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We report on the nature of charge-neutral exciton emission decay, exciton-trion conversion as well as their phonon coupling in exfoliated WSe2 nanosheets subjected to ~ 1.3 MeV energetic γ-photons. Steady-state photoluminescence (PL) spectra, upon deconvolution, showed prominent emission peaks at ~ 680 nm, ~ 712 nm, and ~ 730 nm and ascribed to 2s, and 1s excitons and trions respectively, while the chalcogen vacancy (VSe) mediated defect emission peak found at ~ 790 nm. From the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, we noticed a clear shifting of the fundamental peaks due to W and Se toward higher binding energy values and were attributed to the radiation-induced alteration in the oxidation states locally, taking advantage of the manifestation of point defects/vacancies. Moreover, the time-resolved PL spectra signify an anomalous variation in the fast parameter (0.4–0.86 ns), and with slow parameter (2.46–3.82 ns) getting slower with increasing γ-dose. A slight variation in the exciton-phonon coupling factor is noted with Se-ph < 1 indicating a weaker interaction and featuring maximal envelope over all the phonon replica near the zero-phonon line. In contrast, trion-phonon coupling factor, St-ph > 1, or < 1 depending on its spin degeneracy (ζ = 2 s + 1; with 2, for s = 1/2 and 4 for s = 3/2). The highest St-ph value determined was ~ 1.82 ± 0.2 which declines monotonically with increasing dose but remained greater than unity up to a γ-dose as high as 96 kGy. The implication of trion-phonon coupling has immense scope in nano-photovoltaics, and nano-electronics as well as heat sinks in nanogenerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current research, we report on the synthesis of WO3/GQD system as a heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of waste cooking oil into biodiesel using methanol. The characterization of the prepared catalyst was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurement. To study the effect of process variables such as methanol to oil ratio, reaction temperature, and time, we have employed response surface methodology (RSM) based on Box-Behnken design (BBD). The suitability of the predicted model was verified, and the average biodiesel yield of (96.8 ± 0.16%) was reported at optimal reaction condition of 1:6 oil to methanol ratio, 70 °C reaction temperature, 2 wt% catalyst loading, and 3.5 h reaction time. Biodiesel was characterized using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) techniques, and fatty acid methyl ester composition was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fuel properties of the biodiesel obtained comply with ASTMD6751 biodiesel standards. The kinetics of transesterification was studied and found to follow pseudo-first order. The results showed the rate constant ranging from 0.0028 to 0.007 min−1, activation energy (Ea) of 55.92 kJ mol−1, and frequency factor (A) of 1.72 × 106 min−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of electrochemical sensing activity of hydrothermally derived PPy-MoS 2 -based nanocomposites subjected to 90 MeV C 6+ ion beam with fluence ranging, 1.0 × 10 10 -1.0 × 10 13 ions/cm 2 , is reported. Cross-linking, chain scissioning, and ion track formation could occur in the irradiated systems, as revealed from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) studies. Electrochemical studies, viz., cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were performed in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) containing 5 mM K 3 [Fe(CN) 6 ] as redox probe. High redox activity, lower charge transfer resistance (R ct  = 490 Ω) and larger electroactive area (A = 0.4485 cm 2 ) were obtained in case of the composite system irradiated with a fluence of 3.5 × 10 11 ions/cm 2 . Immunosensor fabrication was executed via immobilization of mouse IgG over the pristine and post-irradiated electrodes. Afterwards, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was performed within the potential window - 0.2 to + 0.6 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) for the detection of specific analyte. Noticeably, the electrode system irradiated with a fluence of 3.5 × 10 11 ions/cm 2 is characterized by a lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.203 nM and a higher sensitivity value of 10.0 µA mL ng -1  cm -2 . The energetic particle irradiation at a modest fluence can offer beneficial effects to the PPy-MoS 2 -based nanohybrid system providing immense scope as advanced electrochemical biosensor., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

In this study, we have stated the green biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by utilizing the extract of Monstera deliciosa leaves (MDL) as a reducing agent. Biosynthesized flat, thin, and single-crystalline gold nanotriangles obtained through centrifugation are then analyzed by different characterization techniques. The UV - visible absorption spectra of AuNPs exhibited maxima bands in the range of 500-590 nm, indicating a characteristic of AuNPs. XRD analysis revealed the formation of the (111)-oriented face-centered cubic (FCC) phase of AuNPs. ATR-IR spectra showed signatures of stretching vibrations of O-H, C-H, C=C, C=O, C-O, and C-N, accompanied by CH 3 rocking vibrations present in functional groups of biomolecules. FESEM images confirmed spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter in the range of 53-66 nm and predominantly triangular morphology of synthesized AuNPs within the size range of 420-800 nm. NMR, GC-MS, and HR-MS studies showed the presence of different biomolecules, including phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidants in MDL extracts, which play a crucial role of both, reducing as well as stabilizing and capping agents to form stable AuNPs by a bottom-up approach. They were then investigated for their antibacterial assay against Gram-positive ( S. aureus, B. subtilis ) and Gram-negative ( E. coli, P. aeruginosa ) microorganisms, along with testing of antifungal potential against various fungi ( Penicillium sp., Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani ) using the well diffusion method. Here, biosynthesized AuNPs showed non-antimicrobial properties against all four used bacteria and fungi, showing their suitability as a contender for biomedical applications in drug delivery ascribed to their inert and biocompatible nature., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03898-0., (© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Electrochemically deposited bimetallic copper-gold nanoparticles on indium tin oxide (Cu-AuNPs on ITO) glass are demonstrated to be a sensitive and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform. An optimal signal enhancement with reasonably good degree of homogeneity was obtained by tuning the deposition parameters of the electrochemical setup. For Raman active analytes such as malachite green (MG) and rhodamine 6G (R6G), the developed SERS platform yields a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.75 nM. The usability of the proposed SERS platform has been realized through detection of two important antibiotics namely sulfamethoxazole (SFZ) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) commonly used in egg farms. Furthermore, a machine learning (ML)-based model coupled with a dimensionality reduction technique-principal component analysis (PCA)-has been implemented to classify the targeted analytes in egg samples., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

The uses of highly luminescent perovskite quantum dots in real analytical detection were limited by their supersensitive nature. Here, we have designed a CsPbBr 3 perovskite based fluorometric sensor by integrating them with a zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-8) via an in situ one step technique and established its stability in aqueous and other polar solvents. The CsPbBr 3 @ZIF-8 luminescence sensor functioned excellently for the trace detection of 4-nitroaniline and rhodamine blue dye molecules with a detection limit value of 8.367 ppb and 0.088 ppm, respectively. A comprehensive investigation found that the quenching of the fluorescence signal occurred via fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for rhodamine blue dye and a H-bonding interaction induced trap density mediated quenching mechanism was responsible for 4-NA detection. The potential of this suggested sensor as a cheap portable test paper probe for analyte detection was also explored. This study introduces CsPbBr 3 as a cutting-edge sensing platform for industrial pollutants such as dye molecules and nitroaromatics.

The self avoiding walk (SAW) model of the polymer has been extended to study the equilibrium properties of double stranded DNA (dsDNA) where two strands of the dsDNA are modeled by two mutually attracting self-avoiding walks (MASAWs) in the presence of an attractive surface. We study simultaneous adsorption and force induced melting transitions and explore different phases of DNA. It is observed that melting is entropically dominated, which can be substantially reduced under the application of an applied force. We consider three scenarios, where the surface is weakly, moderately and highly attractive. For both weakly and moderately attractive surfaces, the DNA desorbs from the surface in a zipped form and acquires the conformation of a melted state with the rise in temperature. However, for a strongly attractive surface, the force applied at one end of the strand (strand-II) results in unzipping, while the other strand (strand-I) remains adsorbed on the surface. We identify this as adsorption-induced unzipping, where the force applied on a single strand (strand-II) can unzip the dsDNA if the surface interaction energy exceeds a specific threshold. We also note that at a moderate surface attraction, the desorbed-zipped DNA melts with an increase in temperature and the free strand (strand-I) gets re-adsorbed onto the surface.

The equilibrium organization of two polymers in strong confinement has been extensively investigated in the scope of simple models in the recent past, after it was suggested that the entropic repulsion between polymers could be a mechanism for chromosome separation in living cells. Despite many efforts, how solvent quality can manipulate separation or compaction for the formation of domains in a two-polymer model system within symmetric or asymmetric confinement still remains elusive. This paper presents some important findings for a two-polymer system within box-like (symmetric) and triangle-like (asymmetric) confinement with equal areas, in terms of structural transitions such as from a single globule to individual globules, non-monotonic change in polymer size, variation in the free-energy barrier with separation, etc. By using the exact enumeration method on a two-dimensional self-avoiding walk model of polymers, our results reveal that the polymers have a greater preference to form individual globules rather than a 'micelle'-like single globule in triangular confinement compared to box-like confinement. Additionally, our results suggest that asymmetric confinement can act as an ideal tool to trap polymers in poor solvents due to the large free-energy barrier.

In this paper, we present a novel, one-step synthesis of SnO 2 nanoparticle-CeO 2 nanorod sensing material using a surfactant-mediated hydrothermal method. The bifunctional utility of the synthesized sensing material toward room-temperature sensing of CO gas and low-concentration optosensing of arsenic has been thoroughly investigated. The CeO 2 -SnO 2 nanohybrid was characterized using sophisticated analytical techniques such as transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and so forth. The CeO 2 -SnO 2 nanohybrid-based sensor exhibited a strong response toward CO gas at room temperature. Under a low concentration (3 ppm) of CO gas, the CeO 2 -SnO 2 sensing material showed an excellent response time of 21.1 s for 90% of the response was achieved with a higher recovery time of 59.6 s. The nanohybrid sensor showed excellent low-concentration (1 ppm) sensing behavior which is ∼6.7 times higher than that of the pristine SnO 2 sensors. The synergistically enhanced sensing properties of CeO 2 -SnO 2 nanohybrid-based sensors were discussed from the viewpoint of the CeO 2 -SnO 2 n-n heterojunction and the effect of oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the SnO 2 -CeO 2 nanoheterojunction showed luminescence centers and prolonged electron-hole recombination, thereby resulting in quenching of luminescence in the presence of arsenate ions. The photoluminescence of CeO 2 -SnO 2 is sensitive to the arsenate ion concentration in water and can be used for sensing arsenate with a limit of detection of 4.5 ppb in a wide linear range of 0 to 100 ppb., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

We study dsDNA (double strand DNA) melting in detail within varying strip-like confinement in a two-dimensional lattice model. The interplay between reduced configurational entropy and attractive base-pairing energy results in a non-monotonic melting profile of DNA. Structural transitions associated with confined DNA melting reveal a stretched or extended state for very strong confinement. By using the exact enumeration method, we investigate the emergence of a local denatured zone e.g. bubbles during DNA melting. The survival time of a single bubble within varying strip width is studied from the Fokker-Planck formalism by considering the bubble size as a reaction co-ordinate. We show that a simple lattice model can capture the sequence heterogeneity effect on DNA melting and bubble dynamics within the strip. Different time scales of bubble zipping for different DNA sequences are found, which may have potential applications in denaturation mapping.

By employing the exact enumeration technique on the lattice model of a polymer, we study the migration of the polymer chain across an entropic trap in a quasiequilibrium condition and explore the effect of solvent gradient present in the entropic trap which acts both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of migration. The Fokker-Planck formalism utilizes the free energy landscape of a polymer chain across the channel in the presence of the entropic trap to calculate the migration time. It is revealed that the migration is fast when the solvent gradient acts along the migration axis (i.e., x axis) inside the channel in comparison to the channel having the entropic trap. We report here for the first time that the entropic trap makes the migration faster at a certain value of solvent gradient. We also study the effect of transverse solvent gradient (along the y axis) inside the trap and investigate the structural changes of the polymer during migration through the channel. We observe the nonmonotonic dependence of migration time on the solvent gradient.

Herein, Fe 3 O 4 -SnO 2 nanoheterojunction has been synthesized and successfully encapsulated in gC 3 N 4 matrix using a novel hydrothermal technique. The synthesized material was characterized using sophisticated analytical methods like XRD, TEM, BET, UV-Vis, VSM and XPS to evaluate structural, morphological, optical, magnetic and surface chemical properties. The hybrid nanostructure Fe 3 O 4 -SnO 2 -gC 3 N 4 has been utilized for the LED light-induced photocatalytic degradation of carbofuran. The catalyst exhibited notable photocatalytic performance under visible light with an efficiency of ~89% and pseudo first order rate constant of 0.015 min -1 . The result of change in variables like catalyst dose, pollutant concentration, pH and contact time on the photodegradation efficiency and degradation kinetics was studied. The incorporation of Fe 3 O 4 improved the magnetic separation of the catalyst after several cycles of operation, thereby improving the practical utility of the catalyst system to tackle organic pollutants., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Herein, we have developed a novel synthetic strategy for the fabrication of Au-SnO 2 -CdS ternary nano-heterojunction catalyst and its utility towards LED light derived photocatalytic degradation of imidacloprid has been evaluated. The synthesized ternary nanocomposite was characterized using sophisticated analytical techniques to evaluate the catalyst's morphological, structural and surface chemical properties. The photocatalytic activity of the ternary catalyst towards the degradation of imidacloprid was evaluated under LED irradiation. Approximately 95% of the degradation efficiency was achieved with a pseudo-first-order reaction rate of 15.6 × 10 -3 min -1 . The degradation efficiency of Au-SnO 2 -CdS nano-catalyst was found to be ~1.2, 1.4 and 2.1 times to that of the pristine Au, CdS and SnO 2 nanomaterials under similar experimental conditions. The effect of variation of parameters like contact time, initial pollutant concentration and pH on degradation efficiency has also been investigated. Moreover, the identification of various degradation products and reactive intermediates were made with high-performance liquid chromatography and electron spin resonance techniques., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)