Advanced materials are essential to the quality of modern day life, but the synthesis of these compounds is often inefficient in terms of energy, time and resources; especially when considering the hydrothermal batch methods used to prepare many such compounds – often requiring week-long reaction times with variable yields and product quality. In contrast, Continuous flow synthesis (CFS) provides a more readily scalable means for the efficient, effective and reproducible synthesis of inorganic compounds. This publication demonstrates the novel CFS of several metal ammonium phosphates and compare the effect of synthesis route on particle size, size distribution, and crystallinity.

Genesis of Pure Se(0) Nano- and Micro- structures in Wastewater

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2043-6254/ab52f7/pdf

Comparative study of crystallite size using Williamson-Hall and Debye-Scherrer plots for ZnO nanoparticles

Surfactant-assisted synthesis of photocatalysts: Mechanism, synthesis, recent advances and environmental application

As a wide‐bandgap semiconductor material, titanium dioxide (TiO2), which possesses three crystal polymorphs (i.e., rutile, anatase, and brookite), has gained tremendous attention as a cutting‐edge material for application in the environment and energy fields. Based on the strong attractiveness from its advantages such as high stability, excellent photoelectric properties, and low‐cost fabrication, the construction of high‐performance photodetectors (PDs) based on TiO2 nanostructures is being extensively developed. An elaborate microtopography and device configuration is the most widely used strategy to achieve efficient TiO2‐based PDs with high photoelectric performances; however, a deep understanding of all the key parameters that influence the behavior of photon‐generated carriers, is also highly required to achieve improved photoelectric performances, as well as their ultimate functional applications. Herein, an in‐depth illustration of the electrical and optical properties of TiO2 nanostructures in addition to the advances in the technological issues such as preparation, microdefects, p‐type doping, bandgap engineering, heterojunctions, and functional applications are presented. Finally, a future outlook for TiO2‐based PDs, particularly that of further functional applications is provided. This work will systematically illustrate the fundamentals of TiO2 and shed light on the preparation of more efficient TiO2 nanostructures and heterojunctions for future photoelectric applications.

Application of Nanostructured TiO2 in UV Photodetectors: A Review

Organic and inorganic antibacterial approaches in combating bacterial infection for biomedical application

In the past few decades, extensive studies have been carried out on TiO2 nanostructures having hierarchical morphologies and their applications in diverse fields. By controlling the size and composition of the different TiO2 morphologies, new and improved properties have been realized, leading to significant advancements in materials chemistry, in the broad areas of energy and environment. The improved efficiency and wide applications of these materials are attributed to their physicochemical properties such as stability, efficient electronic and ionic charge transfer, higher specific surface area, etc. In this review, we discuss the different morphologies of hierarchical TiO2 nanoparticles and the properties that have been influenced by these morphologies, enabling their diverse applications. Several composites using the different TiO2 hierarchical forms have been synthesized which too find wide applications. The excellent physical properties of zero, one, two, and three-dimensional TiO2 nanostructures, the relationship between the morphologies of TiO2 nanostructures, and their activities in energy and environment applications have been discussed.

A review of hierarchical nanostructures of TiO2: Advances and applications

The effect of surfactant and dopant on the properties of zinc oxide nanoparticles were studied by preparing polyethylene glycol (PEG) capped ZnO and tungsten doped PEG capped ZnO nanoparticles via the electrochemical method. These nanoparticles were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy (UV-DRS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Dispersive Analysis of X Rays (EDAX). The photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye using these nanoparticles was studied under visible light. The effects of various reaction parameters like dye concentration, catalyst concentration, pH and time were studied to optimize the photodegradation reaction. Reusability of these nanoparticles was studied and no significant change was observed in the degradation efficiency of PEG capped ZnO till the fourth cycle, while there was a gradual decrease in the degradation efficiency of tungsten doped PEG capped ZnO. Langmuir- Hinshelwood kinetic model well describes the photodegradation capacity and the degradation of malachite green follows pseudo-first order kinetics.Photocatalytic studies reveal that PEG capping increases the degradation properties of ZnO while tungsten doping decreases the extent of PEG capping and has a detrimental effect on the degradation properties of ZnO. The prepared nanoparticles exhibit significant antibacterial properties against gram-positive Bacillus cereus and gram-negative Escherichia coli bacterial strains by agar well diffusion method.

Electrochemical synthesis, photodegradation and antibacterial properties of PEG capped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Biogenic synthesis of g-C3N4/Bi2O3 heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic activity and statistical optimization of reaction parameters

Recent trends in photocatalytic water splitting using titania based ternary photocatalysts-A review

Adsorption is a possible method with distinct advantages to remediate pollution due to dyes. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) coated ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized using the electrochemical method. The final product was dried at different temperatures, 60, 120, 150 and 300 °C. The sample dried at 60 °C was found to have the maximum SLS coating on its surface providing high negative charge density. This facilitates the adsorption of cationic dyes on its surface through electrostatic attraction. The effect of SLS on the adsorption process was confirmed by comparing it with ZnO without SLS. The effect of important parameters such as amount of adsorbent, concentration of dye, temperature and time on the percentage of adsorption was investigated using Box-Behnken design (BBD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The prepared catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction analysis, infrared spectroscopic analysis, scanning electron microscopy, elemental detection analysis, thermogravimetric and zeta potential analysis. Finally, the study was extended to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms in order to confirm the type of adsorption. The adsorption kinetics studies showed that it obeys pseudo second order kinetics.

Effect of surface charge and other critical parameters on the adsorption of dyes on SLS coated ZnO nanoparticles and optimization using response surface methodology

Dephan Pinheiro

Papers

A review of hierarchical nanostructures of TiO2: Advances and applications

Electrochemical synthesis, photodegradation and antibacterial properties of PEG capped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Biogenic synthesis of g-C3N4/Bi2O3 heterojunction with enhanced photocatalytic activity and statistical optimization of reaction parameters

Recent trends in photocatalytic water splitting using titania based ternary photocatalysts-A review

Effect of surface charge and other critical parameters on the adsorption of dyes on SLS coated ZnO nanoparticles and optimization using response surface methodology