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3-Nitro-4-hydroxy-phenylarsonic acid (NHPA) as a veterinary drug can degraded into highly toxic inorganic arsenic and will be harmful to environment and food safety. Nanocomposites for the uptake of NHPA were obtained by efficiently immobilizing the nano-sized zirconium oxide onto hazelnut shell-based activated carbon using pyrolysis method. We found that the pyrolysis temperature played a crucial role in the adsorptive performances of the nanocomposites. The prepared nanocomposite at pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C with a mass ratio of ZrOCl 2 /activated carbon of 1:3 exhibited a fast adsorption equilibrium for NHPA within 5 min, excellent adsorption capacity of 825.7 mg g -1 and the higher adsorption capacity with the increase in temperature from 20 to 45 °C across a pH range of 4-6. 90% of the NHPA uptake was sustained in the NaNO 3 solution of 0.7 mol L -1 . The adsorption data were well simulated by the Langmuir and pseudo-second order equations. Thermodynamic parameters suggested that the uptake of the NHPA occurred spontaneously (ΔG 0 <0) with an endothermic characteristic (ΔH 0 >0). A synergetic effect of electrostatic attraction, As-O-Zr surface coordination and π-π interaction is the main adsorption mechanism of the nanocomposites for the removal of the NHPA., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this work, ZnO nanorod/Cu2O composite nanostructure solar cells were prepared using hydrothermal growth and electrodeposition. The CdS layer was added between ZnO and Cu2O to suppress carrier reverse recombination. Nondestructive interface deposition methods were employed to prepare CdS and Cu2O functional layers. The CdS layers were unconventionally deposited in non-alkaline solution, which can inhibit etching on the ZnO surface, and Cu2O layers were electrodeposited in ZnO-buffered alkaline solution which can also inhibit etching on the ZnO surface. Finally, the performance of solar cells was improved by adding a highly resistive CdS intermediate layer between ZnO and Cu2O layers. This work demonstrated the nondestructive interface approach of chemical solution deposition of functional layers on ZnO and possibilities for further improvements to the performance of Cu2O-based nanostructure solar cells with the addition of an intermediated layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]