Liquid phase selective oxidation of veratryl alcohol to veratraldehyde using pure and Mg-doped copper chromite catalysts.

Mg-doped copper chromite (CuCr2O4) nanocomposites were synthesised through conventional technique. The pure and doped CuCr2-xMgx O4 (x = 0.00-0.1, 0.2 and 0.3%) nanocomposites were characterized in terms of their morphology, crystal structure, surface area and catalytic performance. The chemical composition of CuCr2-xMgx O4 was confirmed via FT-IR. The formation of pure and doped catalysts was validated by XRD results. TEM/SEM confirmed the formation of CuCr2-xMgxO4 nanoparticles. Mg-doped samples possess a high specific surface area compared to pure CuCr2O4. Thus, the effects of temperature, solvent, time, oxidant and the amount of catalyst on the oxidation of veratryl alcohol were reported. Furthermore, detailed mechanisms of the catalytic oxidation of veratryl alcohol as well as the reusability and stability of the nanomaterial were investigated. The resulting composites were shown to be effective heterogeneous catalysts for the oxidation of veratryl alcohol.

Correlation between the particle size, structural and photoluminescence spectra of nano NiCr2O4 and La doped NiCr2O4 materials.

Nano NiCr2O4 undoped and La doped NiCr2O4 nanorods array were successfully prepared by solution based conventional method[sbcm]. The synthesized samples were characterized by the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy for finding optical properties. Further, the samples structure confirmed by Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD)techniques. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) analysis revealed the attachment of NiCr2O4 nanorods on surface of nanoparticles. From the results, it was found that the reaction time, band gap energy, and particle size strongly influenced by changing the concentration of La in NiCr2O4. This work is notable for its examination of the impact of the precursor on the optical and structural characteristics of samples of La-doped and undoped NiCr2O4. This was the first time the investigation had been done. The average particle size of the La-doped and undoped NiCr2O4 samples is between 16 and 24 nm.

Recent advances in the synthesis and applications of mordenite zeolite - review.

Among the many industrially important zeolites, mordenite is found to be interesting because of its unique and exceptional physical and chemical properties. Mordenite (high silica zeolite) is generally prepared by the hydrothermal method using TEA+ cations. TEA+ cations are the best templating agent, though they can create a number of issues, for instance, generating poison and high manufacturing cost, wastewater contamination, and environmental pollution. Hence, it is necessary to find a mordenite synthesis method without using an organic template or low-cost template. In this review, a number of unique sources were used in the preparation of mordenite zeolite, for instance, silica sources (rice husk ash, silica gel, silica fumes), alumina sources (metakaolin, faujasite zeolite) and sources containing both silica and alumina (waste coal fly ash). These synthesis approaches are also based on the absence of a template or low-cost mixed organic templates (for instance, glycerol (GL), ethylene glycol (EG), and polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG)) or pyrrolidine-based mesoporogen (N-cetyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium) modifying the mordenite framework which can create unique properties. The framework properties and optical properties (indium-exchanged mordenite zeolite) have been discussed. Mordenite is generally used in alkylation, dewaxing, reforming, hydrocracking, catalysis, separation, and purification reactions because of its large pore size, strong acidity, and high thermal and chemical stability, although the applications are not limited for mordenite zeolite. Recently, several applications such as electrochemical detection, isomerization, carbonylation, hydrodeoxygenation, adsorption, biomass conversion, biological applications (antibacterial activity), photocatalysis, fuel cells and polymerization reactions using mordenite zeolite were explored which have been described in detail in this review.

Up-Scalable Synthesis of Size-Controlled White-Green Emitting Behavior of Core/Shell (CdSe/ZnS) Quantum Dots for LED Applications.

Research on CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dots (QDs) was synthesized by a chemical route using bio-conjugated organic amino acid (L-Cysteine). The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the nanocrystal powder samples were analyzed using various characterization techniques. The diameter of the resulting QDs was about 3 nm with uniform size distribution. The optical properties QDs exhibited an absorption and emission peak at 515 and 525 nm respectively, at room temperature. The QDs through emission in the spectral range at 516-535 nm is special for their application in green LEDs and white-light generation. The high optical properties performance of the QDs nanocomposites gained indicates that the materials are promising for (LED) applications.

Optical properties and dye-sensitized solar cell applications of ZnO nanostructures prepared by microwave combustion synthesis.

In the present study, ZnO nanoparticles (ZNPs) and nanoflakes (ZNFs) were prepared by conventional combustion method and microwave combustion method, respectively. The structural phase and morphology were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The crystallite size was calculated using Scherrer formula, and it lies in the range of 20-21 nm for ZNFs and 23-28 nm for ZNPs. The elemental analysis was investigated by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Also, absorbance and emission spectra were measured by using diffuse reflectance (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) studies. The band gap was measured using Kubelka-Munk model and it shows 3.47 eV for ZNFs and 3.26 eV for ZNPs. A fill factor (FF) of 0.57, short-circuit current (J(sc)) of 8.02 mA/cm2, open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.70 V and an overall light to electricity conversion efficiency (eta) of 1.62% were obtained from the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs) based on ZNFs.

Phytosynthesis of nanoscale ZnAl2O4 by using Sesamum (Sesamum indicum L.) optical and catalytic properties.

There is a growing concern for the development of alternative environment friendly sustainable methods for the preparation of nanomaterials. Phytosynthesis of nano zinc aluminate by a microwave method using high purity metal nitrates and Sesamum (Sesamum indicum L.) extract is reported in this work. Sesamum (Sesamum indicum L.) extract simplifies the process and provides an alternative method for a simple and economical way of synthesis of nano zinc aluminate. It is also prepared by conventional method for comparison purpose. The obtained nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The formation of pure zinc aluminate phase is confirmed by XRD and FT-IR. The change in morphology from nanoplates to nanoporous sheets from the conventional to microwave heating method is clearly shown by HR-SEM. UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) studies revealed the band gap energy of ZnAl2O4 nanoplates and nanoporous sheets as 4.0 to 4.2 eV respectively. Photoluminescence (PL) emissions are centered at around 480, 519 and 545 nm, respectively. ZnAl2O4 nanoporous sheets prepared by microwave method showed better catalytic activity for the oxidation benzyl alcohol (90%) than ZnAl2O4 nanoplates prepared by conventional method (51%).