Solar Energy as Renewable Energy for the Degradation of Pollutants using High Active Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 Ternary Nanocomposite Photocatalyst

In this work, ternary Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite were synthesized via solvothermal chemical reduction method using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and reducing agent. The chemical procedure involves the use of only metals precursors without the need to use any other surfactants or capping agents. Physicochemical properties of the designed photocatalyst are found by means of various modern techniques. XRD data confirmed the high crystallinity of the obtained ternary nanocomposite. On the other hand, using TEM and HRTEM instruments, the shape and morphology of the Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite were found to be spherical with an average particle size of 150 nm. The UV-Vis measurement shows that Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 as photocatalyst exhibited good photo response in the visible region. The effect of preparation method and the performance of the designed photocatalyst were evaluated by photodegradation measurements of MB under visible light irradiation. We observed that the combination of metallic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and hematite iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) with titanium dioxide (TiO2) enhance the photocatalytic activity of the ternary Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 photocatalyst compared to bare TiO2 suggesting its potential for many purification applications.

Growth, Crystal Structure, Hirshfeld Surface Analysis, DFT Studies, Physicochemical Characterization And Cytotoxicity Assays of Novel Organic Triphosphate

A novel interesting organic-inorganic hybrid compound, named (1-phenylpiperazinium) trihydrogen triphosphate, with the formula (C10H15N2)2H3P3O10 has been obtained by low speed of evaporation at room temperature after using the ion exchange chemical procedure. To carry out a detailed crystallographic structure analysis, single-crystal X-ray diffraction has been reported. In the molecular arrangement, the different entities are held together through N-H…O, O-H…O and C-H…O hydrogen bonds, building up a three dimensional packing. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis is acquired to confirm the purity of the product. The nature and the proportion of intermolecular interactions were investigated by Hirshfeld surfaces analysis. In order to support the experimental results, a density functional theory (DFT) calculation were performed, using the Becke-3-Parameter-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) function with LANL2DZ basis set, and the data indicate the much agreement between the experimental and the theoretical results. Thus, the physicochemical properties were studied employing a variety of techniques (FT-IR, NMR, UV-Visible and photoluminescence). To get an insight of the possible employment of the present material in biology, cell viability assays were performed.

Preparation and Characterization of Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 Ternary Nanocomposite for enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance

In this work, ternary Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite were synthesized via solvothermal chemical reduction method using N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and reducing agent. The chemical procedure involves the use of only metals precursors without the need to use any other surfactants or capping agents. Physicochemical properties of the designed photocatalyst are found by means of various modern techniques. XRD data confirmed the high crystallinity of the obtained ternary nanocomposite. On the other hand, using TEM and HRTEM instruments, the shape and morphology of the Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite were found to be spherical with an average particle size of 150 nm. The UV-Vis measurement shows that Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 as photocatalyst exhibited good photo response in the visible region. The effect of preparation method and the performance of the designed photocatalyst were evaluated by photodegradation measurements of MB under visible light irradiation. We observed that the combination of metallic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and hematite iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) with titanium dioxide (TiO2) enhance the photocatalytic activity of the ternary Ag@TiO2/α-Fe2O3 photocatalyst compared to bare TiO2 suggesting its potential for many purification applications.

Synthesis of Vertically Aligned Porous Silica Thin Films Functionalized by Silver Ions

In this work, we have developed a chemical procedure enabling the preparation of highly ordered and vertically aligned mesoporous silica films containing selected contents of silver ions bonded inside the mesopore channels via anchoring propyl-carboxyl units. The procedure involves the electrochemically assisted self-assembly co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane and (3-cyanopropyl)triethoxysilane in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a surfactant, the subsequent hydrolysis of cyano groups into carboxylate ones, followed by their complexation with silver ions. The output materials have been electrochemically characterized with regard to the synthesis effectiveness in order to confirm and quantify the presence of the silver ions in the material. The mesostructure has been observed by transmission electron microscopy. We have pointed out that it is possible to finely tune the functionalization level by controlling the co-condensation procedure, notably the concentration of (3-cyanopropyl)triethoxysilane in the synthesis medium.

Enhanced Removal of Mercury and Lead by a Novel and Efficient Surface-functionalized Imogolite with Nanoscale Zero-valent Iron Material

A novel hybrid nanomaterial, nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI)-grafted imogolite nanotubes (Imo), was synthesized via a fast and straightforward chemical procedure. The as-obtained nanomaterial (Imo-nZVI) was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrophoretic mobility (EM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The prepared Imo-nZVI was superparamagnetic at room temperature and could be easily separated by an external magnetic field. Sorption batch experiments were performed in single- and multicomponent system and showed that Hg2+ and Pb2+ could be quantitatively adsorbed at pH 4.0 with maximum adsorption capacities of 62.3 and 73.8 mg·g− 1, respectively. It was observed that the functional groups in Imo-nZVI interact preferentially with analytes according to Misono Softness parameter. The higher performance of Imo-nZVI compared with Imo and nZVI is related to the increased adsorption sites in the functionalized nanomaterial. The sorption equilibrium data obeyed the Langmuir model, while kinetic studies demonstrated that the sorption processes of Hg2+ and Pb2+ followed the pseudo-second-order model. This study suggests that the Imo-nZVI composite can be used as a promising sorbent and provides a simple and fast separation method for the removal of Hg and Pb ions from contaminated water.

Preparation of a carrier free 124Sb tracer produced in the Sn (p, n) reaction

A carrier-free 124Sb tracer was prepared for determining radioactive 125Sb in highly contaminated and radioactive soil like one taken near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The excitation function for the 124Sb production was measured and compared to previous works to identify the optimum proton energy for the 124Sn (p, n) reaction by a stack method. The maximum production of 124Sb in the reaction was found at an incident proton beam energy of 8–9 MeV. Except for 124Sb, the reaction produced short-lived by-products and practically no 125Sb. Antimony was isolated from tin matrix by dissolving the irradiated target and extracting to isoamyl acetate. Then the carrier-free 124Sb tracer solution was purified by passing it through an anion exchange resin column. The radioactivity of 124Sb was recovered to more than 50% of the production, and provided successfully as a tracer solution free from tin due to the examined chemical procedure.

The controlled synthesis and DFT investigation of novel (0D)–(3D) ZnS/SiO2 heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

A ZnS/SiO2 photocatalyst was synthesized with different molar ratios using a low-cost sol–gel wet chemical procedure exhibited superior performance in the photodegradation of organic dyes under UV irradiation.

Visible-light driven redox system of water-soluble zinc porphyrin and platinum nanoparticles for selective reduction of pyruvate to lactate

Lactate has received a great deal of attention as a raw material for biodegradable plastics. Lactate is synthesized by fermentative and chemical procedures. Using chemical procedure, lactate is synthesized industrially...