Fabrication of novel carbon quantum dots modified bismuth oxide (α-Bi2O3/C-dots): Material properties and catalytic applications.

The present work reports the facile and the template free sonochemical synthesis of a novel catalyst, α-Bi2O3/C-dots, for the degradation of indigo carmine (IC) dye, its simulated dyebath effluent and levofloxacin under visible light catalysis. The compositional, structural, optical and morphological analysis of α-Bi2O3/C-dots was studied using analytical, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed the presence of a monoclinic phase of α-Bi2O3 in the nanocomposite and crystallite size of 28.75 nm. Photoluminescence (PL) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-DRS) studies showed good optical properties and a band gap of 2.49 eV. The synthesized photocatalyst showed superior visible-light driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of indigo carmine dye (86% dye degradation in 120 min) compared to pure α-Bi2O3 (57%). α-Bi2O3/C-dots also exhibited 79% degradation of antibiotic drug levofloxacin within 120 min, under optimized conditions of pH, catalyst dose and initial dye concentration. Scavenger studies revealed that hydroxyl radicals and electrons played predominant roles in the photocatalytic degradation of IC dye. With respect to total organic carbon (TOC) analysis, 68.8% total organic carbon reduction of the IC dye (10 mg/L) was observed under the same experimental conditions. The catalytic efficiency of C-dots in the photocatalytic process is explained by proposing a degradation mechanism.

Mixed surfactant (altering chain length and head group) aggregates as an effective carrier for tuberculosis drug.

Surface properties and aggregation behavior of cationic-cationic and cationic-non-ionic mixed surfactant systems viz. Dodecylethyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) with a series of double chain cationic surfactants (DiDDAB, DMDTAB, and DODAB) and non-ionic surfactants (Brij 96, Tyloxapol and Tween 80) were analysed using surface tension and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of chain length of cationic surfactant and hydrophilic-lypophilic balance (HLB) prominently observed in critical aggregation (cac) value. The aqueous solubility of anti-tuberculosis drug: rifampicin (RIF) was comparatively studied by UV-vis spectroscopy in presence of formulated micelles and vesicles. RIF was significantly solubilised in aqueous medium using all the formulated aggregates. RIF is very unstable in basic medium (above pH-7) and in oxidizing media. Therefore, stability at pH-13 as well as in strong oxidising environment was monitored using UV-vis spectroscopy. To trace the locus of the drug encapsulation in the micelles/vesicles, fluorescence spectroscopy and TEM studies were carried out. Both the techniques stemmed in complimentary results and confirmed that, RIF is majorly populated at polar medium in cationic-cationic vesicles and favour to reside at hydrophobic medium of the nonionic-cationic micelles.

Enhanced solubilization of curcumin in mixed surfactant vesicles.

Self-assemblies of equimolar double and single chain mixed ionic surfactants, with increasing numbers of carbon atoms of double chain surfactant, were analyzed on the basis of fluorescence and conductivity results. Attempts were also made to enhance the solubilization of curcumin in aqueous equimolar mixed surfactant systems. Mixed surfactant assembly was successful in retarding the degradation of curcumin in alkaline media (only 25-28 40% degraded in 10h at pH 13). Fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching methods were employed to predict the binding position and mechanism of curcumin with self-assemblies. Results indicate that the interactions take place according to both dynamic and static quenching mechanisms and curcumin was distributed in a palisade layer of mixed aggregates. Antioxidant activity (using DPPH radical) and biocompatibility (using calf-thymus DNA) of curcumin-loaded mixed surfactant formulations were also evaluated. The prepared systems improved the stability, solubility and antioxidant activity of curcumin and additionally are biocompatible.

Studies on TiO(2)/ZnO photocatalysed degradation of lignin.

The photocatalytic degradation of lignin obtained from wheat straw kraft digestion has been investigated by using TiO(2) and ZnO semiconductors. ZnO has been found to be a better photocatalyst than TiO(2). The different variables studied, include catalyst dose, solution pH, oxidant concentration and initial concentration of the substrate. The degradation of lignin was favorable at pH 11. Optimum values of catalyst dose and oxidant concentration were found to be 1g/l and 12.2 x 10(-6) M, respectively. The degradation of the organic compound was also evaluated as COD removal and increase in the COD removal was observed with increase in degradation rate. An attempt has also been made to explore the applicability of ZnO in immobilized mode for the degradation of lignin under solar light for industrial scale application. Further the comparative evaluation of ZnO in slurry/immobilized mode has been carried out.

Studies on photodegradation of two commercial dyes in aqueous phase using different photocatalysts.

The present study involves the photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) and Rhodamine 6G (R6G), employing heterogeneous photocatalytic process. Photocatalytic activity of various semiconductors such as titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), zinc oxide (ZnO), stannic oxide (SnO(2)), zinc sulphide (ZnS) and cadmium sulphide (CdS) has been investigated. An attempt has been made to study the effect of process parameters viz., amount of catalyst, concentration of dye and pH on photocatalytic degradation of MO and R6G. The experiments were carried out by irradiating the aqueous solutions of dyes containing photocatalysts with UV and solar light. The rate of decolorization was estimated from residual concentration spectrophotometrically. Similar experiments were carried out by varying pH (2-10), amount of catalyst (0.25-2.0g/l) and initial concentration of dye (5-200mg/l). The experimental results indicated that the maximum decolorization (more than 90%) of dyes occurred with ZnO catalyst and at basic pH and the maximum adsorption of MO was noticed at pH 4 and of R6G at pH 10. The percentage reduction of MO and R6G was estimated under UV/solar system and it was found that COD reduction takes place at a faster rate under solar light as compared to UV light. In case of R6G, highest decolorizing efficiency was achieved with lower dose of catalyst (0.5g/l) than MO (1g/l) under similar conditions. The performance of photocatalytic system employing ZnO/solar light was observed to be better than ZnO/UV system.