specific acid addition led to the formation of cauli-flower shaped rutile phase of titania. The efficiency and solar assisted photo catalytic ability of these materials are tested for methylene blue degradation as well as hydrogen generation by methanol reforming process. The X-ray diffraction of pattern of pure rutile phase formation is confirmed by reported JCPDS data. The surface physico-chemical property of prepared rutile Titania is further characterized by BET, Raman and SEM analysis. The HR-TEM of the prepared samples show the reduced particle size for rutile titania and studied their morphology in detail. Solar light assisted methylene blue degradation reaction was carrying out to study the catalytic efficiency towards dye degradation and kinetic activity of the same for prepared commercial titania and pure rutile TiO2. The platinum loaded and photo deposited rutile Titania is further analyzed for hydrogen production reaction by methanol reforming process. The rate of hydrogen evolution on platinum nanoparticle photo deposited on reforming process shows more than 900 μmol/g compared to pristine rutile titania catalysts.

Herein, we have reported a simple sonochemical synthesis of multi-layer graphene covered tungsten trioxide nanoballs (WO3 NBs) and the nanocomposite was characterized by FESEM, HRTEM, XRD, XPS, CV and EIS. Furthermore, progesterone (PGT) is a preferred marker for various biological problems like pregnancy problem, mood swings, anxiety, depression, nervousness and body pain. Therefore, its selective and sensitive determination in various biological fluids is beneficial for the evaluation of malformation problems. We describe the fabrication of an amperometric and non-enzymatic biosensor based on WO3 NBs@GR nanocomposite modified electrode for nanomolar detection of PGT. The results showed that the nanocomposite modified electrode exhibit well-defined electro-oxidation peak compared to bare and control electrodes, demonstrating the superior electrocatalytic ability and performances. The fabricated modified sensor was facilitates the analysis of PGT in the concentration ranges of 0.025–1792.5 µM with a low detection limit of 4.28 nM. Further, the as-prepared WO3 NBs@GR electrode has been applied to determination of PGT in human blood samples with outstanding recovery results and more importantly, the facile and environment-friendly sonochemical construction strategy extended here, may be open a cost-effective way for setting up the nanocomposites based (bio) sensing platform.

In continuation to our earlier work on nickel (Ni)-arsenate (As) composite, the current work deals with the electrical conductivity and mechanical resistivity of the same composite by means of its further reinforcement with the polylactic acid (PLA) polymer. For the PLA-Ni-As composite, we understand from the electrochemical studies that the conductivity is strongly influenced by the temperature and due to the presence of external electrolyte. The DC electrical conductivity approach used for the temperature dependency provided the information that the conductivity falls in the semiconductor zone ranging at 10−3 S cm−1, thereby indicating that it followed the Arrhenius equation. In addition, we found in terms of the mechanical properties that the PLA-Ni-As composite outperformed the plain, untreated Ni-As composite by reducing the activation energy. For the mechanical resistivity studies we found that the 25% PLA-loaded Ni-As material significantly improved the tensile strength and modulus, elongation at break %, impact properties and also the flexural strength and modulus as against the plain and other combinations due to enhanced interfacial interactions. The cell viability and proliferations studies tested against two different cell lines provided the information that the presence of polymer reduces the toxic response of arsenic material. From the cumulative analysis therefore, we indicate that the PLA-Ni-As composite can be a potential candidate to find its uses in the electrochemical and solar cells, in addition to automotive and aerospace industry.

In this paper, perovskite-type SrTiO3 nanocubes decorated reduced graphene oxide is synthesized by sonochemical method. The as-synthesized SrTiO3@RGO nanocomposite was confirmed by XRD, TEM, SEM, elemental mapping and electrochemical technique. Furthermore, surface morphological and X-ray diffraction studies revealed the formation and high loading of SrTiO3 nanocubes on reduced graphene oxide matrix. The SrTiO3@RGO nanocomposite modified electrode shows an excellent electrochemical detection towards of amino acid (tryptophan). The developed sensor was showed a wide linear range from 30 nM to 917.3 µM and detection limit is 7.15 nM. Furthermore, the sensitivity was calculated to be 9.11 µA µM−1 cm2. In addition, the proposed modified sensor is exhibited good selectivity, stability, reproducibility and repeatability. The SrTiO3@RGO catalyst modified electrode was successfully applied to tryptophan analysis in biological samples.

In this study, we studied the DNA extraction capability of poly(4,4′-cyclohexylidene bisphenol oxalate) following the surface modification and composite formation with that of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The physical characterization techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed for the poly(bisphenol Z oxalate)-MCC-magnetite composite during different stages of its formation. The results confirmed the successful modification of the polymer surface. On testing in the presence of three types of binding buffers, a high value of 72.4% (out of 10,000 ng/μL) efficiency with a total yield of DNA at 2×106 ng and absorbance ratio of A260/A280 (1.980) was observed for the 2 M GuHCl/EtOH binding buffer. These results were compared against the other two buffers of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and NaCl. The lowest value of DNA extraction efficiency at 8125 ng/μL of 58.845% with absorbance ratios of A260/A280 (1.818) for PBS was also observed. The study has concluded an enhancement in the DNA extraction efficiency when the polymer is in the composite stage along with cellulose and magnetite particles as compared against the bare polymer.

The different type of halide modified mesoporous silica catalysts were prepared via post-grafting technique using meso-silica derived from rich husk by simple sol-gel method. The physico chemical characterizations of as prepared catalysts were characterized using FT-IR, N2-sorption-desorption study, 13C CP/MAS NMR and SEM techniques. FT-IR and 13C CP/MAS NMR revealed the effective anchorage of imidazole and 1,2-dihaloethane on the MCM-41. SEM analysis images shows the comprise worm-like agglomerated structure which was similar to MCM-41. The catalysts were then used in cycloaddition of carbon dioxide and phenyl glycidyl ether under solvent free or less conditions. Among the prepared catalyst, Br-immobilized MCM-41 shows higher catalytic activity (96.7%) under ambient reaction by adopting following conditions such as 100 °C, 20 bar initial CO2 pressure, 300 mg catalyst mass and 3 h. The conversion of phenyl glycidyl ether using ImI-MCM-41 and ImCl-MCM-41 are 77.3% and 26.4% respectively. The catalytic results are confirmed that the synergistic effect owing to the stronger nucleophilicity of bromide− and amine could be promoted the reaction smoothly. The catalyst was recovered and reused for four times without a significant decrease in activity or product selectivity. A possible site for CO2 activation by ImBr-MCM-41 catalyst could be the potential ionic liquid mimic's halide immobilized MCM-41 like material for efficient conversion of the substrates such as phenyl glycidyl ether and Epoxy hexane for cycloaddition reactions have been demonstrated.