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Solar water evaporation technology has become one of the promising ways for seawater desalination by excellent energy capture and efficient solar-thermal conversion. However, some challenges still restrict its further industrial development, such as low flexibility, non-portability, and insufficient energy utilization, salt crystallization problems. In this work, hierarchical MoS2 nanosheets coupled with MXene (MoS2-MXene) is constructed and formed into a film with foldability and portability for solar water evaporation. Improved evaporation rate (2.5 kg m−2 h−1) is observed due to enhanced energy capture from a folded 3D solar evaporation system. Meanwhile, the outstanding evaporation performance (3.2 kg m−2 h−1) is realized because of gradient heating from a hydrophobic MoS2-MXene@PF (MoS2-MXene@Paraffin) under one sun. During the evaporation of high-concentration NaCl solution (20 wt%), the hydrophobic layer is observed to become a salt crystallization site for salt generation. After long-term and multiple testing, no salt crystallization was found at the evaporation site, maintaining a stable evaporation rate. More interesting, MoS2-MXene@PF can be also succeeded as a solar thermal pack for storing heat through the phase change material paraffin (PF). This work provides a new solution to realize excellent energy capture for solar desalination and solar thermal storage.

Background Unlimited energy demand and rapid urbane development are major deriving forces to generate bioelectricity through microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and have been a hot area for 2-decades. Various advancements have been employed to improve the MFC's efficiency through electrode and membrane materials. Methods Here, we discussed the recent innovations and developments to fabricate the electrode and membrane materials, which play a key role in bio-energy production and performance. Specifically, the morphological aspects, including pure/doped carbon-based electrodes and their large surface area, directly enhanced the oxygen reduction efficiency of MFCs. Findings The impact of organic and inorganic hybrid composite bio-polymer membranes and separators to improve the electron transfer ability and remedies for associated biofouling problems are also highlighted. Numerous enhancements to the material's physical, mechanical, and chemical properties are explored in detail to prevent biofouling issues. In addition, it highlights how the well-ordered mesopores, large surface area, and biocompatibility of MFCs directly affect their stability and performance. Finally, this review article introduces current issues with smart, feasible solutions, stability improvements, and future perspectives of MFCs and critically evaluated recent progress and developments in MFCs technology which can be useful for academic and industrial researchers.

Salt deposition still remains a significant challenge due to the decreasing evaporation efficiency of solar desalination. Herein, we provide a salt-rejection model coupled with the experimental verification about the chemical diffusion or advection process for solar steam generation. The designed evaporating system established by in-situ polymerization (polypyrrole) of carbon dots modified MnO2 nanowires coated on non-woven cotton fabric decorated ultra-flexible and super hydrophilic polyurethane foam (30% wicking). The salt-rejection investigations reveal real-time chemical advection phenomena where hot brine flows from the top surface to underneath water through a salinity gradient with the aid of accumulated heat. The prototype demonstrates an excellent salt rejection ability within a minimum record time (2 g/100 min) or once soaked (2 g/60 s). The floatable solar-driven evaporator exhibits incredible flexibility (80%, compressive strain) along with an evaporation rate of 1.68 kg m−2 h−1, and photothermal conversion efficiency (∼96.4%, solar to vapor) from high-salinity brine (10 wt %) and wastewater containing heavy metal ions (30 wt%). The outdoor test revealed a yield of 13.60 kg m−2 in one sunny day that provides a potential solution to single-step drinking water supply from various resources of the sea, lakes, and mixtures of emulsified oil, bacterial pathogens, and industrial wastewater.

Caesium based inorganic halide perovskite are promising alternatives to address the degradation issue of the organic–inorganic hybrid halide perovskites. However, high iodine content in these inorganic perovskites leads to structural instability upon exposure to moisture. In this work, the stoichiometry of CsPbI2Br perovskite is slightly tuned and its effect on structural stability and device performance is studied. Afterward, the charge transport layers are optimized to improve the charge extraction in perovskite solar cells. Finally, the device performance is further improved via interfacial modification. The optimized device yielded a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.7%.

The investigations on the role of dietary micronutrient(s), such as selenium, has recently emerged as the fixate of researchers, notably in aquaculture. Our study aimed at investigation of the impact of dietary selenium on growth and digestive enzymes (DE) activity in juvenile tilapia. Three iso-nitrogenous diets with a sequential increase of selenium doses viz. 2 (T1), 4 (T2), and 8 (T3) mg/kg of fish feed, and selenium-deficient (T4) feed were dispensed in independent treatments. The juvenile fish growth and enzyme activities showed direct links to selenium dose. The T1 illustrated significantly higher (P

Spinel Nickel cobaltite oxide (NiCo2O4) have received great interest due to its usage in several industrial applications. The motivation of the present study is to explore the usefulness of spinel Nickel cobaltite oxide as inorganic charge transporting layer for standard perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This is the first demonstration of successful use of NiCo2O4 nanoparticles as hole transporting layer (HTL) in standard PSCs with the triple cation perovskite material. The synthesis of nanoparticles was done using a facile chemical precipitation method without the use of surfactant. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by the various techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and UV–vis spectroscopy (UV–vis). The co-ordination of Ni in Co3O4 matrix, as well as M+n O bond lengths, were confirmed by the XAS studies. The standard mesoporous PSCs were fabricated by spin-coating a thin layer of NiCo2O4 (120 nm), and fabricated PSCs show an esteemed power conversion efficiency (PCE) of >14% (under standard illumination conditions) and long-term stability (under ambient condition RH = 30–40%) as compared to the spiro-based PSCs. To improve the device performance further we also fabricated the PSCs using the interfacial hole transporting layer, presenting a PCE of >16% with almost negligible hysteresis that is comparable to the normal standard PSCs based on spiro-OMeTAD as HTL. The performance of PSCs was further analysed by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), Photoluminescence (PL), Time-resolved Photoluminescence (TrPL) studies. The results showed the reduced recombination resistance in the PSCs using NiCo2O4 as well as interfacial layer. These outcomes indicate the effectiveness of NiCo2O4 interlayer for stable and highly efficient perovskite solar cells.

Currently, thermoelectric devices are receiving an immense attention from the renewable energy community due to their environment friendliness. We report a single step facile arc-melting method for developing Cu2Se thermoelectric material, which eliminates the need of expensive and time taking sintering process. The structural and thermoelectric properties measurement indicates that the proposed method is an alternative to the other reported methods for instance ball-milling followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) with a great improvement in their efficiency. Based upon the optimized power factor and decreased total thermal conductivity, a higher figure-of-merit (ZT) value of 1.46 at 873 K was obtained from the arc-melted sample which is about 70% larger than that of its counterpart prepared through ball-milling followed by SPS process. This remarkable enhancement in the ZT value through a facile synthesis method opens up an avenue for cheaper and fast processing of Cu2Se and related materials.

Current research is based on an innovative approach of the fabrication of encapsulated sustainable, green, phytogenic magnetic nanoparticles (PMNPs), to inhibit the generation of secondary pollutants (Iron/Feo) during water treatment applications. These novel bio-magnetic membrane capsules (BMMCs) were prepared using two-step titration gel crosslink method, with polyvinyl alcohol and sodium alginate matrix as the model encapsulating materials to eliminate potentially toxic metals (Pb2+ and Cd2+) from water. The development of BMMCs was characterized by FTIR, XRD, XPS, SEM, VSM, TGA and EDX techniques. The effects of various operating parameters, adsorbent dose, contact time, solution pH, temperature, initial concentration of metals cations and co-existing ions were studied. The hysteresis loops have illustrated an excellent super-paramagnetic nature, demonstrating the smooth encapsulation of PMNPs without losing their magnetic properties. The maximum monolayer adsorptive capacities estimated at pH 6.5 by the Langmuir isotherm model were 548 and 610.67 mg/g for Pb2+ and Cd2+, respectively. The novel BMMCs did not only control oxidation of PMNPs but also sustained the adsorptive removal over a wide range of pH (3–8), and the electrostatic interaction and ion-exchange were the core adsorption mechanisms. The BMMCs could easily be regenerated using 25% HNO3 as an eluent for successful usage in seven repeated cycles. Therefore, the BMMCs as a material can be used as an excellent sorbent or composite material to remove toxic metals Pb2+ and Cd2+, showing strong potential for improving water and wastewater treatment technologies.