Synthesis of MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4 hybrid photocatalyst by ultrasonic homogenization assisted hydrothermal methods and its application as sunlight active photocatalyst for water decontamination.

In this work, MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4 ternary hybrid photocatalyst was synthesized by sonicated precursor mixture to the hydrothermal procedure to generate a highly efficient solar light-induced and simply recyclable photocatalyst. The obtained hybrid was confirmed by the characteristic peaks of MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4 observed in X-ray diffraction (14.31°/18.62°/28.18°), infrared spectra (465/445/679 cm-1), ultraviolet-visible spectra (636/683/639 nm) studies, and the band-gap narrowing (2.62/2.44/2.25 eV). The morphological structure of MoS2 (rod), Mg(OH)2 (particles), and BiVO4 (random aggregates) were turned into MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4 hierarchical nanosheets that coexisted with particles. The photodegradation experiments of the photocatalysts were assessed by using Congo Red (CR), Malachite Green (MG) and Textile Industry Effluent (TIE) as the model pollutant under direct sunlight. The photocatalytic efficiency of the hybrids was noticeably 2.1 to 2.3 times higher than that of the individual components. Photocurrent response test indicate that MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4 ternary hybrid nanocomposites photocatalysts had a more effective electron/hole pair separation than individual and binary composite photocatalysts. The mechanism of photodegradation of MoS2/Mg(OH)2/BiVO4ternary hybrid photocatalysts was investigated and discussed.

List of medicinal plants from Epigraphia Indica.

It is of interest to list plants and its usage in olden days. The history of plants is closely related with the history of medicine since time immemorial. Various literature data shows the usage of medicinal plants. It is linked to various system of medicine like Siddha, Ayurveda and Unani. This is in practice for more than 5000 years. People in olden age had a detailed knowledge on these plants. Hence, we collected such data from the first five volumes of Epigraphia Indica, which was published, by the Archeological survey of India from 1882 to 1977. These data provides a framework on various plants and its usage in various ways, in different time period in human history. This helps us to drive valuable bio-medical information for application in modern scientific biomedical methods. We further plan to sort and glean such data so as to help in evaluating the total biomedical data in Epigraphia Indica to extract useful biological knowledge for application in evidence-based biomedicine.