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Present study showed the successful application of the modified hydrothermal method for synthesizing the zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) efficiently. Well as-synthesized ZnO-NPs are analyzed for various techniques viz., X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM micrographs, EDAX/Mapping pattern, Raman Spectroscopy Pattern, UV, Photoluminescence (PL) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. All these measurements showed that ZnO-NPs are highly pure with no internal defects, and can be potentially used in the plant applications. Hence, we further determined the effect of these nanoparticles and melatonin for the modulation of the As tolerance in soybean plants by examining the various growth attributes and metabolic parameters. Our results demonstrated that As-stress inhibited growth (∼34%), photosynthesis-related parameters (∼18-28%) and induced ROS accumulation; however, all these attributes are substantially reversed by the ZnO-NPs and melatonin treatments. Moreover, the As stress induced malondialdehyde (MDA; 71%) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2; 82%) are partially reversed by the ZnO-NPs and melatonin in the As-stressed plants. This might have resulted due to the ZnO-NPs and melatonin induced activities of the antioxidants plant defense. Overall, the ZnO-NPs and melatonin supplementation separately and in combination positively regulated the As tolerance in soybean; however, the effect of their combined application on the As tolerance was more profound relative to the individual application. These results suggested the synergetic effect of the ZnO-NPs and melatonin on the As tolerance in soybean. However, the in-depth mechanism underlying the defense crosstalk between the ZnO-NPs and melatonin needs to be further explored.

Room temperature positive magnetoresistance (PMR) in graphene is a conventional phenomenon but we observed large negative magnetoresistance (NMR) in GF/polydimethylsiloxane (GF/PDMS) at room temperature for the first time. The largest NMR ~ 35% was detected at 250 K, while PMR is observed below 200 K. Furthermore, PMR at all temperatures is observed in regular GF specimens, hence, NMR is the result of the infiltration with the electrically insulating polymer. Forward interference and wavefunction shrinkage model has been employed to understand the transport mechanism in GF/PDMS. A critical temperature ~ 224 K for switching between NMR and PMR is observed at the crystallization temperature of PDMS, suggesting a change in polymer chain conformation may be a major reason leading to NMR in GF/PDMS specimens thus role of mechanical properties of PDMS in NMR cannot be ignored and observed locally via specially resolved atomic force microscopy. In addition, storage modulus and heat flow study shows similar transition temperature (~ 200 K) of NMR to PMR and provide an evidence of mechanical stable specimens. As is known, large, tunable, and unsaturated NMR at room temperature is very useful for future facile practical shapeable magnetoelectronic devices.

In the current investigation, we presented the success of the modified hydrothermal method for synthesizing the iron-oxide nanoparticles (Fe

In this paper, CuInS2@ZnS (CIS@ZnS) core-shell quantum dots (QDs) were applied for the detection of heavy metals and bioanalytes. These Glutathione (GSH) capped CIS@ZnS QDs with an average size of 3.8 nm were treated using different biologically important biomolecule analytes, such as ascorbic acid (AA), citric acid (CA), oxalic acid (OA), cholesterol (Ch), cysteine (Cy), dextrose (Dx) and urea (U). According to spectroscopic analysis, the addition of cholesterol showed photoluminescence (PL) spectra of QDs remains unchanged at the main peak position 600 nm but generates a new peak at 487 nm with cholesterol dependent enhancement. Furthermore, the addition of citric acid contributes to PL quenching in the core-shell QDs without any spectral shift. Likewise, the interaction of CIS@ZnS QDs with different physiologically important heavy metal ions (HMI) was systematically studied as a luminescence probe. It was found out that the PL emission of CIS@ZnS QDs was effectively quenched by copper (Cu2+) ion with significant spectral shift detected. However, Hg2+ ions also lead to PL quenching at nanomolar level but with no spectral shift observed. According to these results, CIS@ZnS QDs are selectively sensitive to cholesterol, citric acid, Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions with satisfactory detection limit at nM level.

We have synthesized a series of Sm 0.55 Sr 0.45−x Ag x MnO 3 (x = 0 & 0.15) by conventional solid state reaction method to scrutinize the effect of monovalent Ag + as a replacement of Sr 2+ ion on structural, electrical, magnetotransport and thermoelectric properties. The structural parameters obtained using Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data which showed perovskite structure having orthorhombic ( Pnma ) symmetry without any detectable impurity phase. It is observed that M ZFC and M FC curves become more manifested as Ag + content is increased which indicates an increase in magnetic frustration arising due to bending of Mn-O-Mn bond. The M-H plots show the narrow hysteresis loops which indicate the soft ferromagnetic nature. Magnetic studies also show that the Curie temperature T C is found to decrease with Ag + content. The metal–insulator transition temperature (T MI ) is observed which decreases with the increase of Ag + content when magnetic field is applied. The resistivity data in high temperature region are explained within the framework of variable range hopping (VRH) and small polaron hopping (SPH) models. The thermoelectric power (S) of the reported samples exhibits a crossover from positive to negative value and value of S increases in doped samples. The analysis of thermoelectric power data confirms that the small polaron hopping model in high temperature region and at low temperature electron–magnon scattering is the dominating in the FM region. With increasing the Ag + content the samples showed very high magneto-resistance (MR%) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR%) which make the compound more promising for scientific and technological applications.

Silver ions substituted samarium strontium manganite (Sm0.55Sr0.30Ag0.15MnO3) pervoskite was synthesized by using respective oxides in stoichiometric ratio through solid state reaction. The as-prepared sample was characterized by various analytical techniques to confirm its formation and understand the effect of monovalent silver ions in pervoskite lattice. X-ray diffraction pattern confirms the single phase formation while grain morphology in SEM image indicates good connectivity among the grains. The enhancement in metal to insulator transition temperature shows quenched disorder and magnetoresistance phenomena. The magnetoresistance (MR) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) emerge from grain growth factor and homogeneity induced by Ag+ ions in the lattice. The reduction in hysteresis loss resulted from antiferromagnetic - ferromagnetic (TN) and ferromagnetic - paramagnetic (Tc) transitions reveals the removal of disorder in perovskite lattice by Ag+ ions substitution. This increases the magnetic moment across distinct ions on the applying magnetic field. The rise in MR% (~99%) with silver doping emerging from smooth spin tunneling of the grains across the boundary and suppression of the disordered magnetic fluctuations with increase in magnetic field has been reported. The present compound exhibits the first order nature of magnetism and observed first time the highest value of TCR ~ 95%.

Polycrystalline yttrium barium cobaltite (YBaCo4O7) powdered sample was prepared by conventional solid state reaction route using high purity yttrium oxide, barium carbonate and cobalt oxide. The as-prepared sample was characterized by XRD diffraction, SEM/EDAX, Raman analytical techniques, resistivity and magnetization measurements for structural, morphological, electrical and magnetic properties assessment. XRD pattern confirms the single phase formation of the sample without any impurity. SEM image shows the hexagonal growth of the crystal and EDAX spectrum reveals stoichiometric composition of as prepared sample. The variation in electrical resistivity from 90 K to 300 K follows the variable range hopping conductivity mechanism. The strong broad overlapped Raman peaks of Co–O and Y–O stretching and bending vibrations of tetrahedral CoO4 with included components of YO6 of octahedral symmetry are obtained at 542 cm−1, 486 cm−1 and 636 cm−1, 436 cm−1, respectively. DC magnetic susceptibility exhibits very weak ferromagnetism below 80 K and does not obey Curie-Weiss law.

The polycrystalline samples with nominal composition Eu0.5Sr0.5Mn1−x Cr x O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) were prepared by the conventional solid state reaction method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electrical resistivity behavior without and with magnetic field. The structural parameters obtained by using Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data showed that all samples crystallize with orthorhombic perovskite type symmetry with Pbnm space group. The scanning electron micrograph images reveal that the increase in Cr substitution hinders grain growth and grain connectivity. The temperature dependence of electrical resistivity show the semiconducting nature of these compounds and support the small polaron hoping model and variable range hopping conduction model. The calculated hopping distance and activation energy decreased as rate of Cr content increased whereas density of states at Fermi level increased. A large negative magnetoresistance is also present in the sample at the lowest temperature of measurements.

We have synthesized the single phase polycrystalline sample of silver doped disordered Sm0.55Sr0.45−xAgxMnO3 using the conventional solid state method. They have been investigated by X-ray diffraction for phase evolution and their Rietveld refined X-ray diffraction pattern indicates an increase in lattice parameters and unit cell volume with Ag doping. The magnetization analysis shows the presence of a first order paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition; the transition temperature and amount of thermal hysteresis decreases on Ag doping. The transport, magneto-transport results indicates decrease in metal to insulator transition, drastic increase in resistance and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR %) with nearly unaffected colossal magnetoresistance effect which indicates that at least a part of silver is incorporated in the lattice. Scanning electron micrographs indicate that silver has also increased the grain growth sharpness and thus decrease the effect of grain boundary scattering. The significant value of TCR of ∼43% of our samples indicates their applied nature for bolometric application.

We have synthesized Pr0.67Sr0.33−xAgxMnO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) compound by conventional solid state reaction method at different sintering temperature. The structural parameters obtained using Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data which showed perovskite structure with orthorhombic (Pnma) symmetry without any detectable impurity phase. The grain growth and grain connectivity extensively improved at higher sintering temperature with doping concentration. Depending upon the doping and the increment of sintering temperature, the samples showed very high magneto-resistance (MR%) and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR). An improvement in magneto-resistance and TCR with increasing the sintering temperature i.e., 1200–1300 °C which make the compound more promising for scientific and technological applications.

Herein, we propose a quantum dots (QDs) based spectroscopic sensor for determination of ascorbic acid, gallic acid and oxalic acid. These aqueous stable AgInS2 (AIS) and AIS@ZnS QDs having average sizes of 2.5 ± 0.5 and 3.4 ± 0.5 nm, respectively, were surface coated with Glutathione (GSH), which provided enhanced stability against the aggregation/oxidation. These glutathione (GSH) capped AIS and AIS@ZnS core-shell nanostructures were systematically studied as a luminescence probe for the sensing of routinely used analytes. AIS QDs exhibit better specificity and selectivity for ascorbic acid and gallic acid detection, whereas, core-shell QDs show higher binding affinity and sensing ability for oxalic acid. It was noticed that AIS QDs exhibited 80% quenching efficiency towards gallic acid, compared to 55% of AIS@ZnS QDs. In addition, AIS QDs shows threefold increment in binding affinity towards gallic acid compared to AIS@ZnS nanostructures. As the consequence, AIS and AIS@ZnS QDs show concentration dependent red-shifted after binding with analytes. Based on this, AIS@ZnS QDs was found highly sensitive for the detection of oxalic acid with excellent detection limit as 35 nM. Interestingly, AIS QDs shows the specific and selective binding towards gallic acid where fluorescence quenching was noted and ascorbic acid for which fluorescence enhancement was observed. It was noted that these QDs shows the detection limit as 20 nM for GA and 45 nM for AA. Based on this, AIS and AIS@ZnS QDs can be used as fluorescence tool for multimode sensing of gallic acid ascorbic acid and oxalic acid with high selectivity and sensitivity.

We have reported the synthesis of polycrystalline samples of R0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (R  Pr, Nd) from the precursors of PrMnO3, NdMnO3 and SrMnO3 by using solid state reaction method. These samples were sintered at 1200 °C and 1400 °C. Some of samples were also undergone oxygen annealing at 950 °C for 6 h. All the synthesized samples were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) technique, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and low temperature resistivity versus temperature (R-T) measurement. The XRD patterns show the monophasic nature of the sintered and annealed samples. The sintered samples of Nd0.67Sr0.33MnO3 has metal- insulator transition at 250 K, while the sample annealed in oxygen shows two peaks, one sharp peak at 250 K and other broad peak at 200 K. The sintered samples of Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 has only one peak at 290 K, while the sample annealed in oxygen shows two peaks, one sharp peak at 290 K and another broad peak at 225 K. The two peak behavior in the annealed samples has been explained by inhomogeneous diffusion of oxygen in the core of the grain and at the grain boundaries region When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/35965