VOLUME 45, NO5, OCT-2023

Fabrication and Characterization of Hazelnut Shell Powders-loaded Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) Composite Fibers

In this research, fibers were obtained by adding hazelnut shell powders which are a natural filler material (HSP) at different concentrations into Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) by using the electrospinning method, which is the most common method to obtain fibers. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), tensile strength measurement, and physical analysis such as density, surface tension, viscosity, electrical conductivity test was performed after the fiber production process. The results obtained from this study, fibers showed beadles and smooth surfaces. The diameter distribution of these fibers was observed at 2092 µm without hazelnut shell powder. HSP was added to the composites (ϕ=2379,64±635,268 µm for b; ϕ=25581000,339±,806 µm for c; ϕ=2619,24±967,364µm) and diameters were increased. This result had shown, that by increasing the HSP proportion in the PLA/HSP solution, the average diameters of the fibers were increased. The tensile strength of the fibers decreased between the s1-s4 specimens. It has been shown that the tensile strength decreases as the diameter increases. The resulting structures of the fibers possessed antiseptic properties, which are attractive for many biomedical applicationsread more

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Ilyas Kartal and Ibrahim Sengor

Synthesis, Characterization and Statistical Optimization of Hydrophobic/Oleophilic Polystyrene Coated ZnO-Cotton Composite as Vegetable Oil Adsorbent

Cotton being easily available, low cost and highly porous natural material is excellent candidate as adsorbent base. However, its super hydrophilicity hinders its applications as oleophilic adsorbent. In the present study, pristine cotton was impregnated with ZnO and stearic acid to provide it with rough surface and hydrophobic properties followed by dip coating of polystyrene for further enhancement of its oil adsorption capacity. The surface morphology of polystyrene coated ZnO impregnated non-woven cotton (PS@ZnO-NWCotton) and polystyrene coated ZnO impregnated woven cotton (PS@ZnO-WCotton) showed increased surface area, roughness and pores as compared to pristine cotton. FTIR spectra confirmed conjugation of polystyrene and ZnO with cotton. Different thermal degradation behavior of pristine cotton and PS@ZnO-NWCotton further confirmed the presence of ZnO and polystyrene onto cotton. PS@ZnO-WCotton exhibited lotus-effect high hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 145±2o and super oleophilicity with an oil contact angle of 0o. Oil adsorption capacities of synthesized composites were found to have an inverse relationship with viscosity of adsorbate oil which could be due to easy mobility of lighter oils. Oil adsorption capacity of PS@ZnO-NWCotton for coconut oil was maximized by optimizing temperature, duration and oil/water ratio using central composite design (CCD). Good agreement was found between predicted values obtained by the model and the experimental values (R2 = 0.8904) for adsorption of coconut oil by PS@ZnO-NWCotton. Under the optimum conditions, the PS@ZnO-NWCotton adsorbed more than 12 times of its weight with acceptable reusability till third cycleread more

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Amtul Qayoom, Saeeda Nadir Ali, Rafiq Ahmed, Neha Kanwal and Shazia Nisar

The Influence of Synthesized TiO2-Nanoparticles on the Performance of Inks Utilized in Printing Documents

Titanium dioxide is also called titania and occurs in nature in anatase and rutile forms. It is widely used as a white pigment, catalyst support, and photocatalyst. Nano-TiO2 pigments in pure crystallographic anatase phases have been successfully synthesized via sol-gel method. Nano-TiO2 material has been characterized by various techniques such as XRD, TEM, and XPS. The prepared nano-TiO2 was mixed with two different offset inks (falcon and jobbing) to upgrade the physical and optical properties of the offset inks and compared with Degussa TiO2 before and after the application was tracking and measured. Generally, requiring a small amount of modification is better to avoid any ink malfunction, nano ink requires 0.1 % is because of the photoactive anatase structure of TiO2, while Degussa requires 1 % because it has a 15% rutile structure, which considered a photoinactive phase structure of TiO2.read more

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Sayeda S. Ali, Mohammad Hegazy, Yasser K. Abdel-Monem and Ahmed S. Abou- Elyazed

Interaction of Victoria Blue Dye in Anionic and Cationic Micellar Media: Spectroscopic Study

This manuscript has reported the micellar interaction of cationic triphenylmethane-based dye "Victoria Blue-B (VBB)". The study was conducted using ionic surfactants viz. Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB)] Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS), and Sodium Docusate (SD). The behavior of dye in micellar media at concentration ranges of the surfactants mentioned above was monitored by UV-vis absorption spectroscopic study. The solubilization parameters to reveal the interaction of cationic dye in micellar media were assessed. The mathematical calculations of partition constant (Kc), partition coefficient (Kx), binding coefficient (Kb), Gibb’s free energy for partition (ΔGp) and binding (ΔGb) were derived from UV–Vis absorption data. The presence of anionic surfactants caused more bathochromic shifts in the maximum absorption of the dye, which was indicative of strong interactions as compared to the cationic surfactant.read more

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Sadia Noor, Iram Naz and Muhammad Babar Taj

One-Pot Preparation of FeSe-WSe2 Composite and the Performance of Photo Fenton to Degradation Methylene Blue

FeSe-WSe2 composite photocatalyst was synthesized by a facile one-pot hydrothermal reaction with WSe2, sodium selenite (Na2SeO3), hydrazine hydrate (N2H4·H2O), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and Ferric chloride (FeCl3). Different ratios of FeSe-WSe2 composite photocatalysts were synthesized according to different Fe content, and FeSe-WSe2 was characterized by XRD, SEM, UV-vis DRS and XPS. At the same time, the photocatalytic performance and catalytic mechanism of the composite photocatalyst were explored through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) by the composite. The experimental results show that under the best experimental conditions, the 37at% (Atomic ratio) FeSe-WSe2 composite has the best removal effect on MB solution, and the removal rate reaches 99.8%. This shows that there is a synergistic effect of photocatalysis and Fenton reaction, which greatly improves the degradation ability of pollutants of FeSe-WSe2. Since the degradation of pollutants by photo Fenton is carried out under neutral conditions, it is more conducive to future applications in actual production.read more

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Chongchong Yan, Wenxiang Zhao, Jinyu Zhou, Yanan Liu and Jun Wan

Synthesis and Application of Magnetic Fe3O4/Layered Double Hydroxide Nanoparticles

During the past decade, significant progress has been made in synthesizing various nano-based products for industrial application. Among them, magnetic Fe3O4/layered double hydroxides nanocomposite materials have attracted broader applicability. The uniqueness of these nano hybrid nanocomposites have attracted valuable utility to nanotechnology field due to their magnetic properties and enhanced catalytic performance compared to layered double hydroxides (LDHs). The electrostatic interaction between positively charged LDHs and negatively charged Fe3O4 makes them more stable. Therefore, the present review article summarizes the various synthesis strategies and applications of magnetic Fe3O4/LDHs.read more

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Han He, Lichuan Zhang, Ge Zhu and Amos Musyoki Mawia

Preparation of Carboxylated Carbon Nitride for RhB Photocatalytic Degradation

A simple calcination process was used to create g-C3N4 (CN) from melamine, and the modified g-C3N4 (MCN) was synthesized with hydrochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and nitric acid (HNO3). After acid modification, CN successfully introduced oxygen-containing functional groups and obtained CN-HNO3 with multiple holes, which improved the photocatalytic efficiency. The bandgap of CN-HNO3 (2.46 eV) is 0.24 eV lower than that of CN (2.70 eV), resulting in more electron holes and improved light absorption of the catalyst. CN-HNO3 has a conduction band (CB) of -1.23 eV, while CN has a CB of -1.13 eV. CN-HNO3 is simpler to convert O2 to ·O2- than CN, which can boost photocatalytic efficiency. The degradation of rhodamine B(RhB) was used to investigate the photocatalytic properties of CN and MCN. The results show that the photocatalytic efficiency of MCN was higher than that of pure CN, and the photocatalytic efficiency and degradation rate constant of CN-HNO3 was 36.6% and 5.5 times higher than that of the CN, reaching 99.7% and 0.0341 min-1. The degradation efficiency remained more than 85% after five cycles, showing that MCN was more photo-catalytically stable than CN.read more

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Hao Yang, Wenjie Cheng, Mengdi Xu, Guijun Yang, Huiyuan Chen, Caihong Xue, Guocai Ma and Heqi Li

Investigating the New Schiff Base (E)-2-(((2-bromo-3-methylphenyl)imino)methyl)-4-methoxyphenol Using Synthesis, XRD, DFT, FTIR spectroscopy, Hirshfeld,

In this research, the title compound was synthesized and characterized using spectroscopic analyses like FTIR and XRD. The compound's structure was optimized using Density Functional Theory (DFT) at B3LYP method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The experimental parameters obtained by XRD were found to agree well with the theoretically calculated parameters. The title compound was studied using several methods, including FMOs, MEP, Hirshfeld surface analysis, 2D fingerprint plots, net charges, Electrophilicity-based Charge Transfer (ECT), Natural Bond Orbital analysis and global chemical reactivity descriptors.read more

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Abdurrahman Suhta, Ceren Çiçek, Ufuk Çoruh, Erbil Ağar and Ezequiel M. Vazquez Lopez

Barium Hydroxyapatite Ba10(PO4)6(OH)2 and Barium Nitrate: New Recyclable Catalysts for the Synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones/thiones

In this paper, we report an efficient synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones/thiones (DHPMs) from the Biginelli condensation reaction of ethyl acetoacetate, aromatic aldehydes and urea or thiourea catalysed by barium (II) nitrate and barium hydroxyapatite Ba10(PO4)6(OH)2 (BaHAp). These new catalysts exhibited an important reactivity and proved reusableread more

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Jalel Lachheb, Sana Ben Moussa, Afef Mehri and Bechir Badraoui

Synthesis of Some Prodrug Compounds Depending on Maleimide Derivatives Method

Four different prodrugs were prepared by linking various antibiotic drugs (Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, Ceftriaxone, and Cefotaxime) with 4-maleimidobenzoic (4-(2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)benzoic acid), which is firstly converted to 4-(2,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)benzoyl chloride in the presence of SOCl2 to form four maleimide derivatives [5a-d]. These derivatives were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13CNMR, and C.H.N.S. and then studied for their antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus bacteria. As well as studied the anti-cancer activities and determined their potential to reduce cell viability in the human breast cancer cell line MCF7. The findings show that the substances created in this study have a promising activity profile in terms of slowing the growth of both cancer cells and the chosen bacteria.read more

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Ammar Abdul-Hussein Awad, Mohammed Alaa Abdul Zahra and Osama Hameed Rasheed