Conducting polymers inducing catalysis: Enhanced formic acid electro-oxidation at a Pt/polyaniline nanocatalyst

Research is moving rapidly to sustain convenient energy resources fulfilling the global climate legislations. Herein, a novel catalyst of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) dispersed onto polyaniline (PANi) is recommended for formic acid electro-oxidation (FAO); the fundamental anodic reaction in direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs). The catalyst's preparation scheme allows a sequential electrodeposition of fibril PANi and spherical PtNPs (ca. 65 nm in size) on a glassy carbon (GC) substrate and permits a precise control over the deposition sequence and loading. Interestingly, incorporation of PANi into the catalyst's ingredients can significantly (ca. 16 times) improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst towards FAO by shifting the mechanism towards the desirable dehydrogenation pathway and mitigating the undesirable poisoning dehydration pathway. The catalytic efficiency is tuned by manipulating the deposition order and loading of different catalyst's ingredients. Several techniques are employed to confirm the successful deposition of the catalyst and to evaluate its morphology, composition and crystal structure. While PtNPs are essential for FA adsorption, PANi improves the dispersion of PtNPs and mediates FAO to facilitate the charge transfer and mitigate CO poisoning. A promising catalytic stability is achieved in a long continuous (150 CVs) electrolysis experiment.     

Low temperature synthesis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Manganese tungstate</Emphasis> nanoflowers with antibacterial potential: Future material for water purification

Pure water is the fundamental requisite for human life. The water has been recycled naturally but not in an adequate amount for consumption. Nanotechnology with extraordinary applications provides competent ways for the decontamination of contaminated water. In the present study MnWO₄ nanoflowers endorsed with inherent antibacterial activity were successfully synthesized by facile hydrothermal approach. XRD, SEM, EDX spectroscopy and UVDRS were used to characterize the as-synthesized nanoflowers. Gram negative Escherichia coli ATCC 52922 bacterium was used as model organism to test antibacterial activity of as-synthesized MnWO₄ nanoflowers. This study was conducted to optimize minimum concentration of MnWO₄ nanoflowers and maximum contact time required to achieve complete inactivation of bacteria present in contaminated water. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of MnWO₄ nanoflowers was found to be 10 μg/ml. The assessment and interpretation of bacterial viability was done using dual fluorescent staining. The synthesized 3D-nanoflowers were found as potent bactericides. Thus, MnWO₄ nanoflowers emerged to be very good future material for disinfection of biological pollutants present in the contaminated water reservoirs and as an anti-biofouling agent.     

Biosorption potential of the mediterranean plant (Posidonia oceanica) for the removal of Cu2+ ions from aqueous media : Equilibrium,kinetic, thermodynamic and mechanism analysis

The biosorption characteristics of copper(II) ions using Posidonia oceanica biomass were investigated. Experimental parameters affecting the biosorption process such as pH level, contact time, biosorbent dosage and temperature were studied. The equilibrium data were applied to the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. The Langmuir model fitted very well the equilibrium data, and the maximum uptake of Cu(II) by Posidonia oceanica was found to be 76.92 mg/g. The mean free energy E (10.78 kJ/mol) from the D-R isotherm indicated a chemical ion-exchange mechanism. Kinetic results showed that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was well fitted to the experimental data. Thermodynamic parameters depicted the exothermic nature of biosorption and the process was feasible and spontaneous. The results of FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) revealed that carboxyl, amine, and hydroxyl groups on the biomass surface were involved in the biosorption of Cu(II) ions.     

Palyno‐morphological characteristics of gymnosperm flora of pakistan and its taxonomic implications with LM and SEM methods

The present study is intended to assess gymnosperms pollen flora of Pakistan using Light Microscope (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for its taxonomic significance in identification of gymnosperms. Pollens of 35 gymnosperm species (12 genera and five families) were collected from its various distributional sites of gymnosperms in Pakistan. LM and SEM were used to investigate different palyno‐morphological characteristics. Five pollen types (i.e., Inaperturate, Monolete, Monoporate, Vesiculate‐bisaccate and Polyplicate) were observed. Six In equatorial view seven types of pollens were observed, in which ten species were sub‐angular, nine species were Traingular, six species were Perprolate, three species were Rhomboidal, three species were semi‐angular, two species were rectangular and two species were prolate. While five types of pollen were observed in polar view, in which ten species were Spheroidal, nine species were Angular, eight were Interlobate, six species were Circular, two species were Elliptic. Eighteen species has rugulate and 17 species has faveolate ornamentation. Eighteen species has verrucate and 17 have gemmate type sculpturing. The data was analysed through cluster analysis. The study showed that these palyno‐morphological features have significance value in classification and identification of gymnosperms. Based on these different palyno‐morphological features, a taxonomic key was proposed for the accurate and fast identifications of gymnosperms from Pakistan.     

Fabrication of innovative charkha for pashmina spinning and its impact assessment

Pashmina, a finest natural animal fiber is utilized for preparation of world famous Kashmiri pashmina shawls by traditional practices. Hand spinning is one of the important processing step, wherein fibers are converted into a fine yarn on a traditional spinning wheel (yander). The task is usually carried out by women folk. It is a laborious process resulting in a lot of physical stress affecting the efficiency of artisans. An innovative charkha has been fabricated to reduce the physical stress and its effect on the spinning efficiency and remuneration of artisans over traditional one was evaluated. The study revealed that innovative charkha was efficient in terms of time consumed for spinning by 73.50% over traditional one besides decreasing physical drudgery. In terms of income, there was an increase of 146% over traditional one for same period of time without deteriorating the quality of yarn.     

Passive mixing control for innovative air diffusion terminal devices for buildings

This paper presents an innovative concept for optimized air diffusion in buildings. The method uses passive control of air jet through lobed diffusers. An analysis is done experimentally at different scales for a lobed shaped geometry. A cross-shaped jet is characterized first through an isolated orifice and then at the scale of one perforated panel. An intermediary analysis of two coalescent and a row of cross-shaped jets is also proposed. All the results lead to the same conclusion. The lobed diffuser favors the self-induction compared to a reference conventional circular perforated diffuser. The air flow induced in the case of the lobed perforated panel is in average twice as the one of the circular perforated panel. Despite the consequent gain in air induction for the lobed perforated panel flow, the streamwise maximum velocities display comparable values in the far field which signifies comparable throws for the two flows. Consequently, the presented lobed perforated panel concept can be generalized to different type of diffusers to improve mixing ventilation in buildings.     

MALDI matrices for biomolecular analysis based on functionalized carbon nanomaterials

When used in small molar ratios of matrix to analyte, derivatized fullerenes and single wall nanotubes are shown to be efficient matrices for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. The mixing of an acidic functionalized fullerene with a solution of bioanalyte, depositing a dried droplet, and irradiating with a pulsed nitrogen laser yields protonated or cationized molecular ions. Derivatized fullerenes could offer several advantages over conventional MALDI matrices: a high analyte ionization efficiency, a small molar ratios (less than 1) of matrix/analyte, and a broader optical absorption spectrum, which should obviate specific wavelength lasers for MALDI acquisitions. The major disadvantage to the use of fullerenes is the isobaric interference between matrix and analyte ions; however, it is overcome by using MALDI-ion mobility time-of-flight (IM-oTOF) mass spectrometry to preseparate carbon cluster ions from bioanalyte ions prior to TOF mass analysis. However, an alternative to the dried droplet preparation of fullerene MALDI samples is the aerosolization of matrix-analyte solutions (or slurries) followed by impacting the aerosol onto a stainless surface. We also demonstrate that the fullerene matrices can be used to acquire spectra from rat brain tissue.