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The investigation of the graphene (GN) performance in improving mechanical properties of recycled polypropylene with crosslinkedpolyaniline (rPP-g-PANI) was prepared via ultrasound extrusion. The concentration of GN in the research was varied from 0.5 to 3 phr, while polyaniline (PANI) and dycumil peroxide(DCP) were fixed at 4 wt. % and 1 phr loading, respectively. The morphological structure of the nanocomposites was investigated using fill emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and confirmed a good dispersion of PANI and GN on rPP matrix. The increasing loading of GN has promoted a slight improvement in tensile modulus and tensile strength at 1.5 and 2 phr of GN loadings, respectively. However elongation at break showed a decrease at all PANI loadings due to lack of interfacial addition between PANI/GN particles and the rPP matrix.

Although the world is turning to renewables as a clean alternative source of energy, reliance on oil is expected to continue for more decades. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is an efficient way to recover oil after implementing initial methods. Alkali–surfactant–polymer flooding (ASP) has acquired much interest together with nano-fluid that involves using nano metallic oxides in EOR. Nanoparticles have proved their effectiveness in reducing interfacial tension at the interface between the oil and water and have been used with water, polymers, surfactants, alkaline, or a mixture of these components. Incremental oil recovery from applying ASP floods has exceeded 20% OOIP, and this is considered promising performance for unlocking oil reserves for many years to come. Despite that, ASP flooding nowadays faces big challenges presented by fluctuating oil prices, scaling and corrosion of the lifting system, and the formation of relatively strong emulsions that need high-cost treatment after oil production. This review emphasizes ASP flooding and the ASP flooding and the implementation of nanoparticles in extracting more oil using different chemical agents and sheds light on improving the recovery ratio. This study also explains the challenges that face each process and the steps that should be taken in order to overcome these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polypyrrole (PPy) has unique features such as easy synthesis, environmental stability, and high electrical conductivity (approximately 105 S/cm and even >380 S/cm) for bulk and thin‐film materials. Thus, PPy is applied in numerous well‐established applications, such as in sensors, supercapacitors, and resonators. These applications take advantage of the unique properties achieved through the structure and properties of PPy. This article comprehensively elaborates the methods used to synthesize conductive PPy, along with the important factors affecting its conductivity. Emphasis is given to versatile and basic approaches that enable control of the microstructural features that eventually determine PPy conductivity. Despite the intensive research in this area, no previous study has presented all possible relevant information about PPy fabrication and the important factors influencing its electrical conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel sonochemical method has been applied to prepare Polyaniline (PANI) from aniline monomers. PANI was synthesized via ultrasonic irradiation (U.I) by varying the sonication (reaction) time. Surface morphology and electrical conductivity were studied using FESEM and Four-probe conductivity meter and structural properties were examined using FT-IR and UV-VIS. The presence of characteristic bonds of PANI was observed from FTIR spectroscopy technique. The findings of this study reveal the importance of sonication time in shaping the morphology, particle sizes and electrical conductivity of the PANI. The morphology of the generated PANI indicated granular structure. On the other hand, the electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite increased up to 1.78 S/cm at 30 min of sonication and then decreased with further increase in sonication time. Sonochemical synthesis route is a multifaceted technique using which nanostructured materials with different physical and chemical characteristics can by produced. This can be achieved by just varying the treatment condition (e.g., ultrasonic irradiation time, amplitude, temperature) during sonication. Therefore, this study provides the optimized sonication time for PANI synthesis. The output of this research clearly shows that, ultrasonication is a one of the fast, versatile, emerging, and promising non-destructive green technology which still needs to be understood completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, pharmaceutical compound has been detected in small concentration in our surface and ground water. This detection raises a lot of concern as is it reported that pharmaceutical compound can bring adverse effect to the environment even at low concentration. Besides that, there is a growing fear that this compound will eventually end up in human drinking water, thus effecting human health. This prompt a lot of research on the removal method for this particular compound. Adsorption is seen as the most viable option because of its high efficiency, low cost and it is environmentally friendly. In this study, the adsorbent used is carbon black derived from tyre waste via pyrolysis at 800 °C. The carbon black was treated with 6 M of nitric acid (HNO3) at 90 °C for 0.5 h before being subjected to thermal treatment at 600 °C for 1 h. The response of the adsorption study is the removal of aspirin. There were five adsorption parameters that were varied in this study which are the contact time (until equilibrium), initial pH of aspirin solution (pH 3, pH 7, pH 11), temperature (30, 50, 70 °C), initial concentration (10-100 mg/L) and adsorbent dosage (0.1 g, 0.5 g, 1.0 g). The best removal capacity obtained was 40.40 mg/g of aspirin at pH 3, temperature of 30 °C, 100 mg/L initial concentration and 0.02 g adsorbent dosage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work was aimed at evaluating the characteristics of activated carbons derived from rubber seed shell through physical activation using CO2 for phenol removal. Two activated carbons were obtained at different retention times of 30 min (AC1) and 90 min (AC2) at fixed temperature of 900 °C. Activated carbons were characterized for specific surface area, surface functional groups and morphology. The values of specific surface area were recorded as 852 m²/g and 606 m²/g for AC2 and AC1. AC2 shows a higher phenol removal capacity of 302 mg/g than AC1 (112 mg/g) that is directly related to the specific surface area of activated carbons. The equilibrium data fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm, suggesting monolayer coverage of phenol molecules on the homogeneous surface of activated carbons. The kinetics data obeyed pseudo-first-order model, indicating the external diffusion as the rate-limiting step in adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]