Photodegradation of spent wash, a sugar industry waste, using vanadium-doped TiO2 nanoparticles

Hierarchical hollow porous structures of nickel-doped λ-MnO2 anodes for Li-ion energy storage systems

Metal oxides with hollow porous structures are attractive and promising anode candidates for Li-ion batteries due to their high surface area, high loading capacity, and low density. In this work, hierarchical hollow porous structures of nickel (Ni)-doped λ-MnO2 were prepared via a facile, and cost-effective approach, where different amounts of Ni were introduced into MnO2 structures to tailor their physical and chemical properties. When the prepared Ni-doped MnO2 hollow structures were studied as anode materials for Li-ion batteries, the electrode showed excellent electrochemical properties, such as stable cyclability and admirable rate capability. Moreover, Ni doping significantly enhances the diffusion properties of the active materials. The material was also investigated as an anode in another high power and energy Li-ion storage device, namely, a Li-ion hybrid capacitor, which exhibited excellent comprehensive electrochemical performance in terms of good specific cell capacity of 25 mA h g-1 at a high current density of 5 A g-1 and achieved a maximum power density of 29 W kg-1 (with energy density of 30 W h kg-1) with a long cycle life. These results indicate that the Ni-doped MnO2 is suitable for application as an anode material and give considerable insight into future Li-energy storage applications.

Sunlight mediated degradation of spent wash using hydrothermally synthesized orthorhombic shaped Cu–TiO2 nanoparticles

This method is suitable for the selective growth of orthorhombic shaped Cu–TiO₂, which shows an excellent performance for the degradation of sugar industry waste.

The effects of nickel oxide nanoparticles on structural changes, heme degradation, aggregation of hemoglobin and expression of apoptotic genes in lymphocytes

Nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) have received great interests in medical and biotechnological applications. However, their adverse impacts against biological systems have not been well-explored. Herein, the influence of NiO NPs on structural changes, heme degradation and aggregation of hemoglobin (Hb) was evaluated by UV-visible (Vis) spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and molecular modeling investigations. Also, the morphological changes and expression of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA in human lymphocyte cell exposed to NiO NPs were assayed by DAPI staining and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), respectively. The UV-Vis study depicted that NiO NPs resulted in the displacement of aromatic residues and heme groups and production of the pro-aggregatory species. Intrinsic and Thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence studies revealed that NiO NPs resulted in heme degradation and amorphous aggregation of Hb, respectively, which the latter result was also confirmed by TEM study. Moreover, far UV-CD study depicted that NiO NPs lead to substantial secondary structural changes of Hb. Furthermore, near UV-CD displayed that NiO NPs cause quaternary conformational changes of Hb as well as heme displacement. Molecular modelling study also approved that NiO NPs resulted in structural alterations of Hb and heme deformation. Moreover, morphological and genotoxicity assays revealed that the DNA fragmentation and expression ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA increased in lymphocyte cells treated with NiO NPs for 24 hr. In conclusion, this study indicates that NiO NPs may affect the biological media and their applications should be limited.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Solar-light-active mesoporous Cr–TiO2 for photodegradation of spent wash: an in-depth study using QTOF LC-MS

A dark coloured effluent called “spent wash” is generated as an unwanted product in sugar based alcohol distillery which is degraded to less toxic compounds using visible light active Cr–TiO₂ photocatalyst under natural sunlight.