Benzyl Chloride and Chlorobenzene Adsorption Studies on Bismuthene Nanosheet: A DFT Study

Inquest for the interaction of canonical and non-canonical DNA/RNA bases with ternary based 2D Si2BN and doped Si2BN for biosensing applications

Density functional theory (DFT) is invoked to investigate the interaction between the canonical (CN) and non-canonical (NC) bases with pristine Si2BN (Si2BN) and Phosphorous-doped Si2BN (P-dop-Si2BN) sheets. Inquest for the better sensing substrate is decided through the adsorption energy calculation which reveals that doping of phosphorous atom enhances the adsorption strength of AT (-83.74 kcal/mol) AU (-82.77 kcal/mol) and GC (-96.36 kcal/mol) base pairs. The CN and NC bases have higher adsorption energy than the previous reported values which concludes that the P-dop-Si2BN sheet will be optimal substrate to sense the bases. Meanwhile, the selected CN and NC (except hypoxanthine) bases interact with sheet in parallel manner which infers the π-π interaction with Si2BN and P-dop-Si2BN sheets. The energy gap variation (ΔEg%) of the P-dop-Si2BN complexes has a noticeable change, ranging from -24.75 to -197.28% which thrust the sensitivity of the P-dop-Si2BN sheet over the detection of CN and NC bases. The natural population analysis (NPA) and electron density difference map (EDDM) confirms that charges are transferred from CN and NC bases to Si2BN and P-dop-Si2BN sheet. The optical property of the P-dop-Si2BN complexes reveals that the noticeable red and blue shift in the visible and near-infrared regions (778 nm to 1143 nm) has been observed. Therefore, the above results conclude that the P-dop-Si2BN sheet plays a potential candidate to detect the CN and NC bases which contribute to the development of biosensors and DNA/RNA sequencing devices.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Adsorptive removal of some Cl-VOC's as dangerous environmental pollutants using feather-like γ-Al2O3 derived from aluminium waste with life cycle analysis

Herein, we designed a cost-effective preparation method of nanocomposite γ-Al₂O₃ derived from Al-waste. The produced material has a feather-like morphology, and its adsorption of some chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOC's) such as benzyl chloride, chloroform and carbon tetrachloride (C₇H₇Cl, CHCl₃ and CCl₄) was investigated due to their potential carcinogenic effect on humans. It showed a characteristic efficiency towards the adsorptive removal of these compounds over a long period, i.e., eight continuous weeks, at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. After 8-weeks, the adsorbed amounts of these compounds were determined as: 325.3 mg C₇H₇Cl, 247.6 mg CHCl₃ and 253.3 mg CCl₄ per g of γ-Al₂O_3, respectively. CCl₄ was also found to be dissociatively adsorbed on the surface of γ-Al₂O₃, whereas CHCl₃ and C₇H₇Cl were found to be associatively adsorbed. The prepared γ-Al₂O₃ has a relatively high surface area (i.e., 192.2 m². g^-1) and mesoporosity with different pore diameters in the range of 25-47 Å. Furthermore, environmental impacts of the nanocomposite γ-Al₂O₃ preparation were evaluated using life cycle assessment. For prepartion of adsorbent utilising 1 kg of scrap aluminium wire, it was observed that potential energy demand was 288 MJ, climate change potential was 19 kg CO₂ equivalent, acidification potential was 0.115 kg SO₂ equivalent and eutrophication potential was 0.018 kg PO₄^3- equivalent.