Role of semiconductor photo catalysts on mask pollution management

Covid 19 pandemic taught us many lessons. Wearing mask becomes an essential to save our lives. At the same time, management of mask wastages is becoming threat to the environment as they release harmful dyes and fibres. Here in this work we attempt to degrade the mask dyes from the surface of the mask using nano metal oxide based silicate photo catalysts. Two nanocomposites PbO-SiO2 and TiO2-SiO2 were studied on the degradation of coloured mask. The percentage degradation was found to be more than 90%. The results are encouraging so that the proposed catalysts can be used for coating on the masks or used as photo catalyst to degrade the used masks.

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Anoectochilus elatus, and their biomedical applications.

Zinc and its derivatives requirement increased to enhance human immunity against the different pandemics, including covid-19. Green synthesis is an emerging field of research. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles have been prepared from Anoectochilus elatus and characterized using absorption, vibrational and electron microscope analysis. They were carried for antibacterial, inflammatory control tendency, and potential antioxidant activities. The brine shrimp lethal assay tested the biologically derived nanomaterial toxicity and the lethal concentration (LC50) is 599.79 µg/ml. The inhibition against the important disease-causing pathogens was measured against four-gram negative, gram-positive bacteria and two fungus pathogens. The nanomaterial exposed inhibition zone for gram-positive bacteria between 17 mm and 25 mm. The inhibition zone against gram-negative bacteria exists between 19 mm and 24 mm. The anti-inflammatory activity was assessed by inhibition of protein denaturation and protease inhibitory activity using nanomaterial. The antioxidant activity was examined using four assays for the therapeutic activities. The average size range of 60-80 nm nanoparticles has prepared and exposed the good biological activity between 50 µg/ml and 100 µg/ml. The comparative results of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant assay results with standards such as Aspirin and vitamin C exposed that two to three times higher concentrations are required for the fifty percent of inhibitions. The prepared low-cost nanoparticle has exhibited excellent biological activity without any side effects and may enhance immunity.