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Bamboo has become a new trend or focus point as a source of biomass energy in which its proper application is believed to generate the electricity with near-zero waste. ASEAN countries especially have an abundant amount of bamboo that has been use for decades in various applications through their civilization. This study aims to determine the feasibility of bamboo as a renewable energy resource in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. This paper reviews general biomass bamboo, availability, and methods of technology in the respective countries based on the review of publication papers and country reports. This fast-growing crop is identical for biomass production as it rapidly self-propagates. Bamboo requires minimum maintenance to grow and is always accessible to be harvested. The woody nature of the tropical bamboo stem contributes to its high calorific value in the form of energy. It was found that Indonesia had become a leading country in generating renewable energy via biomass bamboo through a power plant with a capacity of 700 kW off-grid in Mentawai, Japan with a power generation capacity of 995 kW and Malaysia with 4 MW, will be commercialised by 2023 and 2022. In conclusion, biomass bamboo has great potential for renewable energy generation within these countries. This has consequently contributed to increase in the value of bamboos while positively impacting the socioeconomic stance of the community.

Highlights Nb2C and Ta2C MXenes exhibit remarkable SERS performance with the enhancement factors of 3.0 × 106 and 1.4 × 106, which is synergistically enabled by the PICT resonance enhancement and electromagnetic enhancement.The excellent SERS sensitivity endows Ta2C MXene with the capability to sensitively detect and accurately identify the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is beneficial to achieve real-time monitoring and early warning of novel coronavirus. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40820-020-00565-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users., The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 has seriously threatened human health. Rapidly and sensitively detecting SARS-CoV-2 viruses can help control the spread of viruses. However, it is an arduous challenge to apply semiconductor-based substrates for virus SERS detection due to their poor sensitivity. Therefore, it is worthwhile to search novel semiconductor-based substrates with excellent SERS sensitivity. Herein we report, for the first time, Nb2C and Ta2C MXenes exhibit a remarkable SERS enhancement, which is synergistically enabled by the charge transfer resonance enhancement and electromagnetic enhancement. Their SERS sensitivity is optimized to 3.0 × 106 and 1.4 × 106 under the optimal resonance excitation wavelength of 532 nm. Additionally, remarkable SERS sensitivity endows Ta2C MXenes with capability to sensitively detect and accurately identify the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Moreover, its detection limit is as low as 5 × 10−9 M, which is beneficial to achieve real-time monitoring and early warning of novel coronavirus. This research not only provides helpful theoretical guidance for exploring other novel SERS-active semiconductor-based materials but also provides a potential candidate for the practical applications of SERS technology. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40820-020-00565-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ASEAN region is believed to have a great potential for biomass and solar energy generation due to its abundance of sunlight, rain, and fertile land. However, these resources are still underutilized as the current rate of renewable energy is relatively low, whereby most countries are still highly emphasizing fossil fuels. The use of fuel without replenishing the fuel source will ultimately deplete the resource in very much the same as fossil fuels currently utilized. While the concept of fuel replenishment seemed simple, the implementation posed a challenge to meet. This is where free energy in the form of solar, wind, wave, underground thermal, and biomass is being harnessed. Therefore, these forms of energy also have certain limitations depending on the geographical and the availability of the sources throughout the region. This study aims to analyze the current potential renewable energy scenario and future prospect of renewable energy resource for biomass and solar energy in selected ASEAN countries and Japan.

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Using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with Acetylene and Ammoniac on Pd-specimens Carbon nanotubes (CNT) could be produced successfully. Two different devices are compared and the conditions for best growth conditions are explained. The detailed analysis of electron diffraction pattern obtained by transmissions electron microscopy (TEM) of as-grown specimen showed an expansion of the Pd lattice, which can be explained by the formation of fcc-PdHx for x=0...1. For x=1..2 the first investigation of hexagonal -PdH2 is reported, which lattice spacing is independent on the hydrogen content. The amount of fcc-PdH and hcp-PdH2 increases when the specimens are treated subsequently with Hydrogen. A growth model is provided., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures

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