Composite Fe3O4-MXene-Carbon Nanotube Electrodes for Supercapacitors Prepared Using the New Colloidal Method

MXenes, such as Ti3C2Tx, are promising materials for electrodes of supercapacitors (SCs). Colloidal techniques have potential for the fabrication of advanced Ti3C2Tx composites with high areal capacitance (CS). This paper reports the fabrication of Ti3C2TX-Fe3O4-multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) electrodes, which show CS of 5.52 F cm−2 in the negative potential range in 0.5 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. Good capacitive performance is achieved at a mass loading of 35 mg cm−2 due to the use of Celestine blue (CB) as a co-dispersant for individual materials. The mechanisms of CB adsorption on Ti3C2TX, Fe3O4, and CNTs and their electrostatic co-dispersion are discussed. The comparison of the capacitive behavior of Ti3C2TX-Fe3O4-CNT electrodes with Ti3C2TX-CNT and Fe3O4-CNT electrodes for the same active mass, electrode thickness and CNT content reveals a synergistic effect of the individual capacitive materials, which is observed due to the use of CB. The high CS of Ti3C2TX-Fe3O4-CNT composites makes them promising materials for application in negative electrodes of asymmetric SC devices.

Integrated Membrane–Electrocoagulation System for Removal of Celestine Blue Dyes in Wastewater

The textile industry provides for the needs of people especially in apparel and household items. The industry also discharges dye-containing wastewater that is typically challenging to treat. Despite the application of the biological and chemical treatments for the treatment of textile wastewater, these methods have their own drawbacks such as non-environment friendly, high cost and energy intensive. This research investigates the efficiency of the celestine blue dye removal from simulated textile wastewater by electrocoagulation (EC) method using iron (Fe) electrodes through an electrolytic cell, integrated with nylon 6,6 nanofiber (NF) membrane filtration for the separation of the flocculants from aqueous water. Based on the results, the integrated system achieves a high dye removal efficiency of 79.4%, by using 1000 ppm of sodium chloride as the electrolyte and 2 V of voltage at a constant pH of 7 and 10 ppm celestine blue dye solution, compared to the standalone EC method in which only 43.2% removal was achieved. Atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis was used to identify the traces of iron in the residual EC solution confirming the absence of iron. The EC-integrated membrane system thus shows superior performance compared to the conventional method whereby an additional 10–30% of dye was removed at 1 V and 2 V using similar energy consumptions.

Celestine blue B as a sensor for hypochlorous acid and HOCL-modified proteins registration

Objective — the study of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and its derivatives production, which catalyzed by human neutrophil myeloperoxidase, using “turn-on” fluorescent sensor — celestine blue B. Materials and methods. Neutrophils were isolated from the venous blood of healthy donors. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, plant lectins, HOCl-modified proteins were used as agonists. N-acetylcysteine, 4-aminobenzoic acid hydrazide, isoniazid and ceruloplasmin were used as regulators of neutrophil myeloperoxidase activity and/or HOCl scavengers. Results. Using a wide range of agonists and inhibitors, it has been shown that celestine blue B is oxidized in vitro by HOCl and its derivatives as a result of neutrophil myeloperoxidase activity. The oxidation of celestine blue B by HOCl-modified human serum albumin (HSA-Cl) and inhibition of this process by monoclonal antibody against HSA-Cl (IgM class) was also found. Conclusion. Based on the developed method using celestine blue B, it is possible to conduct a sensitive analysis for the presence of HOCl-modified proteins (chloramines, etc.), to investigate the effect of various agonists and drugs on myeloperoxidase activity and exocytosis from the neutrophil granules.