Search

Metals and metal oxide-based nanocomposites play a significant role over the control of microbes. In this study, antibacterial activity of iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanocomposites based on induction furnace (IF) steel slag has been carried out. IF steel slag is an industrial by-product generated from secondary steel manufacturing process and has various metal oxides which includes Al2O3 (7.89%), MnO (5.06), CaO (1.49%) and specifically Fe2O3 (14.30%) in higher content along with metalloid SiO2 (66.42). Antibacterial activity of iron oxide nanocomposites has been revealed on bacterial species such as Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Micrococcus luteus has undergone maximum zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 12 mm for 10 mg/mL concentration of steel slag iron oxide nanocomposite. Growth inhibitory kinetics of bacterial species has been studied using ELISA microplate reader at 660 nm by varying the concentration of steel slag iron oxide nanocomposites. The results illustrate that IF steel slag is a potential material and can be utilized in building materials to increase the resistance against biodeterioration. Graphic abstract

This work confers a widespread survey on the recent developments in Signed, Unsigned Truncated Multiplier, considering various aspects such as modeling, simulation tools and applications especially in signal processing and image processing, highlighting the future directions. Applications such as audio and signal processing, SDR and so on, based on the signal processing and image processing in the recent years of development of technology can function with high efficacy in performance and greatly compactable in terms of area. There could be more signal noises and fluctuations in the digital signal processing applications which use all types of gadgets. Besides, these applications occupy larger areas in VLSI implementation due to the arithmetic operation of Adders and Multiplier design. This survey paper gives a complete roadmap to design an efficient truncated multiplier which can be useful for both signed and unsigned operations. Finally provides a complete roadmap for truncated multiplier for signal processing applications.

Cognitive Radio (CR) Network is a backbone for the 5G cellular Networks and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) user identification at low power levels is a biggest task CR. Detection of UAV user is more difficult than the stable or fixed user. In the available literature various authors proposed their research with single detection algorithms low power levels as well as concatenation of two or three detection methods. To estimate the user presence the existing detection methods proposed with covariance based approach at static or predefined threshold power levels. In this paper, the authors proposed a novel Aninath computation detection algorithm to estimate the threshold dynamically with inverse covariance approach to improve the Probability of Detection (P ) and mitigate the Probability of false alarm (P ) and Probability of miss detection (P ) at low power levels. D fa md

The changes in power quality are very quick and a difficult task to know under power networks. Most of the power quality issues are observed in interconnected networks due to different sources of power generation can be attributed to temporary faults and sudden loading conditions. The Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) provide one of the fastest controls of reactive and active power through a multi bus system. The Static Var Compensator (SVC) is one of the FACTS controllers with reasonably good features. Operating with multi terminal systems, when incorporating with FACTS devices are very complex in power systems which needs effective and detailed study, particularly for fault identification. The present research work explores the analysis of wavelet multiresolution with the usage of the mother wavelet Bior1.5 for different Power Quality problems are presented to evaluate the analysis of a 5-bus network. In this work different power quality issues are tested during different faulty conditions and when sudden load of 50 MW injecting in to the line conditions and the performance and effectiveness is analysed in the environment of SVC. The effectiveness of wavelets is useful to find out the fault in under different fault conditions as well as under sudden loading conditions.

Technology deployed in an eco-friendly and a user-centric approach affords an expedient means of augmenting the livelihood of people. Remote outlying areas in India face high discrepancies of income, evidenced by the prudent application of applied technology. The present study, uses the tenets of Human Centered Design, to investigate the application of technology towards addressing the challenges of income disparities in a remote tribal village of Kerala, South India. Primary data was collected to assess the natural resources, the current income generating activities, and the experience of the villagers in order to find ways to improve their livelihood. A cost-effective sustainable Cardamom dryer is proposed as an incremental technical solution to improve the process of cardamom farming, which was found central in the villagers’ livelihood..

The undoped and terbium (Tb)-doped SnO2 thin films are coated on the glass substrates using the nebulized spray pyrolysis (NSP) technique. The crystallite size is calculated using the Williamson-Hall method and is found to be decreased from 80 to 56 nm with the increase of Tb doping concentration. Atomic force microscope (AFM) images show the spheroidal shape of the grains. The elemental analysis of the samples was investigated by energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX). An increase in absorbance and decrease in bandgap values provide more photon absorption which enhances the photocatalytic reaction. The PL studies reveal the creation of more defect levels by doping which provides more active sites for catalyzed reactions. The Tb doping with SnO2 improved the rate constant about 0.015/min, and a maximum photocatalytic dye degradation efficiency of 85% against methylene blue dye was observed. Therefore, the fabricated films found potential applications for photocatalysis that enable them to chemical industries.

Nickel Oxide (NiO) based thin films have drawn widespread attention in optoelectronics applications because of their superior optical and electrical properties. Herein, the effect of Bi doping on the microstructure, phase evolution, composition, electrical and optical properties of NiO thin films are reported. Bi-doped NiO (0–7.5 %) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by the cost-effective spin coating technique. The X-ray diffraction studies showed that the undoped and 2.5 % Bi-doped films develop cubic structure and 5.0 % and 7.5 % of Bi doped films formed an amorphous nature. A systematic decrease in the grain size as well as surface roughness with Bi doping was noticed through AFM analysis. The films are highly transparent (80 %) and the optical band gap increases from 3.45 eV for undoped NiO to 3.99 eV for 7.5 % Bi-doped NiO thin film. The nonlinear optical susceptibility values are found to be in the range of 0.034 × 10-11 to 2.72 × 10-11 esu.

This work reports on structural, electrical, optical, and photosensing properties of La and Zn co-doped CdO thin films. The co-doped CdO thin films were prepared on glass slides using the nebulizer spray method at 400 °C. From the structural analysis, a decrease in the crystallite size from 17 to 14 nm is observed against the incorporation of La in CdO:Zn. Inclusion of La in CdO:Zn has also changed the surface morphology with a reduction in the roughness of the thin film samples. EDX analysis confirmed the incorporation of La with CdO: Zn in the prepared films. The bandgap value of the prepared samples increases with the rise in La dopant concentration. A 1.5 wt% of La co-doped with CdO:Zn thin film sample produces low resistivity of 0.68 Ωcm and a better figure of merit of 8.4 × 10 −4 Ω-1. Finally, the fabricated photodetector with 1.5 wt% of La co-doped with CdO:Zn thin film shows a higher photocurrent and an ideality factor value of 3.4. The photosensing properties of the fabricated (p-Si/CdO–Zn–La (1.5%)) photodetector shows a higher responsivity (R) value of 1.18 AW-1, specific detectivity (D*) value of 4.90 × 109 Jones, and external quantum efficiency (EQE) value of 274% with 3.0 mW/cm2 light intensity. The switching characteristics of the photodetector show a faster rise time (2.9s) and fall time (3.6s) suggesting the fabricated device is also suitable for photosensing applications.

This work reports the changes in the properties of Ag-doped SnS thin films (SnS:Ag), and CdS/SnS solar cells with an Ag dopant concentration in the absorber varied from 0 to 6 wt.% in steps of 3 wt.% prepared by the nebulizer-assisted spray pyrolysis method (NSP). X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirm the SnS:Ag (3 wt.%) thin film has a higher crystallite size than the undoped and SnS:Ag (6 wt.%) thin film. An atomic force microscope (AFM) image shows SnS:Ag (3 wt.%) film possesses larger-sized grains than other samples. The energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) confirms the presence of the constituent elements in the SnS:Ag thin films. PL analysis revealed the films possess the band edge as well as the other defect-related emissions of SnS. The Ag doping facilitates the tunability in absorption and decreases in optical bandgap for the SnS:Ag (3 wt.%) film. Hall measurements provide the low resistivity of 3.31 Ωcm, the high charge carrier concentration of 1.56 × 1017 cm−3, and high mobility of 12.1 cm2 V−1 s−1 for 3 wt.% Ag-doped SnS film. The better photovoltaic conversion efficiency of 0.285% was observed for the device prepared with SnS:Ag (3 wt.%) thin film compared to other samples due to enhanced absorption, optimum bandgap, and better electrical properties.

As interconnected power system transmission line systems are more complex in evaluating system performance, and adding FACTS devices in the power system requires more attention in the analysis. Nowadays FACTS devices play a major role in improving the performance of transmission lines. The evaluation of dynamic behavior during transient conditions is becoming a great difficulty, particularly, for larger networks. Wavelet analysis will give the entire system performance at any part of the system. This paper mainly concentrates on fault detection and its classification of multiterminal networks. It also gives a critical evaluation of nine zones of performance under different fault conditions. Wavelet-based analysis in the presence of UPFC (unified power flow controller) by using Bior 1.5 has been performed. The performance of multiterminal transmission networks with and without controllers under different fault conditions has been estimated.

With the advanced growth in the Internet and social networking technologies, a massive amount of comments are being generated on the Web at each and every second. In the age of big data, mining the sentiments and emotion classification using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques gained significant interest to properly understand the opinion of the public. This paper presents a new hyperparameter tuned bi-directional long short term memory (Bi-LSTM) using differential evolution (DE) model called DE-BiLSTM for the emotion with intensity based sentiment classification in Twitter data. The hyperparameters of Bi-LSTM namely batch size and number of hidden layers are determined by means of differential evolution algorithm (DE). The proposed method initially undergoes preprocessing is several stages like word to feature vector conversion and feature extraction process takes place. Finally, a softmax based classification process is carried out to identify the different intensities with diverse classes that exist in the tweets. The validation of the DE-BiLSTM model is carried out against SEMEVAL2018 Task-1Emotion Intensity Ordinal Classification dataset. The simulation results indicated that the DE-BiLSTM model has outperformed the other methods with an average precision of 93.83%, recall of 90.41%, F-measure of 91.76% and accuracy of 96.42%.

The extraction of maximum power from solar photovoltaic (PV) is important for the performance improvement of the system. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are used to meet the above objective. In recent years, some control techniques along with MPPT are being investigated to further enhance the performance of the system. Among these control methods, a sliding mode control (SMC) technique is integrated to the power converter along with classical MPPT methods like perturb and observe (PO). In this paper, we compare the voltage level, power output and voltage tracking of the system with and without SMC. The system is modelled and simulated in the MATLAB/Simulink. The SMC gives fast convergence to the MPPT to track the reference voltage and gives maximum power output without much oscillation.

Sol–gel-assisted spin coating technique has been employed to deposit Ce-doped cadmium oxide films (CdO) thin films on a glass substrate. Structural analysis carried out by XRD revealed that the films are polycrystalline and crystallize in a cubic structure. The preferential directions for the CdO growth are (2 0 0), and (2 1 0) and doping of Ce ions inhibits the growth. In addition to XRD, Raman analysis also supports the crystalline phase with no impurities. Using the Kramers–Kronig relations, the dispersion relation is evaluated from which the refractive index and the absorption coefficient were derived. The deposited doped and pure CdO films are highly transparent. The energy gap values of pure and doped CdO films are in the range of 2.2–4.2 eV, making them suitable for optoelectronic applications. The lower values of ‘n’ and ‘k’ are making the films most significant. The dielectric constant and nonlinear optical properties showed an increasing tendency on doping Ce ions into CdO films.

Reversible structures are very prominent designs in recent trends. Because it gives less power consumption and area. As R launderer said if it use reversible circuits, then KTln2 power does not dissipate from the circuit in the form of heat. If there is no heat dissipation, energy will not be lost from the circuit. And another advantage of reversibility is, any input or output signal can be obtained at any stage. In this paper, some sequential circuits are designed using reversible logic. In reversible logic, the main problem is garbage outputs. By these garbage outputs, the delay constrains are increased. So in this paper, circuits are designed with fewer garbage outputs i.e., having less delay. Here in this paper, flip-flops, counters, and LFSR are designed using reversible logic with fewer garbage outputs. The designs are constructed using Verilog HDL in RTL style. The results are simulated using Xilinx ISE 14.7.

Binary metallic sponges comprising of nickel–cobalt (NiCo) hydroxide/oxide composites are prepared using a simple pyrolysis method by employing cyanocobalamin as a new sacrificial template. Subsequently these highly porous materials are demonstrated as an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under alkaline conditions. Structure, morphology and porosity of these materials are controlled through thermal oxidation between 200 and 600 °C and the resultant materials are designated as NiCo-200, NiCo-400 and NiCo-600 respectively. Among the different materials studied in this work, NiCo-200 exhibits better electrocatalytic behaviour for OER with a lower overpotential of 420 mV for obtaining a current density of 10 mA/cm2 along with a turnover frequency value of 0.0234 s−1. The observed higher electrocatalytic activity is attributed to the presence of hydrophilic surface, enriched pores and crystalline nature of NiCo-200. Further the stability studies carried out under alkaline medium at a fixed current density of 20 mA/cm2 showed that both NiCo-200 and NiCo-600 displayed a good stability and retain OER characteristics for a longer duration. Finally our results clearly show that the binary metallic hydroxide/oxide sponges could potentially act as a new class of electrocatalyst in energy conversion devices mainly for alkaline water electrolysis. Highly porous, binary Ni–Co metallic hydroxide/oxide sponges are prepared through a novel route using cyanocobalamin as a sacrificial bio-source. Structure, morphology and porosity of these metallic sponges are controlled by temperature. Further these cost-effective materials are explored as electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction associated with alkaline water electrolysis.

One of the methods to achieve wireless power reception is using electromagnetic radiation with rectenna. Rectenna is a combination of an antenna and rectifier. The antenna is used to receive RF/Microwave signal and the rectifier is used to convert the received RF/Microwave signal into DC signal. A 1X4 rectangular patch antenna array is proposed for receiving microwave signal for wireless power reception application. In this work, the antenna array is designed on a 0.254 mm thick Rogers 5880 substrate at 10 GHz frequency and the simulation is carried-out using ADS software. The corporate feed 1:4 power divider network is used to feed the signal from source to individual antenna element. The inter-element spacing of the array is 0.75λ.The antenna parameters such as return loss, gain, directivity, efficiency, polarization, half power beam width and 3D radiation pattern are obtained for single patch and 1X4 patch antenna array. &nbsp

Novel nebulizer spray pyrolysis method was used to prepare erbium (Er) and fluorine co-doped tin oxide (FTO) films with doping concentration (0.5, 1, 1.5 wt.%). The effect of Er on FTO were analyzed by various characterization tools. XRD studies revealed tetragonal crystal structure with polycrystalline nature and crystallize size decreasing with Er concentration. AFM studies confirmed the smoothness of the films. Photoluminescence study revealed the emission peaks in UV and visible region. Transmittance, carrier concentration and carrier mobility are more in case of 1.5 wt.% doping concentration confirms the prepared films are opting for optoelectronic devices.

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin films are widely used for various devices applications. Here, we report on the development of nanostructured CdS and Na-CdS thin films with enhanced optical and emission properties using an inexpensive deposition method. High quality Na-CdS nanocrystalline films were fabricated using spin coating method on glass substrates with different doping concentration (1–4 wt%). X-ray diffraction studies of the prepared films reveal a cubic zinc blende structure. The crystallites sizes of the films were found to be about ~ 5–11 nm and significantly increase with increasing Na doping concentrations. Morphological imaging of the grown films shows spherical nano-size grains in the range of 9–27 nm. The nanocrystalline films show high transmittance (~ 85%) in the visible region and was found to increase with increasing Na doping content. Room temperature photoluminescence (RTPL) spectra of the films reveal a direct band to band transition with enormous amount of enhancement in near band emission (NBE) up to 400% for the films doped with 1 and 2 wt% Na concentrations which is about ten times higher as compared with pure CdS films. A good improvement was also observed with Na doping in the linear and third order nonlinear optical properties of the films. The reported results in the current study show the high potential of Na-doped CdS films as candidates for low cost high performance optoelectronic devices.

A single section branch line coupler is proposed for performing Mixer operation in wireless communication and Radar applications. The branch line coupler is a type of qudrature hybrid coupler. In this work, it is designed on a 1.6 mm thick FR4 substrate at 1 GHz frequency and the simulation is carried-out in schematic and layout levels using Advanced Design System software. The scattering parameters are analyzed in the frequency range 0.5 GHz to 1.5 GHz for the excitation of four ports and the scattering matrix is obtained at 1 GHz designed frequency. The coupling factor, isolation and directivity are calculated from the scattering parameters.

Nanostructured NiO thin films are fabricated with various concentrations of Fe through a simple spin-coating route and studied for its possible nonlinear optoelectronic applications. The grown films are of good crystallinity grown along (111) plane with single phase of NiO approved by X-ray analysis. The crystallite size values were calculated and noticed to be reduced from 36 to 8 nm with increasing Fe-doping content. Furthermore, FT-Raman spectroscopy also confirmed single phase. EDX approves the presence of Ni, O and Fe in final films and SEM elemental mapping shows homogeneous doping of Fe throughout the NiO films. AFM topographic study reveals the grain size and roughness varies with increase of Fe contents into NiO. The optical study reveals that the grown films are of high transparency which is about 70–85%. The estimation of various optical parameters was done, and direct energy gap found in 3.60 to 3.64 eV region for 0.0, 1, 2.5 and 5 wt% Fe:NiO films, correspondingly. The nonlinear properties were investigated and the values of $${\chi }^{1}, { \chi }^{3}$$, and $${n}_{2}$$ were found to be improved from 0.16 to 0.54, 1.3 × 10–13 to 1.25 × 10–11 esu and 2.67 × 10–12 to 1.70 × 10–10 esu, respectively. The enhancement in linear and nonlinear parameters owing to Fe-doping content makes the fabricated films more useful in optoelectronics.

An azobenzene derivative containing a dimethylchlorosilane end group was chemically attached to a flexible polymer substrate to create permanent photo alignment layer. The commercially obtained polymer substrate (overhead projector film) was characterised and found to contain cellulose acetate as the main component. Surface functionalization of the substrate was confirmed through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, water contact angle (CA) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Photo-isomerisation behaviour of the azo-layer on the polymer substrate was additionally confirmed by UV-diffuse reflection spectroscopy (UV-DRS). Further, the azo-modified flexible substrate was analysed for the orientation of the bulk liquid crystal (LC) sample and tuning the LC orientation by utilising photo-switching behaviour of the azo-layer on the substrate.

Manufacturing industry is facing problem with selection of proper materials for automotive applications. In this review, a new material geopolymer introduced and compared with other materials. This material had few advantages like lightweight material, which has capacity to replace materials like Ordinary Portland Cements (OPC). Geopolymer material can withstand heavy impact loads and high compression strength. In this review an overview of sandwich materials over the composite materials has been reviewed.

In an Internal combustion engine muffler or a silencer (muffler is an American word whereas silencer is used in British English; both meaning the same) is used for decreasing noise. The exhaust gas at high temperature produces high sound, a part of automotive system which acts as a noise deadening device. Today no Exhaust systems in an automobile come without a muffler. The loudness of sound is reduced by this acoustic device. These devices were invented to reduce the level of noise pollution that was increasing with the increase in number of vehicles on the road and with increase in the industrial demand the noise pollution was on very high note. These devices were introduced as strict emission regulations were brought in at all parts of the world regarding these noise pollutions. Presently review has focused on different types of mufflers, defects without mufflers; noise pollution and how numerical analysis is covered. By the research it has been analyzed the uses and the way of analysis done on a muffler.

Metal-doped tin oxide is gathering interest in the field of energy storage and power supply devices, particularly in supercapacitors applications. In the present study, we adopt a hydrothermal method to synthesis SnO2, Zn-SnO2, Ag-SnO2 nanoparticles at suitable conditions of temperature, pH, reaction time, and capping agents (CTAB). SnO2, Zn-SnO2, Ag-SnO2 nanoparticles were synthesized at 160 °C for 12 h and characterized by employing X-ray Diffraction to confirm the regular crystalline formation with tetragonal structure. Initial analyses by employing CV and GCD results exhibited specific capacitance of 308.2 Ag−1 for Ag-SnO2 nanoparticles at current density 0.5 A/g and can be considered as suitable candidate as positive electrode for supercapacitor device applications.

Herein, we report the detailed optoelectronic characteristics of low cost fabricated pristine and 1, 5, 10, and 15 wt% Mg-doped ZnO films on the FTO substrate (MZO/FTO) through the spin coating technique. High crystallinity and single phase of the film were confirmed by X-ray diffraction investigation. The average crystallite size was in the range of 46–78 nm. Homogeneous distribution of Mg doping in ZnO was approved by elemental mapping analysis. The fiber-like surface morphology was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy analysis. Optical transparency was observed in the range of 40–80% for the fabricated films. The optical band gaps for direct and indirect transitions obtained from Tauc’s relation are in the range of 3.103–3.283 eV and 2.423–2.968 eV, respectively. It is also observed that the energy gap of MZO films decreases with an increase in Mg doping from 1 to 15%. The respective stable values of absorption and refractive indices are obtained in the range of ∼0.036–0.088 and ∼1.71–2.1. The linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities as well as the nonlinear refractive index values were calculated. Additionally, Z-scan measurement was carried out at 532 nm wavelength. The nonlinear absorption coefficient and the imaginary part of third-order nonlinear susceptibility were estimated and corresponding values are obtained in the range of 0.35–123 (×10−5) cm/W and 0.084–29.7 (×10−8) e.s.u., respectively. Moreover, the optical limiting threshold values were obtained in the range of 2.57–6.34 kJ/cm2. The MZO/FTO films are showing strong optical limiting behavior compared to pristine. The output results suggest that MZO films are better contenders for optoelectronic applications.

NiO/NiSnO3 nanocomposite synthesis was accomplished by a hydrothermal method. The role of polyvinylpyrrolidone and experimental parameters in the configuration of NiO/NiSnO3 nanocomposite was studied by employing standard characterization techniques. Electrochemical properties were demonstrated by adopting cyclic voltammetry, electro-impedance spectra and galvanostatic charging and discharging studies. All the obtained products have contact resistance Rct of 0.72 Ω at low frequency arising from the resistance between the working electrode and the electrolyte. The NiO/NiSnO3 nanocomposite superior properties may arise from nanosized rod morphology due to their inherent properties having a significant impact on their electrochemical properties. The specific capacitance for RSA3 can be estimated as 524 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g.

In the present work, V2O5 films were deposited by hydrothermal method at 230 °C for the deposition time of 4 h and 8 h and then annealed at 500 °C for 1 h and 2 h. X-ray diffraction pattern of the films deposited at 230 °C (4 h and 8 h) and annealed at 500 °C (1 h and 2 h) show orthorhombic system of V2O5. Further, scanning electron microscope images confirmed the growth of nanorods and microspheres formed with ring pattern containing nanorods. The average visible transmittance of the films deposited for a period of 4 h and annealed at 500 °C for 1 h and 2 h showed relatively high transmittance. The optical band gap of the deposited films is in the 2.34–2.46 eV range. The film prepared at 230 °C for 4 h and annealed at 500 °C for 1 h and 2 h showed relatively high carrier concentration and low resistivity and the film annealed at 500 °C for 1 h showed relatively high redox peak current density and diffusion coefficient when compared to the values of other films.

A UV and visible light responsive binary phase TiO2 coupled NiTiO3 nanocomposites were prepared by a facile co-precipitation method followed by calcination at elevated temperatures. The phase structure, morphology and optical properties of the nanocomposite were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, HRTEM, UV–vis DRS, EIS and Raman spectra. XRD and Raman spectrum shows that between 650 °C and 850 °C, a phase transition takes place. FE-SEM and TEM analysis revealed that during the synthesis, growth of cylindrical shaped amorphous NiTiO3 took place and upon calcinations; it transforms into highly crystalline interlinked chain type morphology. A noticeable three distinct optical transitions corresponding to 3.1, 2.5 and 2.27 eV were observed by UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS). The TiO2/NiTiO3 nanocomposite was used for Tetracycline and RhB photodegradation, and photocatalytic water splitting activity under UV–vis light irradiation. The results of this study showed that the nanocomposites calcined at 750 °C exhibit significantly higher photocatalytic degradation and water splitting activity. Based on the experimental results, an n-n heterojunction charge carrier transfer and separation mechanism is proposed.

Facile one pot synthesis of pure and Hg2+ (= 0.101 nm) doped PbI2 (Pb2+ = 0.133 nm) single crystalline nanoplates (NPs), nanosheets (NSs) and nanorods (NRs) were achieved through chemical route at room temperature. The single phase and high quality of the synthesized NPs, NSs and NRs was proved by X-ray diffraction and FT-Raman spectroscopic analyses. The lattice constants, crystallite size, lattice strain, dislocation density were calculated. The crystallite size was calculated to be in the range of 16–22 nm. The Hg doping in PbI2 was approved by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and its homogeneous distribution was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) mapping. The morphology of pure and doped synthesized nanostructures was observed to be single crystalline NPs, NSs and NRs of nanoscale thicknesses. The optical band gap was calculated from Tauc's plot and found to be in the range of 3.27–3.20 eV. The value of dielectric constant was improved from 20 to 25 and also ac electrical conductivity due to Hg2+ doping. The radiation parameters such as linear absorption coefficient, half value layer, tenth value layer and mean free path were calculated and a remarkable enhancement was observed due to Hg2+ doping. These parameters confirm that the nanostructures are highly sensitive to 214Am 59.5KeV γ-ray. The facilely synthesized nanostructures of PbI2 with enhanced properties due to Hg2+ doping makes them more suitable for nanoelectronics and room temperature radiation detector applications.

Cu2O thin films were deposited by nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique using different pressure rates. Structural, morphological, optical, photoluminescence, electrical and solar cell studies were done. The structural studies confirmed that the deposited Cu2O thin films are in polycrystalline nature having cubic crystal structure matching with the standard JCPDS Card. No (77-0199). Laser Raman analysis confirmed that all peaks are correspond to Cu2O phase. Optical analysis showed band gap values 2.26, 2.12 and 1.99 eV for pressures 1, 2 and 3 bars, respectively. Photoluminescence analysis confirmed that the emission peak obtained at 617 nm corresponds to cuprous oxide phase. Films deposited at high pressure i.e. 3 bars showed low resistivity 1.73 × 102 Ω·cm. Solar cells were fabricated using the deposited Cu2O film with ZnO as heterojunction that showed fill factor values 0.29, 0.35 and 0.39 for pressures 1, 2 and 3 bars, respectively. The power conversion efficiency (η) was increased from 0.039 to 0.57% (about 15 times) by increasing the pressure from 1 to 3 bars.

Controlled growth of nanostructured metal oxide films growing on the conducting substrates with good adhesion in a single step process via hydrothermal method is still challenging. In the present work, WO3 platelets were deposited on transparent conducting fluorine doped tin oxide substrates by single step hydrothermal process via tailoring the reaction time (8 h, 12 h and 16 h) and reaction temperature (120 °C and 180 °C). X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the WO3 thin films grown at 120 °C for 8 h and 12 h reaction time comprised with mixed phases of hexagonal and monoclinic system, whereas 16 h of reaction time produced single phase monoclinic system. However the WO3 films deposited at 180 °C for 8 h, 12 h and 16 h reaction time acquired monoclinic system. Raman spectrum showed the stretching and bending modes of WO3. The WO3 films deposited at 120 °C and 180 °C for different reaction time 8 h, 12 h and 16 h exhibited various surface morphology such as buds like, bricks like, platelets like and sheets with platelets like structures. Optical studies showed that the transmittance of WO3 film is decreased with increase in the reaction temperature. The WO3 film deposited at 120 °C for 12 h reaction time acquired transmittance of about 86% at 463 nm whereas the film deposited at 180 °C for 12 h reaction time showed transmittance of about 75% at 465 nm. The direct and indirect optical band gap of the deposited WO3 films varies in the range 2.5 eV– 2.9 eV and 2.6–2.75 eV respectively with varying growth parameters. The electrical properties of WO3 film deposited at 120 °C for 12 h showed relatively low resistivity (1.8 × 10−3 Ωcm) and high carrier concentration (9.3 × 1019 cm−3). The electrochromic studies carried out for the WO3 film synthesized at 120 °C for 16 h exhibits high peak current density, diffusion coefficient and fast switching kinetics with respect to other deposited films.

The failure in timely healing of wounds is a central feature in chronic wounds that leads to physiological, psychological and economic burdens. Macrophages have been demonstrated to have various functions in wounds including host defense, the promotion and resolution of inflammation, the removal of apoptotic cells and tissue restoration following injury. Accumulated evidence suggests that macrophage dysfunction is a component of the pathogenesis of non-healing wounds. While the overall signaling cascades have been well understood, their complex interplay and a detailed characterization of events that are disrupted in chronic wounds have still not emerged satisfactorily. The existing literature was reviewed to summarize the regulation of macrophage polarization in wound closure and dysregulation in non-healing wounds. Further, the review also underscored the role of Nrf2 in promoting macrophage-mediated regulation in wound responses and in particular, macrophage involvement in iron homeostasis that is impaired in chronic wounds such as in diabetes. The mechanisms involved in the reprogramming of macrophage subtypes in chronic wounds are still emerging. Furthermore, treating non-healing wounds has increasingly been shifting focus from generic treatments to the development of targeted therapies. Increasing evidence suggests the need for modeling wound tissue in vitro which may very well serve a critical aspect to characterize the relevant factors that sustain chronic wounds in vivo such as the constant iron overload at the wound site from recurrent infection and bleeding. The development of targeted therapies and also developing a reliable means to monitor assisted healing of chronic wounds are two major goals to be pursued. In addition, identifying molecular targets that can regulate macrophages to aid tissue restoration in chronic wounds would serve the crucial step in realizing both aforementioned goals.

Herein, we report the microwave-synthesis of pure and lanthanum (La3+) doped PbI2 nanostructures. Single phase and good crystallinity confirmation was done using X-ray diffraction and FT-Raman spectroscopy analyses. Presence of La in the final product was proved by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and homogeneous doping of La was seen in EDX elemental mapping. Vibrational modes of final products gets shifted compare to bulk values which evidently specify more relaxed nanostructure formation. The morphology was determined by scanning electron microscope analysis which was nanorods (NRs) of dimension in range of 70–100 nm of pure. However, when doped with 1% La the formation of nanosheets (NSs) are found to be more dense with well defined hexagonal morphology and the average thickness is found to be reduced which is ~ 57 nm and size is increased. Ultra violet–visible–near infrared measurement was done and the energy gap was computed, which are in range of ~ 2.93 to 3.26 eV. Photoluminescence emission spectra was recorded at $${\lambda _{exc}}=221\;{\text{nm}}$$ . PL emissions positioned at ~ 470 ± 2 and 525 ± 7 nm are corresponding to blue and green emissions in NSs. An enhancement in values of dielectric and electrical conductivity was observed due to doping.

Phenol red dyed bis thiourea cadmium acetate (BTCA) crystals of ∼30 × 10 × 6 mm dimension have been grown for the first time using the slow evaporation solution technique. Diffuse reflectance measurements show absorption bands at 363 and 563 nm in the doped crystal. Optical energy gap was calculated to be 4–5 eV. Photoluminescence spectra were recorded using 320 nm excitation source. The chemical etching study was done and etch pit density was found to be reduced from 4.5 × 103/cm2 (pure) to 3.0 × 102/cm2 (dyed). Mechanical strength is increased from 74.1 kg/mm2 for pure to 94.7 kg/mm2 for dyed crystals. The enriched properties of BTCA in the presence of dye suggest that the dyed crystals will be more applicable compared to pure crystals.