Catalytic degradation of carbamazepine by surface-modified zerovalent copper via the activation of peroxymonosulphate: mechanism, degradation pathways and ecotoxicity.

In this research work, surface-modified nano zerovalent copper (nZVC) was prepared using a simple borohydride reduction method. The spectroscopic and crystallographic results revealed the successful synthesis of surface-modified nano zerovalent copper (nZVC) using solvents such as ethanol (ETOH), ethylene glycol (EG) and tween80 (T80). The as-synthesized material was fully characterized for morphological surface and crystal structural properties. The results indicated that EG provides an excellent synthesis environment to nZVC compared to ETOH and T80 in terms of good dispersion, high surface area and excellent catalytic properties. The catalytic efficiency of nZVC/EG was investigated alone and with peroxymonosulphate (PMS) in the absence of light. The degradation results demonstrated that the involvement of PMS synergistically boosted the catalytic efficiency of synthesized nZVC/EG material. Furthermore, the degradation products (DPs) of CBZ were determined by GC-MS and subsequently, the degradation pathways were proposed. The ecotoxicity analysis of the DPs was also explored. The proposed (nZVC/EG/PMS) system is economical and efficient and thus could be applied for the degradation of CBZ from an aquatic system after altering the degradation pathways in such a way that results in harmless products.

A Systematic Review of the Role of Diet in Ulcerative Colitis.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by inflammation and ulceration of the colon and rectum. Diet is an important part of UC management because it can either aggravate or alleviate symptoms along with medication therapy. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using multiple databases (PubMed and Online Wiley Library) and search engines (Google Scholar) using specific keywords related to UC and diet. The search resulted in a large number of articles, which were then narrowed down by focusing on clinical trials and randomized controlled trials published between 2010 and 2023. According to the research, certain dietary interventions, such as the low FODMAP diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the anti-inflammatory diet, appear to improve symptoms and overall quality of life. Dietary interventions have the potential to help with UC management. The goal should be to provide patients with tailored dietary interventions and other treatments to improve their quality of life. More research is needed to identify the most effective dietary interventions and better understand how they work.

Development of zerovalent iron and titania (Fe0/TiO2) composite for oxidative degradation of dichlorophene in aqueous solution: synergistic role of peroxymonosulfate (HSO5-).

Binary composite of zerovalent iron and titanium dioxide (Fe0/TiO2) was synthesized for the catalytic removal of dichlorophene (DCP) in the presence of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The as-prepared composite (Fe0/TiO2) exhibits synergistic effect and enhanced properties like improved catalytic activity of catalyst and greater magnetic property for facile recycling of catalyst. The results showed that without addition of PMS at reaction time of 50 min, the percent degradation of DCP by TiO2, Fe0, and Fe0/TiO2 was just 5%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. However, with the addition of 0.8 mM PMS, at 10 min of reaction time, the catalytic degradation performance of Fe0, TiO2, and Fe0/TiO2 was significantly improved to 82%, 18%, and 88%, respectively. The as-prepared catalyst was fully characterized to evaluate its structure, chemical states, and morphology. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that in composite TiO2 causes dispersion of agglomerated iron particles which enhances porosity and surface area of the composites and X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) results revealed successful incorporation of Fe0, and oxides of Fe and TiO2 in the composite. The adsorption-desorption analysis verifies that the surface area of Fe0/TiO2 is significantly larger than bare Fe0 and TiO2. Moreover, the surface area, particle size, and crystal size of Fe0/TiO2 was surface area = 85 m2 g-1, particle size = 0.35 µm, and crystal size = 0.16 nm as compared to TiO2 alone (surface area = 22 m2 g-1, particle size = 4.25 µm, and crystal size = 25.4 nm) and Fe0 alone (surface area = 65 m2 g-1, particle size = 0.9 µm, and crystal size = 7.87 nm). The as-synthesized material showed excellent degradation performance in synthesized wastewater as well. The degradation products and their toxicities were evaluated and the resulted degradation mechanism was proposed accordingly. The toxicity values decreased in order of DP1 > DP5 > DP2 > DP3 > DP4 and the LC50 values toward fish for 96-h duration decreased from 0.531 to 67.2. This suggests that the proposed technology is an excellent option for the treatment of antibiotic containing wastewater.

A novel route for catalytic activation of peroxymonosulfate by oxygen vacancies improved bismuth-doped titania for the removal of recalcitrant organic contaminant.

In this work, bismuth-doped titania (BixTiO2) with improved oxygen vacancies was synthesized by sol-gel protocol as a novel peroxymonosulfate (PMS, HSO5-) activator. HSO5- and adsorbed oxygen molecules could efficiently be transformed into their respective radicals through defect ionization to attain charge balance after their trapping on oxygen vacancies of the catalyst. XRD study of BixTiO2 with 5 wt% Bi (5BiT) revealed anatase, crystalline nature, and successful doping of Bi into TiO2 crystal lattice. The particle size obtained from BET data and SEM observations was in good agreement. PL spectra showed the formation rates of •OH by 3BiT, 7BiT, 5BiTC, and 5BiT as 0.720, 1.200, 1.489, and 2.153 µmol/h, respectively. 5BiT catalyst with high surface area (216.87 m2 g-1) and high porosity (29.81%) was observed the excellent HSO5- activator. The catalytic performance of 0BiT, 3BiT, 5BiT, and 7BiT when coupled with 2 mM HSO5- for recalcitrant flumequine (FLU) removal under dark was 10, 27, 55, and 37%, respectively. Only 5.4% decrease in catalytic efficiency was observed at the end of seventh cyclic run. Radical scavenging studies indicate that SO4•- is the dominant species that caused 62.0% degradation. Moreover, strong interaction between Bi and TiO2 through Bi-O-Ti bonds prevents Bi leaching (0.081 mg L-1) as shown by AAS. The kinetics, degradation pathways, ecotoxicity, and catalytic mechanism for recalcitrant FLU were also elucidated. Cost-efficient, environment-friendly, and high mineralization recommends this design strategy; BixTiO2/HSO5- system is a promising advanced oxidation process for the aquatic environment remediation.