Overview of the advances in plant microbial fuel cell technology for sustainable energy recovery from rhizodeposition.

In plant microbial fuel cells (p-MFCs) electrochemically active microbes present around the plant root convert rhizodeposits or the organic matter into electrons, protons, and CO2 . This work covers the increasing trend in research with p-MFCs with their mechanism of operation. Different plant species and their selection criteria are also covered. Furthermore, the long-term evaluation of such systems with its cost effectiveness and commercial and environmental perspectives are also presented. A critical aspect for bioelectricity production is the photosynthetic pathway of the plant. Additionally, the microbial communities and reactor configurations employed across different capacities are also reviewed. The challenges with bioelectricity production and the opportunity for developing p-MFCs in conjunction with traditional MFCs are also covered. These electrogenic reactor systems harness bioelectricity without harvesting the plant and has the capacity to utilize this energy for remote power applications.

Optimizing the alkali treatment of cellulosic Himalayan nettle fibre for reinforcement in polymer composites.

The Himalayan nettle plant can yield strong and long bast fibre. In this study, the extracted fibres were treated with 3, 5, 7, and 10 wt% alkali solution and characterised the raw and treated fibres for chemical, morphological, physical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The objective is to find the optimized alkali concentration for fibre surface treatment to use as reinforcement in polymer composites. Results revealed that alkali treatment removed waxes, lignin, and hemicellulose from the surface and enhanced the fibre properties to make it compatible with the polymer matrix. However, alkali concentration affected the fibre properties significantly. 5 % alkali treatment resulted in a maximum crystallinity index (79.1 %), average roughness (26.8 nm), tensile strength (296.97 MPa), activation energy (181.33/180.97 kJ/mol) and initial temperature for stage II degradation (311.2 °C). This investigation concludes that 5 % is the optimized alkali concentration for surface treatment of the nettle fibre.

Comparative Study of CO2 Capture by Adsorption in Sustainable Date Pits-Derived Porous Activated Carbon and Molecular Sieve.

The rising CO2 concentration has prompted the quest of innovative tools to reduce its effect on the environment. A comparative adsorption study using sustainable low-cost date pits-derived activated carbon and molecular sieve has been carried out for CO2 separation. The adsorb ents were characterized for surface area and morphological properties. The outcomes of flow rate, temperature and initial adsorbate concentration on adsorption performance were examined. The process effectiveness was investigated by breakthrough time, adsorbate loading, efficiency, utilized bed height, mass transfer zone and utilization factor. The immensely steep adsorption response curves demonstrate acceptable utilization of adsorbent capability under breakthrough condition. The adsorbate loading 73.08 mg/g is achieved with an 0.938 column efficiency for developed porous activated carbon at 298 K. The reduced 1.20 cm length of mass transfer zone with enhanced capacity utilization factor equal 0.97 at 298 K with Cin = 5% signifies better adsorption performance for date pits-derived adsorbent. The findings recommend that produced activated carbon is greatly promising to adsorb CO2 in fixed bed column under continuous mode.

CO2 Capture by Low-Cost Date Pits-Based Activated Carbon and Silica Gel.

The rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are causing escalating average global temperatures. The capture of CO2 by adsorption has been carried out using silica gel type III and prepared activated carbon. The date pits-based activated carbon was synthesized using a tubular furnace by physical activation. The temperature of the sample was increased at 10 °C/min and the biomass was carbonized under N2 flow maintained continuously for 2 h at 600 °C. The activation was performed with the CO2 flow maintained constantly for 2 h at 600 °C. The temperature, feed flow and adsorbate volume were the parameters considered for CO2 adsorption. The success of CO2 capture was analyzed by CO2 uptake, efficiency based on column capacity, utilization factors and the mass transfer zone. The massively steep profiles of the breakthrough response of the AC demonstrate the satisfactory exploitation of CO2 uptake under the conditions of the breakthrough. The SG contributed to a maximal CO2 uptake of 8.61 mg/g at 298 K and Co = 5% with F = 5 lpm. The enhanced CO2 uptake of 73.1 mg/g was achieved with a column efficiency of 0.94 for the activated carbon produced from date pits at 298 K. The AC demonstrated an improved performance with a decreased mass transfer zone of 1.20 cm with an enhanced utilization factor f = 0.97 at 298 K. This finding suggests that a date pits-based activated carbon is suitable for CO2 separation by adsorption from the feed mixture.

Disulfide exchange assisted self-healing epoxy/PDMS/graphene oxide nanocomposites.

Vitrimers, a class of polymeric networks that change their topology above a threshold temperature, have been investigated in recent years. In order to further extend their properties, in this research, we demonstrate disulfide exchange assisted polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)- and graphene oxide (GO)-involved epoxy vitrimers, which exhibit a reduction in glass transition temperature and storage modulus with increase in flexural strain and low-temperature self-healing. Stress relaxation and Arrhenius study were carried out for the analysis of vitrimeric behavior, where the prepared epoxy material displays self-healing at 80 °C for 5 min, whereas a low-temperature self-healing (60 °C) was observed for epoxy/PDMS/GO nanocomposites.