ZrxCa30-xP70 thermoluminescent bio glass, structure and elasticity.

Phosphate glasses of calcium oxide have been well proved materials for various bio bones and dental implants. However, still there is a lot of scope and demand to produce efficient elastic bio implants and resource. In view of this, ZrxCa30-xP70 phosphate materials are prepared by using melt quenching method. Bio, physical, thermoluminescence and elastic techniques are used to characterize the samples. Additionally, simulated body fluid was prepared and it is used especially for bio techniques. Further, the glasses are taken for different dose (~0, 10, 20 & 50 kGy) of gamma irradiation around half an hour. And again similar techniques are used to characterize the samples. All the findings from bio, physical, thermoluminescence and elastic characterization results are analysed and took for better comparison with previous studies to develop various bio bone (or) bio dental resource. Structural reports suggests that the ZrxCa30-xP70 materials were glassy before immersion in SBF solution and immersed (~720 h) samples are showing partial ceramic nature. The weight loss and pH reports suggests them for alternative bio resource as a bio bones and dental implants. Observed thermal stability, microhardness and elastic modulus evaluations of ZrxCa30-xP70 materials in required standards are also additional advantage. Furthermore, thermoluminiscence (TL) under different γ-irradiation doses is reported for glasses with and without immersing in a simulated body fluid. The glasses lose TL intensity when immersed in simulated body fluid for nearly 720 h. This is useful to modulate bio-behaviour in terms of hydroxyapatite layer growth on the glass surface.

High photoelectrochemical performance of reduced graphene oxide wrapped, CdS functionalized, TiO2 multi-leg nanotubes.

Absorption of visible light and separation of photogenerated charges are two primary pathways to improve the photocurrent performance of semiconductor photoelectrodes. Here, we present a unique design of tricomponent photocatalyst comprising of TiO2 multileg nanotubes (MLNTs), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and CdS nanoparticles. The tricomponent photocatalyst shows a significant red-shift in the optical absorption (∼2.2 eV) compared to that of bare TiO2 MLNTs (∼3.2 eV). The availability of both inner and outer surfaces areas of MLNTs, the visible light absorption of CdS, and charge separating behavior of reduced graphene oxide layers contribute coherently to yield a photocurrent density of ∼11 mA cm-2 @ 1 V vs. Ag/AgCl (100 mW cm-2, AM 1.5 G). Such a high PEC performance from TiO2/rGO/CdS photoelectrode system has been analyzed using diffused reflectance (DRS) and electrochemical impedance (EIS) spectroscopy techniques. The efficient generation of charge carriers under light irradiation and easy separation because of favourable band alignment, are attributed to the high photoelectrochemical current density in these tricomponent photocatalyst systems.

Photo-electrochemical properties of graphene wrapped hierarchically branched nanostructures obtained through hydrothermally transformed TiO2 nanotubes.

Hierarchically structured nanomaterials play an important role in both light absorption and separation of photo-generated charges. In the present study, hierarchically branched TiO2 nanostructures (HB-MLNTs) are obtained through hydrothermal transformation of electrochemically anodized TiO2 multi-leg nanotubes (MLNT) arrays. Photo-anodes based on HB-MLNTs demonstrated 5 fold increase in applied bias to photo-conversion efficiency (%ABPE) over that of TiO2 MLNTs without branches. Further, such nanostructures are wrapped with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films to enhance the charge separation, which resulted in ∼6.5 times enhancement in %ABPE over that of bare MLNTs. We estimated charge transport (η tr) and charge transfer (η ct) efficiencies by analyzing the photo-current data. The ultra-fine nano branches grown on the MLNTs are effective in increasing light absorption through multiple scattering and improving charge transport/transfer efficiencies by enlarging semiconductor/electrolyte interface area. The charge transfer resistance, interfacial capacitance and electron decay time have been estimated through electrochemical impedance measurements which correlate with the results obtained from photocurrent measurements.

Graphene Oxide Modified TiO2 Micro Whiskers and Their Photo Electrochemical Performance.

Harnessing the solar energy and producing clean fuel hydrogen through efficient photo-electrochemical water splitting has remained one of the most challenging endeavors in materials science. The core problem is to develop a suitable photo-catalyst material that absorbs a significant part of the solar spectrum and produces electron-hole pairs that can be easily separated without recombination. In the recent times, the composite of Titanium dioxide with graphene have been investigated to explore the advantages of both class of materials. Here we report on the photo-electrochemical properties of reduced graphene oxide functionalised TiO2 whiskers. The TiO2 whiskers are obtained from potassium titanium oxide (KTi8O16) synthesized through hydrothermal technique followed by ion exchange method and heat treatment. Graphene oxide was deposited on the as prepared TiO2 whiskers using hydrothermal method. As formed samples were characterized by Raman spectroscopy to confirm the presence of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) attached to TiO2 whiskers. Comparative photo electrochemical studies were carried out for TiO2 and reduced graphene oxide modified TiO2 whiskers. Among these, RGO modified TiO2 whiskers show significantly higher photo current density possibly due to enhancement in charge separation ability and longer electron life times.

10H-Phenothiazines: a new class of enzyme inhibitors for inflammatory diseases.

The phenothiazine nucleus is known for their inhibitory activity towards the regulatory enzymes that are contributing to diseases such as asthma, autoimmune diseases including allergic rheumatoid and encephalomyelitis. In this study a number of substituted phenothiazines were synthesized and screened for their biological activity against the regulatory enzymes involved in inflammatory diseases. Our results show that the newly synthesized compounds 4a-c and 5a-c exhibited promising target specific enzyme inhibition against phosphodiesterase, prostaglandin dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase activity depending on steric factors of the molecules.