Development of ZnO-GO-NiO membrane for removal of lead and cadmium heavy metal ions from wastewater.

The presence of heavy metal (HM) ions, such as lead, cadmium, and chromium in industrial wastewater discharge are major contaminants that pose a risk to human health. These HMs should separate from the wastewater to ensure the reuse of the discharged water in the process and mitigate their environmental impacts. The distinctive mechanical properties of 2D graphene oxide (GO), and the antifouling characteristics of metal oxides (ZnO/NiO) nanoparticles combined to produce composites supporting special features for wastewater treatment. This study employed solution casting and phase inversion methods to synthesize PSF-based GO, ZnO-GO, and ZnO-GO-NiO mixed matrix membranes and the effects of variation in composition on the removal of lead (Pb2+) and cadmium (Cd2+) ion was examined. Several characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were applied to analyze the synthesized NPs and MMMs. The composite membranes were also analyzed in terms of their porosity, permeability, hydrophilicity, surface roughness, zeta potential, thermal stability, mechanical strength, and flux regeneration at various transmembrane pressures (2-3 kgcm-2), and pH value (5.5). The highest adsorption capacities were measured to be 308.16 mg g-1 and 354.80 mg g-1 for Pb (II) and Cd (II), respectively, for membrane (M4_A) having 0.3 wt% of ZnO-GO-NiO nanocomposite, at 200 mg L-1 of feed concentration and 1.60 mL min-1 of permeate flux. The Pb (II) and Cd (II) adsorption breakthrough curves were created, and the results of the experiment were compared with the data of the Thomas model.

Unraveling the structure and role of Mn and Ce for NOx reduction in application-relevant catalysts.

Mn-based oxides are promising for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx with NH3 at temperatures below 200 °C. There is a general agreement that combining Mn with another metal oxide, such as CeOx improves catalytic activity. However, to date, there is an unsettling debate on the effect of Ce. To solve this, here we have systematically investigated a large number of catalysts. Our results show that, at low-temperature, the intrinsic SCR activity of the Mn active sites is not positively affected by Ce species in intimate contact. To confirm our findings, activities reported in literature were surface-area normalized and the analysis do not support an increase in activity by Ce addition. Therefore, we can unequivocally conclude that the beneficial effect of Ce is textural. Besides, addition of Ce suppresses second-step oxidation reactions and thus N2O formation by structurally diluting MnOx. Therefore, Ce is still an interesting catalyst additive.

Synthesis and characterization of manganese containing mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

Mesoporous bioactive glass (BG) nanoparticles based in the system: SiO2-P2O5-CaO-MnO were synthesized via a modified Stöber process at various concentrations of Mn (0-7 mol %). The synthesized manganese-doped BG nanoparticles were characterized in terms of morphology, composition, in vitro bioactivity and antibacterial activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis confirmed that the particles had spherical morphology (mean particle size: 110 nm) with disordered mesoporous structure. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed the presence of Mn, Ca, Si and P in the synthesized Mn-doped BG particles. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that Mn has been incorporated in the amorphous silica network (bioactive glass). Moreover, it was found that manganese-doped BG particles form apatite crystals upon immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF). Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) measurements confirmed that Mn is released in a sustained manner, which provided antibacterial effect against Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The results indicate that the incorporation of Mn in the bioactive glass network is an effective strategy to develop novel multifunctional BG nanoparticles for bone tissue engineering.

Novel carbazole-pyridine copolymers by an economical method: synthesis, spectroscopic and thermochemical studies.

The synthesis, as well as spectroscopic and thermochemical studies of a novel class of carbazole-4-phenylpyridine co-polymers are described. The synthesis was carried out by a simple and cheaper method compared to the lengthy methods usually adopted for the preparation of carbazole-pyridine copolymers which involve costly catalysts. Thus, two series of polymers were synthesized by a modified Chichibabin reaction, i.e., by the condensation of diacetylated N-alkylcarbazoles with 3-substituted benzaldehydes in the presence of ammonium acetate in refluxing acetic acid. All the polymers were characterized by FTIR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorimetry, TGA and DSC. The weight average molecular masses (M(w)) of the polymers were estimated by the laser light scattering (LLS) technique.

(Biphenyl-4-yl)(phen-yl)methanone.

In the title compound, C(19)H(14)O, the dihedral angle between the two aromatic rings of the biphenyl residue is 8.0 (3)° and the dihedral angle between the two rings connected by the carbonyl C atom is 51.74 (18)°. There are no short C-H⋯O contacts in the crystal structure.