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An enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance of band-gap engineered bismuth titanate photocatalyst by tin and carbon (Sn&C) codoping is being reported in the present work. The photocatalyst sample was synthesized by the Pechini route and characterized by powder XRD, micro-Raman, XPS and HR-TEM studies. The photocatalytic performance of co-doped bismuth titanate was evaluated by the degradation of malachite green under the irradiation of natural sunlight. The photocatalytic results showed that Sn&C codoped bismuth titanate degraded the pollutant in 3 h whereas pristine bismuth titanate takes longer irradiation time (>5 h) for the complete degradation of malachite green. The improved visible light photocatalytic performance of Sn&C codoped bismuth titanate can be attributed to the significant decrease in the band gap energy (1.8 eV) relative to the pristine bismuth titanate (3.05 eV) coupled with high porosity, larger surface area and nanowire like morphology.

Livestock is one of the major contributors to nitrogen emission in the environment. Small portions of nitrogen, such as ammonia, nitrous oxide, nitric acid, and nitrate, constitute the reactive forms and produce the greenhouse gas effects. Buildup of reactive nitrogen in environment has led to poor air/water quality causing ailments in plants, humans, and animals. Cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, pigs, and poultry have the largest share in manure nitrogen production. Cattle and buffaloes are the largest contributors of ammonia accounting for 56.1% and 23.6%, respectively, followed by goat (10%), sheep (6%), and remaining 4.3% from rest of the species. Mitigation measures include maintaining optimum livestock numbers with better production efficiency, balanced feeding, optimizing protein and amino acids quality of diet, and reducing fecal nitrogen excretion through precision feeding. Eco-friendly manure management such as anaerobic composting, lime acidification, and biogas production will help in reduced nitrogen emission to the environment. Harnessing the benefits of abundantly available nitrogen for productive purposes would lead to safer environment and better nitrogen use efficiency.

Efficient La-doped TiO2photocatalysts were prepared by sol-gel method and extensively characterized by various sophisticated techniques. The photocatalytic activity of La-doped TiO2was evaluated for the degradation of monocrotophos (MCPs) in aqueous solution. It showed higher rate of degradation than pure TiO2for the light of wavelength of 254 nm and 365 nm. The rate constant of TiO2increases with increasing La loading and exhibits maximum rate for 1% La loading. The photocatalytic activities of La-doped TiO2are compared with La-doped ZnO; the reaction rate of the former is ~1.8 and 1.1 orders higher than the latter for the lights of wavelength 254 nm and 365 nm, respectively. The relative photonic efficiency of La-doped TiO2is relatively higher than La-doped ZnO and commercial photocatalysts. Overall, La-doped TiO2is the most active photocatalyst and shows high relative photonic efficiencies and high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MCP. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of La-doped TiO2is mainly due to the electron trapping by lanthanum metal ions, small particle size, large surface area, and high surface roughness of the photocatalysts.

Here we report, for the first time, the synthesis of highly crystalline novel mesoporous carbon/nitrogen ( C / N )-codoped TiO 2 (MCNT) using ethylene diamine and carbon tetrachloride as the source for nitrogen and carbon, KIT-6 as the template, and titanium tetraisopropoxide as the TiO 2 source. The obtained material has been unambiguously characterized by various sophisticated techniques. XRD and TEM analysis revealed that the MCNT material possesses highly crystalline 3D structure with a continuous network of mesoporous channels as well as structure corresponding to TiO 2. UV-DRS analysis indicated that light absorption shifted to lower energy and stronger absorption in the visible light region. XPS revealed that C and N were doped effectively and C or N dopants might be present in the chemical environment of Ti – O – N or Ti – O – C . It has been found that the material is highly crystalline and possesses high surface area, pore volume and uniform pore size distribution. Owing to its textural characteristics, it could be useful for various applications, such as photocatalysis, fuel cells, bulky biomolecule adsorption and nanotechnology.

La-doped ZnO nano particles with different La contents were prepared by co-precipitation method using the precursors of zinc and lanthanum. The XRD results indicated that the particle size of La-doped ZnO is much smaller as compared to that of pure ZnO and decreases with increasing La loading. The effect of La loading on the photocatalytic activity of La-doped ZnO in the degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) was studied and the results are compared with the pure ZnO and TiO2. The results showed that the rate of degradation of TCP over La-doped ZnO is much higher as compared to that of pure ZnO and TiO2 and increases with increasing La loading upto 0.8 wt% and then decreases. Moreover, the relative photonic efficiency value of La-doped ZnO is relatively higher as compared to undoped ZnO. Among the catalyst studied, 0.8 wt% La-doped ZnO was the most active, showing high relative photonic efficiencies and high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of TCP. La doping in ZnO is highly effective and can significantly enhance the photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of TCP. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of La-doped ZnO samples is mainly due to their smaller particle size and capability for reducing the electron hole pair recombination. Moreover, the increase of the TCP adsorption over La-doped ZnO samples may also be related for their high photocatalytic activity.

Mesoporous carbon nitride materials have been synthesized using SBA-15 by pore filling technique whereas mesoporous boron nitride and boron carbon nitride have been prepared by elemental substitution technique using mesoporous carbon as template. The obtained materials have been unambiguously characterized by sophisticated techniques such as XRD, HRTEM, EELS, XPS, FT-IR and N2 adsorption. The textural parameters of the materials are quite higher as compared to the respective nonporous nitrides. These materials could offer great potential for the applications, such as catalytic supports, gas storage, biomolecule adsorption and drug delivery.

A single-pixel dry-type reconstituted bacteriorhodopsin (bR) sensor (Au/CMC + bR/ITO) incorporating carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as the artificial membrane is fabricated according to a protocol developed to investigate signal acquisition from the proposed biosensor. Droplets of reconstituted purple membrane (PM) containing bR applied onto a gel-like solution of CMC placed on gold electrodes (anode) are allowed to dry under an electric field, utilising the PM fragment’s net negative charge and electric dipole moment. The resulting bR matrix thin film with high molecular orientation is finally sandwiched together with a semi-transparent indium titanium oxide (ITO) counter electrode and proper electrical connections made to form a single pixel bR-CMC photosensor. Efficient and reproducible photoresponse observed upon illumination clearly exhibits the potential of the proposed biosensor for future photosensing works.

In spite of its high protein content, castor cake is not used as livestock feed due to the presence of toxic factors—ricin, ricinine and allergen. Of the three, ricin is the most detrimental to the animals. In order to detoxify the cake, a number of physical and chemical methods were employed. Soaking (3, 6 and 12 h), steaming (30 and 60 min), boiling (30 and 60 min), autoclaving (15 psi, 30 min; 15 psi, 60 min) and heating (100 °C 30 min; 120 °C 25 min) were the physical methods employed, while the chemical methods consisted of ammonia (7.5, 12.5 ml/kg of castor cake), formaldehyde (5, 10 g/kg), lime (10, 20 and 40 g/kg), sodium chloride (5, 10 and 20 g/kg), tannic acid (5, 10 g/kg) and sodium hydroxide (2.5, 5 and 10 g/kg). The efficacy of the treatments was assessed, based on the qualitative and quantitative changes in ricin content. Of all the methods employed, autoclaving (15 psi., 60 min) and lime treatment (40 g/kg) completely destroyed the toxin.

The effect of urea treatment on chemical composition of neem seed kernel cake (NSKC) was investigated by soaking the cake in 2.1% urea solution (1.2 l kg -1 NSKC) for five days. The effect on utilisation of nutrients by replacing groundnut cake (GNC) (30%) with urea-treated neem seed kernel cake (UTNSKC) (33%) in a concentrate mixture fed to meet 70% of the protein requirements of lambs (8 males and 8 females), was monitored in a digestibility study. Following urea treatment of NSKC only 9.5% of urea was hydrolysed and the crude protein content of the cake was increased by 6.65%. The tannin content in depulped neem seeds was 37% catechin equivalent. Whereas feeding UTNSKC had no effect on intake of dry matter (72.5 vs 66.3 g/kg BW 0.75 day -1 ) and digestibility of crude fibre (41.3 vs 43.4%), the cake depressed (p

In the present study, La-doped TiO2 and ZnO nano particles were synthesized and extensively characterized by various sophisticated techniques such as XRD, nitrogen adsorption, UV-Vis, AFM and XPS. Rough and highly porous surface of La-doped photocatalysts was observed by AFM, which is critical for enhancing the photocatalytic activity. Degradation and mineralization studies of monocrotophos (MCP) revealed that 1 wt% La-doped TiO2/ZnO exhibits high activity compared to that of pure TiO2/ZnO.

A trial was conducted for 180 days to investigate the effect of supplemental sulfur from an inorganic source, namely, sodium sulfate (0.4% sulfur in concentrate mixture) on antibody response of Pashmina (Cheghu breed) goats following five injections with egg albumen (EA). Humoral immune response was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as serum-specific antibody titers against EA on various days of the experiment. Goats that received supplemental sulfur showed considerably higher antibody titers than their counterparts who did not receive supplemental sulfur in the diet. The overall difference in antibody titers was found statistically significant ( F -ratio=46.99, p

Bioimpedance measurement was performed in vitro on a compartment model as part of the investigation for a non invasive procedure in diagnosing a compartmental syndrome (CS). A model was constructed to mimic the body compartment of a lower leg. The cellular fluid of potassium ion (K+) of different concentration was prepared in vitro. The model was filled with K+ solution and protein substances. Prior to the impedance measurement; pressure was applied within the compartment. This setup was to demonstrate physiologic events during CS. The impedance of the compartment at various concentration of K+, protein and pressure were measured with a commercial tetra polar bioimpendance analyzer. The results obtained from this investigation had shown positive correlation as predicted.

Erratum Erratum to ‘‘Photocatalytic degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol using lanthanum doped ZnO in aqueous suspension” [Catalysis Communications 8 (9) (2007) 1377–1382] S. Anandan , A. Vinu *, T. Mori , N. Gokulakrishnan , P. Srinivasu , V. Murugesan , K. Ariga b Nano-ionics Materials Group, Fuel Cell Materials Center, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan b Supermolecules Group, Advanced Materials Laboratory, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan Department of Chemistry, Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India

Here we report for the first time on the functionalization of hexagonally ordered mesoporous carbon through a simple oxidation using ammonium persulfate solution (APS). The degree of functionalization can be easily controlled by the simple adjustment of the oxidation parameters such as oxidation time, APS concentration and oxidation temperature. The functionalized materials have been unambiguously characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption, FT-IR and HR-FESEM measurements. It has been found that the functionalized mesoporous carbon, “carboxy mesoporous carbon”, shows two times higher adsorption capability for biomolecules than pristine mesoporous carbon. The higher protein adsorption capacity of carboxy mesoporous carbon may be due to the easy access of all the adsorption sites in the interior part of the mesopores because of the oxidation of small carbon rods which are normally oriented perpendicular to the primary mesopores of CMK-3 carbon material. We expect that this novel methodology could be used to create COOH functional groups on the surface of the mesoporous carbons with different structures which can further easily be modified with various functionalities such as amines, vitamins and chiral molecules. Moreover, these functionalized mesoporous carbon materials can be utilized as a solid and stable support for immobilizing chiral amine complexes and salen complexes, amino acids and nanoparticle fabrication and may also be applicable in drug delivery, separation and adsorption technology, column packing materials for chromatographic system and fuel cell anodic devices.

It was shown earlier that uranium dioxide derived from different compounds exhibited variations in the sintering behaviour and to attain maximum densification, the sintering should be carried out within a temperature range, specific for each of the powders.In the present work, the sintering behaviour of uranium dioxide derived from ammonium diuranate prepared by different methods, was studied in an atmosphere of hydrogen. Significant differences in the sintering (densification) behaviour of the powders was noted under identical sintering (firing) treatments. The influence of variations in sintering treatment, such as rates of heating or soaking periods, on the densification of the samples of different origins was studied. It was found that the sintering behaviour depended on both the powder characteristics and the sintering treatment. Attempts were made to relate the origin and thermal history of the UO2 with its powder characteristics; and its sintering behaviour to its powder characteristics and the fir...

One- and three-dimensional mesoporous carbon nitride materials have been synthesized using SBA-15 and SBA-16 mesoporous silica hard templates, respectively. The obtained materials have been unambiguously characterized by sophisticated techniques such as XRD, HRTEM, EELS, XPS, FT-IR and nitrogen adsorption. The pore diameter of the above materials can easily be tuned by changing the pore diameter of mesoporous silica template with keeping the weight ratio of carbon and nitrogen source constant.