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Herein, zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF)-8/red phosphorus photocatalysts were prepared via a solvothermal method for simultaneous organic dye degradation and hydrogen (H 2 ) generation. The 5 wt% ZIF-8/RP photocatalyst achieved the highest H 2 generation rate of 822.5 μmol h -1 g -1 and 92% rhodamine dye degradation under natural sunlight irradiation. This approach offers an effective strategy to replace costly and toxic traditional electron donors with organic dye pollutants for H 2 generation.

Severe fog events during winter months in India are a serious concern due to the higher incidence of road accidents, flight delays and increased occurrence of respiratory diseases. The present paper is an attempt to study the twenty fog samples collected from the rooftop of an academic building of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India from November 2017 to January 2018. Fog samples were analysed for various parameters viz. pH, electrical conductivity (EC), chloride (Cl - ), nitrate (NO 3 - ) and sulphate (SO 4 2- ) levels. The pH, EC, and Cl - , NO 3 - and SO 4 2- levels in the fog samples were estimated as 6.3-7.9, 240-790 μS cm -1 , 108-2025 μeq L -1 , 105-836 μeq L -1 and 822-5642 μeq L -1 , respectively. It was noticed that sulphate was the dominant anion in fog samples. The SO 4 2- to NO 3 - molar ratio in the fog was estimated as 7.6 which suggests the burning of fossil fuel as the major pollutant from vehicular exhausts. Multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of PM 2.5 /PM 10 ratio and relative humidity (RH) on visibility. A box-cox plot of power transformation produced better model fitting, employing a square root transformation of the visibility which indicated that the PM 2.5 /PM 10 and RH have an exponential effect on visibility., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Isomerization reaction of glucose to fructose over sodium titanate nanotubes (Na-TNTs) as a Lewis base catalyst was studied. Analytical instruments recorded the specific structural, textural and basic properties of the as-synthesized Na-TNTs. Furthermore, studying the catalytic isomerization performance of the Na-TNTs confirmed their high catalytic efficiency and suitability in aqueous media. The catalyst prompted rapid glucose isomerization within 2 min by achieving nearly half of the maximum yield, whereas with a prolonged reaction up to 15 min the maximum glucose conversion could be reached with 31.26% fructose yield and 65.26% selectivity under relatively lower operating conditions (100 °C and 10% wt catalyst dose). However, the recyclability performance of the catalyst was not impressive due to the accelerated leaching of cations and surface retention of carbonaceous content, resulting in ∼16% reduced yield after 4 runs. A simple regeneration technique using NaOH led to the initial catalytic activity being totally regained. Overall, a titania-based catalyst (preferably nanotube structured sodium titanate) was shown as a potential catalyst for large-scale demonstration of glucose isomerization to achieve high fructose productivity., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)