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Background: Treatment used for cancer is generally associated with serious side effects. New solutions for cancer therapy can overcome the shortcomings and problems of conventional therapies by designing drug delivery nanosystems. Methods: In this study, magnetic Fe3O4@AU@albumin core-shell-shell (CSS) nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized by various analyses, such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and vibrating sample magnetization (VSM). Podophyllotoxin (PPT) was then loaded on magnetic nanoparticles as an anti-cancer drug and its effect on HT-29 and MCF-7 cell lines was evaluated using an MTT assay. Result: The crystallinity of synthesized Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles was confirmed by XRD analysis. Next, a layer of gold was coated with the Fe3O4 MNPs. The UV-Vis analysis of core-shell nanoparticles (iron oxide/gold) confirmed the successful synthesis of these nanoparticles. The surface of the coreshell nanoparticles was then coated with albumin to load the drug. TEM image confirmed the existence of albumin nanoparticles loaded with core-shell magnetic nanoparticles. VSM analysis revealed that iron oxide, Fe3O4@AU, and Fe3O4@AU@albumin nanoparticles have the highest magnetic properties, respectively. After the synthesis of PPT loaded onto MNP, the loading efficiency was found to be 50%. The IC50 values of PPT alone and loaded onto nanoparticles on MCF-7 cells after 24 hours were 3085.75 and 1868.09 nM, respectively, which were significantly toxic (P-value ≤ 0.05) but not significant after 48 hours. The PPT loaded on nanoparticles was found to be significantly more toxic to HT-29 cells after 24 and 48 h than PPT alone (P-value ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: The anticancer drug of PPT-loaded MNPs has significant advantages over PPT alone due to its improved properties with appropriate cytotoxic activity. Thus, the PPT-loaded MNPs may be considered effective anti-cancer agents for further research on drug development.

A magnetic waste date seed-derived biochar@zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 was fabricated by the microwave-assisted synthesis method, and used as an efficient nanocomposite-based adsorbent for the removal of Tartrazine and Sunset yellow dyes from contaminated water.

Fabrication of Zr(CUR)/NiCo2S4/CuCo2S4 and Zr(CUR)/CuCo2S4/Ag2S composites as an efficient photocatalyst. Examination of the potential of a spiral-shaped photocatalytic reactor for degradation of the methyl parathion pesticide.

Developing photocatalytic systems by larger design to achieve degradation of dye pollutants by using solar light is highly desirable. Present work is devoted to the synthesis of step-scheme (S-scheme) g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunction which subsequently employed for simultaneous degradation of a binary mixture of Methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) solution in parabolic trough collectors (PTC) as continuous flow loop photoreactor. The as-prepared g-C3N4/TiO2 was analyzed by various techniques such as FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, BET, elements mapping and DRS. The composite central design (CCD) was applied to express mathematical relationships among variables such as process time, catalyst mass and initial concentrations of MB and RhB in the degradation process. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared composite is higher than pure TiO2 and g-C3N4 that is attributed to the positive synergetic effect of S-scheme between g-C3N4 and TiO2 nanostructure. Under solar irradiation in PTC, g-C3N4/TiO2 was able to degrade about 94.92 and 93.07% of binary mixture MB and RhB, respectively.

Of late, fuel cells have drawn great attentions owing to high-energy demands, fossil fuel depletion and worldwide environmental pollution. Direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) constituted as one of the most promising sources of green energy, howbeit the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) sluggish kinetic is one of the essential challenges toward the commercialization of DEFCs. Herein, we introduce bimetallic catalyst on CoNiO2 modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to completely exploit the advantages of nano-surface structures as well as the reduction of Pt and Pd loading in fuel cells. With the combined advantages of PtPd, CoNiO2 and rGO, a significant enhancement in electrocatalytic behavior, stability and CO poisoning tolerance of PtPd have been observed. Regarding the implications, PtPd/CoNiO2/rGO is greatly preferable than Pt/CoNiO2/rGO and Pd/CoNiO2/rGO in terms of high electroactive surface area (ECSA), electro-catalytic activity, and lower onset potential (Eons) towards the EtOH oxidation in alkaline media. Furthermore, the chronoamperometry curve (CA) illustrated 77% after 3600 s which is dramatically soared compared with the other electrodes (≤40%), demonstrating the high stability of the PtPd bimetallic nanoparticle electrocatalyst. Ultimately, PtPd/CoNiO2/rGO nanocomposite is found to be an excellent anode electrocatalyst for application in DEFCs.

This study focused on the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from gas refinery wastewater via copper oxide nanoparticles which loaded on activated carbon supplied from Terminalia catappa (CuO-NPs-TCW-AC), while accordingly understudy process was accelerated by decomposition of organic pollutants in the presence of H2O2 as oxidant. CuO-NPs-TCW-AC as heterogeneous catalyst in the combination of H2O2 lead to generating OH radical as most efficient species degradation of organic pollutants (it is expected that copper ions also exhibited somewhat Fenton-like behaviors). TCW-AC prepared by carbonization at 850 °C for 90 min and subsequently was activated with CO2 at 900 °C for 90 min and TCW-AC as the final product was oxidizing with nitric acid and hydrochloric acid solution. Characterization of adsorbent and investigation of mechanism process were undertaken by FT-IR (before and after COD removal), pHZPC, Boehm's titration method, SEM, XRD, BET, and BJH. Conduction of preliminary experiments reveals that setting experimental condition at their optimum values including 0.06 g of the CuO-NPs-TCW-AC, pH of 4 and 0.1 mol L−1 of H2O2 at 75 °C following 5 min agitation at speed of 400 rpm leads to 61.5% reduction of initial COD (320 ppm) from gas refinery wastewaters. According to the coefficients of determination (R2) for Langmuir (0.985), Freundlich (0.993) and Temkin isotherm (0.981) reveal cooperative mechanism on whole adsorption/decomposition process, while its experimental and calculating maximum adsorbent capacity were 250.1, 263.2 (mg g−1), respectively. Judgment based on correlation coefficients represents an agreement among experimental and predicted adsorption capacity and confirms that understudy COD reduction using CuO-NPs-TCW-AC follows the second-order kinetics. The negative Gibbs free energy strongly support the high tendency of present material for COD through spontaneous while, higher adsorption rate by temperature rising confirm the endothermic nature of the process. As a result, the application of CuO-NPs-TCW-AC in the combination of H2O2 is suggested as a powerful tool for COD reduction from gas refinery wastewater.

In this work, magnetic nanofluid based on a deep eutectic solvent that constricts through a simple and easy route, and subsequently applied for the preconcentration and microextraction of chloramphenicol (CAP) as a hazardous drug from milk and chicken samples via syringe-to-syringe microextraction prior to its determination by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV). In addition, the optimum conditions of effective factors were searched by the central composite design (CCD), and subsequently, at their optimum value, the figures of merit were evaluated. Also, the suggested method illustrated a low limit of detection (0.2 ng mL

In this work, the magnetic layered double hydroxide composite as a new adsorbent was synthesized and applied for efficient copper (II) and nickel (II) ions removal from aqueous samples. After fabrication, the adsorbent was identified and characterized via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), while FE-SEM reveals and denote layered structure of present adsorbent. The magnetic strength of 20.34 emu g

This review presents the adsorptive removal process of hazardous materials onto carbon-based materials comprising activated carbon, graphene, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, biochar and carbon aerogels. Particular emphasis is placed on the fabrication of various carbon-based substances and their characteristics. As a ubiquitous phenomenon, dangerous compounds originating from industrial wastewater lead to damage to the environment and water resources. Therefore, among conventional technologies, adsorption is highly effective and the most extensively used method owing to its simplicity of performance and fairly low cost of application for the removal of hazardous pollutants. This paper comprehensively reviews a multitude of aspects regarding the chemical and physical nature of various carbon materials and their adsorption ability by increasing their surface area or their possible modification. Based on the properties of nano-carbon materials, adsorptive elimination mechanisms for antibiotics, dyes, heavy metals, pesticides, oils, phenolic and volatile organic compounds and gas pollutants are highlighted. The advantageous characteristics of nano-carbon materials assigned to their unique adsorptive removal of common hazardous substances will be pointed out.

We report a colorimetric sensor for the detection of Hg2+ ions utilizing surface-modified gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were synthesized by direct reduction and were subsequently functionalized using Schiff base ligands. Schiff base ligands as electron transfer agents have been frequently used for the determination of heavy metal ions. From the spectroscopic analysis, it was found that the mechanism could be defined as coordination between azomethine nitrogen and the carbonyl oxygen of the ligand with Hg2+ ions. The affinity of Hg2+ ions towards the bidentate Schiff base on the GNPs result from their self-aggregation and investigated to be a powerful asset for the development of Hg2+ ion-selective sensors, which is accompanied by a visible color change from pink to purple or can be detect by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The optimized structures and binding mechanisms were supported with a high correlation and agreement via spectroscopy and DFT calculations. These simple colorimetric tests can be extended for the rapid pre-screening of a wide variety of heavy metal ions for onsite detection and mitigation.

In the present work, the n-cerium (IV) oxide (CeO2)/n-cadmium sulfide (CdS) composite nanofibers were successfully synthesized via a facile electrospinning and hydrothermal synthesis strategy. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized composite nanofibers were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), photoluminescence (PL), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Raman spectroscopy analysis. The activities of the CeO2/CdS were evaluated through the photocatalytic degradation of Rose Bengal (RB) in an aqueous solution under blue LED light radiation. CeO2/CdS composites exhibit higher photocurrent density in photocurrent response experiment and smaller charge-transfer resistance in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Overall, the results confirmed higher charge separation efficiency in CeO2/CdS composites compared to pristine CeO2 nanofibers, and CdS, which is related to intimately contact among the CeO2, and CdS. The present work provides a new approach to construct n-n heterojunction photocatalysts based on electrospinning and a deeper insight for the photocatalytic degradation activity. In addition, possible degradation mechanism and pathways were proposed according to the identified intermediates.

Nitro-aromatic pollution in industrial waste streams threat wellbeing of water resources. This study investigates the performance of a copper-based nano catalyst to reduce nitro-aromatic compounds in aqueous solution. Anchoring Cu NPs within the nano spaces of a fibrous silicate with high surface area, and simple accessibility of active sites were successfully established by a facile approach to produce a novel nanocatalyst (DFNS/PEI/Cu). DFNS displayed different properties such as dandelion-like shape, high surface area, and simple availability of active sites. Immobilization of the Cu NPs on DFNS nanospheres not only prevented their aggregation, but also considerably improved the availability of the catalytic active sites. The DFNS/PEI/Cu nanocatalyst demonstrated great catalytic activities for the reduction of nitro compounds under green conditions. Our findings show fibrous DFNS and Cu NPs as a helpful platform for the fabrication of noble metal-based affordable nanocatalyst for many catalytic applications. DFNS/PEI/Cu nanocatalyst as a new adsorbents for the reduction of nitro compounds

In this work, a high-surface-area dual inorganic molecularly imprinted (DIMI) Bi2WO6/CuO/Ag2O photocatalyst was developed for the selective photocatalytic degradation of methyl green (MG) and auramine O (AO) dyes as target pollutants. The DIMI-Bi2WO6/CuO/Ag2O heterojunction was synthesized by a sonochemically assisted sol–gel method by coating a layer of molecularly imprinted Ag2O/CuO on the surface of Bi2WO6 nanocubes with MG and AO as the templates. This was followed by calcination for the removal of target molecules and annealing for Ag/Cu oxide preparation. This novel photocatalyst was prepared to overcome the challenge of the co-existing non-target molecules, which has limited the photocatalytic degradation performance. The surface DIMI sites could act as surface defects for accelerating the separation of photogenerated holes and electrons, which led to the increased generation of OH radicals. Moreover, the DIMI sites had increased binding affinity toward MG and AO via the formation of multiple H bonds and electrostatic bonds, which were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, PL and EIS studies. The surface DIMI sites led to the increased adsorption and improved local concentration of MG and AO on Bi2WO6/CuO/Ag2O. Consequently, the heterojunction properties of the final DIMI product accelerated the transfer and separation of photogenerated carriers. The high binding affinity of the DIMI sites to MG and AO confirmed the selective recognition, which was tested in the presence of coexisting pollutant dyes. The other characterizations confirmed the successful fabrication and high photocatalytic activity of the high-surface-area DIMI-Bi2WO6/CuO/Ag2O heterostructured composite. In general, the superior interfacial electronic interactions, high migration efficiency of photoinduced charge carriers, and strong visible light absorption of the prepared photocatalyst resulted in good photocatalytic performance.

In this study, the starch-capped zinc selenide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon (ST-Zn-Se-NPs-AC) composite was fabricated, and then it was used for removing Basic Fuchsin (BF) dye from aqueous solution. The ST-Zn-Se-NPs-AC composite was characterized by FE-SEM, UV–Vis, EDS, and XRD techniques. The removal percentage dependence to different variables such as initial BF concentration, pH, dosage of adsorbent, and time of sonication was investigated by Central Composite Design (CCD) under Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The quadratic model between the independent and dependent variables was predicted. A good agreement between the experimental and predicted data was achieved by the predicted model that showed the performance of the predicted model for predicting of real optimum points, and it was successfully employed to remove BF from aqueous media. The maximum removal percentage of 99.34% was obtained by the predicted model under the optimum conditions (15 mg L−1 of initial BF concentration, pH of 7.0, 12 mg of ST-Zn-Se-NPs-AC, and 6 min of sonication time), which was very close to the experimental value (99.00%). Moreover, the data were efficiently fitted by Langmuir model, and the saturation adsorption capacity (Qmax) at 25 °C for BF was discovered to be 222.72 mg g−1.

In the current work, the Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF) (Cu-BDC) was synthesized through a simple and one-pot solvothermal method and used as a sorbent for dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) of gallic acid (GA) from orange juice samples followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) determination. The prepared Cu-BDC was fully characterized using different analysis including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The prepared Cu-BDC had exceptional properties in terms of high specific surface area (400 m2 g−1) and high adsorption capacity (300 mg g−1) toward GA. The influence of effective factors on extraction recovery of GA such as sorbent dosage, ultrasonic time, washing solvent volume and eluent solvent volume was evaluated using a central composite design (CCD) based response surface methodology (RSM). Under the optimized conditions, the presented method showed a wide linear range of 0.5–15.0 mg L−1 with a detection limit of (0.145 mg L−1) and acceptable repeatability (RSD

A novel mixed matrix nanofiltration membrane was constructed by coating a casting solution containing polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethylene glycol (PEG) as hydrophilic agent, zeolitic like framework-67 (ZIF-67), ethylenediamine as cross-linking agent on Ag-nanoparticle-decorated polyester textile (PT) support (PT/Ag-NPs/PVDF-PEG/ZIF-67). PT/Ag-NPs/PVDF-PEG/ZIF-67 morphology, crystalline structure, surface chemical composition and hydrophilicity of PT/Ag-NPs/PVDF-PEG/ZIF-67 were fully characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and water contact angle technique, respectively. PT/Ag-NPs/PVDF-PEG/ZIF-67 was applied in cross module set-up for removal of contaminated water containing rose bengal (RB) dye. The effect of operational parameters such as dye concentration, solution pH and flow rate on performance of PT/Ag-NPs/PVDF-PEG/ZIF-67 were investigated and optimized by central composite design (CCD). Casting solution containing 0.5 wt.% ZIF-67 as optimum value showed the good wettability, high pure water flux (PWF; 35.8 L·m-2⋅h-1), flux recovery ratio (FRR;90%), dye removal efficiency (96.41%). The selectivity factor of 12.72 and 14.42 was found to be for RB in the presence of amido black and methylene blue as interferent dyes, respectively, which showed a good selective recognition ability for RB dye.

An efficient and one-pot procedure for the preparation of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles derivatives from reactions of various aryl azides and different terminal alkynes in the presence of functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by metformin and subsequent coordination with copper(I) has been developed. The catalysts showed environmentally benign character, which can be easily prepared, stored, and recovered several times without obvious significant loss of activity.

In this study, the ability of nanoporous anodic alumina (NAA) for the controlled release of agrochemicals including indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and bentazon was investigated. This study was divided into two works. In the first work, the release of IAA loaded into the NAA pores was studied, and a new two-stage mechanism was proposed for the description of this release process. The first stage was modeled using the diffusion–dissolution equation with a moving boundary condition, while the second stage was correlated by the diffusion–dissolution equation with fixed boundary conditions. The proposed model predicts that the release rate in the first stage is first order when the pore diameter is small and is proportional to the reciprocal of the square root of time when the pore diameter is large. The results of the model also demonstrate that in the second stage, the increase in the pore diameter, at first, leads to an enhancement of the release rate; while a further increase in the pore diameter results in a decrease of release rate. In the second work of this study, NAA was used as a barrier membrane to form a reservoir system for the release of bentazon. The experimental data of this study were well fitted to the first-order release model. The results of this model confirm that an increase in the pore diameter leads to an enhancement of the release rate, while an opposite trend was found with increasing the pore length.

In the present work, a novel CeO2/CuO/Ag2CrO4 ternary nanocomposite based on CeO2/CuO fibers by loading Ag2CrO4 nanoparticles has been prepared using electrospinning, calcination and chemical precipitation methods. The samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The as-obtained CeO2/CuO/Ag2CrO4 composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance in the photo-degradation of a mixture of Rose bengal (RB) and methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution under visible light (LED) irradiation. DRS analysis illustrated that the CeO2/CuO/Ag2CrO4 composite exhibited enhanced absorption in the visible region, which was attributed to the CeO2/CuO nanofibers. The as-synthesized photocatalyst demonstrated higher photocatalytic activities compared to the single CeO2/CuO nanofibers and Ag2CrO4 nanoparticles. Furthermore, the ternary composite exhibited the highest RB and MB photo-degradation rates of about 0.0299 and 0.0235 min−1, respectively, at 300 rpm under visible light irradiation. The effect of four effective variables, namely, the initial concentrations of RB and MB, photocatalyst dosage, and irradiation time was studied and optimized using the central composite design. The kinetic studies confirmed the pseudo first order reaction based on the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, while its rate constant (kobs) and L–H rate constant (kr) were 0.097 min−1 and 5.773 mg L−1 min−1 for RB and 0.0669 min−1 and 2.017 mg L−1 for MB, respectively.

In the present study, a bentonite-supported zero-valent iron (B-ZVI) composite is synthesized from bentonite, which was then used as an adsorbent to remove paraquat contamination from water. The as-prepared B-ZVI composite was characterized by FE-SEM, EDS, XRD and element mapping. Various factors such as the pH, initial concentration of paraquat and mass of adsorbent influenced the removal of paraquat in batch experiments based on CCD. The equilibrium data were better explained by the Langmuir isotherm model and subsequently the adsorption capacity (qm) based on the Langmuir model was 6.784 mg g−1. Thermodynamic evaluation illustrated that the adsorption of paraquat by B-ZVI was spontaneous in nature and an endothermic process. The effect of different salts including NaCl, Na2CO3, Na2SO3 and KNO3 on the adsorption of paraquat was studied. It has been found that the presence of NaCl, Na2SO3, Na2CO3 and KNO3 salt (0.1 M) in solution has a considerable effect on the adsorption behavior.

Citrate and polyvinyl alcohol capped gold nanoparticle (Au-NPs-Cy-PVA) and iridium NPs were incorporated by a chemical reduction method and characterized by UV-Vis, DLS, SEM, EDS, XRD, and FT-IR analysis. A cost-effective and straightforward colorimetric sensor dependent on the redox reaction of 3,4-diaminotoluene biomarker (DA) with Au3+ ions and H2O2 on an Au/Ir-NP catalyst mimicking enzyme-like activity, has been manufactured for the determination of I− in media of interest. At the same time, prepared Au/Ir-NPs can catalyze hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which is used to reduce Au3+ into gold nanoparticles and oxidise 3,4-diaminotoluene biomarker. I− effectively expands the catalytic activity of Au/Ir-nanoparticles to decompose H2O2 by the interaction between Au+ and Au0 and suppresses the oxidation of 3,4-diaminotoluene biomarker. In a framework which contains Au/Ir-NPs, H2O2, 3,4-diaminotoluene biomarker, and HAuCl4, increasing the I− concentration results in color changes from deep purple to yellow. In light of this principle, in this work, a novel colorimetric technique for the sensitive detection of I− ions was developed. This method has a detection limit of 0.058 μM and a linear range between 0.12 to 5.42 μM. The assays are profoundly selective over other ions and can be effectively applied for the determination of iodine ions in real water samples.