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Climate change has become a global issue and is predicted to impact less-developed regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, severely. Innovative, sustainable renewable energy systems are essential to mitigate climate change's effects and unlock the region's potential, especially with the increasing energy demands and population growth. The region relies heavily on fossil fuels, which calls for urgent action towards energy security and expansion. Hybrid floating solar photovoltaic-hydropower (FPV-HEP) technology has emerged as a cost-effective and transformative solution to accelerate the low-carbon energy transition in sub-Saharan Africa. The technology combines solar panels with existing hydropower infrastructure, ensuring energy security while reducing carbon emissions. This technology offers several benefits over conventional ground-mounted solar systems, including efficient land utilization, energy generation, and water conservation. However, its adoption remains challenging due to technical complexities and evolving regulatory frameworks. Despite these challenges, Nigerian energy professionals have preferred renewable alternatives, mainly distributed solar PV and FPV-HEP plants. This collective embrace of FPV and renewables reflects a growing understanding of their critical role in mitigating climate change through sustainable energy practices. This research aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and assist policymakers in making informed decisions on adopting this technology. It also stimulates further research on this topic, offering a new potential solution to the ever-increasing demand for green energy in the region to meet their sustainable development needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancements in nanotechnology and the expected increases in production of commercial products with incorporated manufactured nanomaterials will very likely lead to increasing contamination of nanoparticles (NPs) in the environment. Though studying adverse impacts of NPs in the environment and their ecotoxicological fate and behavior is not new, limited information is available. A major challenge in this respect is the lack of a proper sampling technique that could provide data on concentrations of these materials in the environment. Diffusive gradient in thin-films (DGT) is a well-established method that can measure available concentrations of trace metals in soils and waters. Using this approach, different binding resins are employed as a sink to collect targeted chemicals during fixed times. Here, we examine the suitability of two common types of the DGT binding agents, commercially available Chelex-100 and Metsorb, to investigate whether these materials could irreversibly retain a model nanoparticle, ZnO, and if so, what would be the difference between bound ZnO NP and Zn2+ ion. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to study the binding materials before and after exposure to ZnO NP and Zn2+. Based on computational analysis using principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA), it was demonstrated that both Chelex-100 and Metsorb form chemical bonds with ZnO NP and Zn2+, however the binding mechanisms of these zinc species as inferred from their infrared (IR) spectra are statistically different (95% confidence level). The experimental results suggest that the binding resins hold ZnO NP with fewer and weaker chemical bonds compared to Zn2+. This research shows the potential of the DGT method to measure available concentrations of nanoparticles in the environment and demonstrate how ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, when used with computational analysis, can differentiate between diverse chemical species that are simultaneously retained by the binding layer in a DGT device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]