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This work explains the synthesis of an efficient organic hole transporting material based on 4,4'-(5,5'-(thiazolo [5,4-d] thiazole-2,5-diyl) bis(furan-5,2-diyl)) bis(N, N-diphenylaniline) (TP-FTzF-TP) and the replacement of poly (3,4-ethylenedio-xythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer by simple O-2 plasma treatment for perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The introduction of furan spacer groups significantly tuned the absorption and the electrochemical properties of the organic hole transporting material. The ITO(O-2 plasma)/TP-FTzF-TP/CH3NH3PbI3/PC61BM/Au configuration based PSC exhibited a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of similar to 16.4% which showed a momentous improvement as compared to PCEs of similar to 11.6% and similar to 10.5% achieved by ITO/PEDOT: PSS/TP-FTzF-TP/CH3NH3PbI3/PC61BM/Au and ITO/TP-FTzF-TP/CH3NH3PbI3/PC61BM/Au devices, respectively. The superior performances of PSC were accredited to fast hole injection from the valence band of CH3NH3PbI3 into the suitable HOMO and a high hole mobility of TP-FTzF-TP HTM.

A solution processable, p-type thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole-based small organic molecules with appropriate energy levels were employed as hole transport materials (HTMs) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The HOMO energy levels of HTMs were tuned to match with methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3) perovskite by incorporating different spacer functional group thiophene, furan, and triphenylamine donor moieties denoted as RTzR (HTM 1), RFTzR (HTM 2) and TPTzR (HTM 3), respectively. The highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ~ 10.60% was observed for the PSC fabricated with HTM 2. The other fabricated PSCs with HTM 1 and HTM 3 exhibited inferior PCEs of ~ 4.37% and ~ 8.63% respectively. Noticeably, HTM 2 presented a high fill factor with slightly low open circuit voltage (VOC) of ~ 0.955 V, which might be related to its low series resistance. Thus, the designed HTM 2 molecule could act as a promising candidate for providing a high efficiency in PSC applications.

A novel, asymmetric benzothiadiazole-core π-conjugated organic semiconducting chromophore (CF-BTz-ThR) containing an alkyl bithiophene donor and 3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) benzene as acceptor unit was synthesized via Suzuki cross-coupling in a relatively cost-effective way. The synthesized chromophore was applied as an acceptor material in the solution-processed fabrication of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The presence of terminal hexyl chain in CF-BTz-ThR induced its solubility in common organic solvents. The energy levels of CF-BTz-ThR were calculated as −5.22 eV and −3.19 eV for HOMO and LUMO, respectively. The fabricated devices attained power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼3.52% for CF-BTz-ThR: PC 61 BM (1:3, w/w) ratio with the short circuit current (J SC ) of ∼10.38 mA/cm 2 and the open-circuit voltage (V OC ) of ∼0.68 V. The reasonable J SC and V OC of the devices might be attributed to strong absorption and emission properties as well as the electrochemical properties due to the presence of strong electron-withdrawing benzothiadiazole as well as –CF 3 unit as electron-acceptor.

Porous cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanocubes (NCs) were synthesized by a simple and cost-effective hydrothermal technique for the potential application of electrochemical supercapacitors. The hydrothermally synthesized materials exhibited the small cube like morphology with the average size of ~ 50 to 60 nm. The surface analysis revealed a good surface area, and high pore volume of the synthesized porous Co3O4 NCs. The capacitive properties of porous Co3O4 NCs electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 6 M KOH electrolyte and a high specific capacitance of ~ 430.6 F/g at a scan rate of ~ 10 mV s−1 was observed. The capacity retention of up to ~ 85% after 1000 cycles was shown by the fabricated porous Co3O4 NCs electrode. The porous Co3O4 NCs showed excellent structural stability through cycling with promising capacity retention which suggested a good quality of porous Co3O4 NCs as electrochemical supercapacitor electrode.

Cabbages like zinc oxide nanostructures (C-ZnO NSs) were synthesized by low temperature hydrothermal method and applied as an electrode for the detection of resorcinol chemical via electrochemical sensor. The morphological characterizations revealed that small sheets were arranged into a cabbage like morphology which possessed well-crystalline nature with typical hexagonal wurtzite phase. The FTIR and XPS analysis deduced that the synthesized C-ZnO NSs were of good crystal quality with fewer defects. As working electrode, the reasonable sensitivity of ∼1.98 μA·μM −1 ·cm −2 with the detection limit of ∼5.89 μM and correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.9766 were recorded by the synthesized C-ZnO NSs electrode.

A simple, low temperature solution method was employed to synthesize ZnO nanoflowers (NFs) using zinc nitrate as precursor for the photocatalytic degradation of bromophenol (Bph) dye. The synthesized materials exhibited well-defined flower like morphology comprised of several defined nanorods. The crystalline and optical observations manifested the high crystallinity of ZnO-NFs with wide band gap of ∼3.21 eV. The synthesized ZnO NFs as catalysts presented a rapid degradation of Bph-dye with the degradation rate of ∼96% within 120 min under the UV light irradiation. The fragmentations of Bph-dye after the photocatalytic reaction over ZnO-NFs were analyzed by interpreting the mass spectroscopy of degraded Bph-dye.

Motivation Mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics can routinely identify and quantify thousands of phosphorylated peptides from a single experiment. However interrogating possible upstream kinases and identifying key literature for phosphorylation sites is laborious and time-consuming. Results Here, we present Phosphomatics—a publicly available web resource for interrogating phosphoproteomics data. Phosphomatics allows researchers to upload phosphoproteomics data and interrogate possible relationships from a substrate-, kinase- or pathway-centric viewpoint. Availability and implementation Phosphomatics is freely available via the internet at: https://phosphomatics.com. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Vertically arranged manganese (III) oxide (Mn2O3) nanosheets (NSs) thin film was deposited on nickel (Ni) foil substrate through low temperature hydrothermal method and utilized as smart working electrode for N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) chemical sensor. FESEM images revealed highly dense nanosheets structures which were vertically arranged on Ni foil. Grown Mn2O3-NSs displayed a typical cubic crystalline structure with good stoichiometric composition of elements. The electrochemical analysis of Mn2O3-NSs/Ni electrode demonstrated a high anodic peak which confirmed a high electrocatalytic activity towards NHS via fast charge transfer process. Mn2O3-NSs/Ni electrode based NHS chemical sensor showed significantly a high sensitivity = ∼90μA.μM-1cm-2 and detection limit = ∼3.6 μM with a correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.99088 and a short response time (10s).

A cost effective green synthesis was adopted to synthesize the cerium dioxide (CeO2) nanoparticles (NPs) using leaf extract of Azadirachta indica plant as reducing agent for thermal and photo catalytic processes. The composition and surface properties of green synthesized CeO2 NPs were determined by observing the elemental analysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The thermal catalytic activity of green synthesized CeO2NPs toward the decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was comprehensively demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry analysis techniques. The addition of green synthesized CeO2 NPs in AP showed a significant drop in decomposition temperature of AP by 130 °C and reduction in activation energy of pure AP, indicating excellent thermal catalytic behavior of CeO2 NPs. Photocatalytic activity was examined by performing the Rhodamine B dye photodegradation and observed that the green synthesized CeO2 NPs exhibited the good degradation rate of 96% within 120 min.

This work highlights the utilization of a novel hole-transporting material (HTM) derived from benzothiadiazole: 4-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-7-(5'-hexyl-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (CF-BTz-ThR) and aligned TiO2 nano-bundles (TiO2 NBs) as the electron transporting layer (ETL) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The aligned TiO2 NBs were grown on titanium (Ti)-coated FTO substrates using a facile hydrothermal method. The newly designed CF-BTz-ThR molecule with suitable highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) favored the effective hole injection from perovskite deposited aligned TiO2 NBs thin film. The PSCs demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼15.4% with a short circuit current density (Jsc) of ∼22.42 mA cm-2 and an open circuit voltage (Voc) of ∼1.02 V. The efficiency data show the importance of proper molecular engineering whilst highlighting the advantages of dopant-free HTMs in PSCs.

The hollow nano-baskets (HNBs) of zinc oxide (ZnO) were synthesized by a simple low temperature solution method and used for the degradation of rhodamine 6 G (Rh6G) dye. Well-defined hollow nano-baskets morphology of ZnO was observed which displayed a band gap of ~3.26 eV. The photocatalytic degradation results revealed that the synthesized ZnO-HNBs exhibited a rapid degradation rate of ~97% of Rh6G-dye within ~90 min. The mineralization of Rh6G-dye was examined before and after the photocatalytic reaction by a mass spectroscopy of the dye. The rapid and high degradation of Rh6G-dye might be attributed to ZnO hollow nanostructures via improved catalyst contact with dye by the inner and external surface of ZnO.

New and effective chemosensor was fabricated using p-nickel oxide (NiO)/n-conducting polyaniline (PANI) based Schottky barrier diode for the detection of hydrazinobenzene chemical. The n-PANI was synthesized through in-situ chemical doping of PANI EB by using calcium hydride as dopant and subjected to elemental analysis, optical, structural and morphological properties. The appearance of a non-linear I–V behavior at the interface of Pt and p-NiO/n-PANI layer confirmed the formation of Schottky junction of the fabricated Pt/p-NiO/n-PANI/n-Si Schottky barrier diode. The electrochemical properties of Pt/p-NiO/n-PANI/n-Si Schottky barrier diode towards the detection of hydrazinobenzene were elucidated by cyclovoltametry (CV) measurements. The sensing results revealed that the Pt/p-NiO/n-PANI/n-Si Schottky barrier diode exhibited a stable, reliable high sensitivity ∼90.5 μA mM −1 cm −2 , good detection limit of ∼5.11 μM with correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.99417 and short response time (10 s). Herein, n-type chemical doping of PANI and the formation of Schottky barrier elicited the sensing parameters such as sensitivity, detection limit and correlation coefficient.

Efficient spirobifluorene-based organic small molecule (RTh-Sp-CF 3 ) was synthesized in a simple manner via Suzuki coupling reaction containing an alkyl bithiophene as donor and 3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) benzene as acceptor unit. The spirobifluorene-based small molecule was utilized as an electron-donor materials with well-known electron-acceptor material, phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM) in the solution-processed small molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs). The incorporation of 3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) benzene unit as electron-acceptor has significantly tuned the energy levels of small molecule and obtained the HOMO and LUMO energy levels of −5.35 eV and −3.92 eV, respectively. SMOSCs fabricated with RTh-Sp-CF 3 accomplished an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼2.12% with short circuit current (J SC ) of ∼8.42 mA/cm 2 and the open-circuit voltage (V OC ) of ∼0.66 V. The reasonable J SC and V OC of devices might be attributed to the presence of strong electron-withdrawing fluorine units in RTh-Sp-CF 3 , which resulted from the improved absorption and electrochemical properties.

Excitotoxicity, caused by overstimulation or dysregulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluRs), is a pathological process directing neuronal death in many neurological disorders. The aberrantly stimulated iGluRs direct massive influx of calcium ions into the affected neurons, leading to changes in expression and phosphorylation of specific proteins to modulate their functions and direct their participation in the signalling pathways that induce excitotoxic neuronal death. To define these pathways, we used quantitative proteomic approaches to identify these neuronal proteins (referred to as the changed proteins) and determine how their expression and/or phosphorylation dynamically changed in association with excitotoxic cell death. Our data, available in ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD008353, identified over 100 changed proteins exhibiting significant alterations in abundance and/or phosphorylation levels at different time points (5–240 min) in neurons after glutamate overstimulation. Bioinformatic analyses predicted that many of them are components of signalling networks directing defective neuronal morphology and functions. Among them, the well-known neuronal survival regulators including mitogen-activated protein kinases Erk1/2, glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) and microtubule-associated protein (Tau), were selected for validation by biochemical approaches, which confirmed the findings of the proteomic analysis. Bioinformatic analysis predicted Protein Kinase B (Akt), c-Jun kinase (JNK), cyclin-dependent protein kinase 5 (Cdk5), MAP kinase kinase (MEK), Casein kinase 2 (CK2), Rho-activated protein kinase (Rock) and Serum/glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 (SGK1) as the potential upstream kinases phosphorylating some of the changed proteins. Further biochemical investigation confirmed the predictions of sustained changes of the activation states of neuronal Akt and CK2 in excitotoxicity. Thus, future investigation to define the signalling pathways directing the dynamic alterations in abundance and phosphorylation of the identified changed neuronal proteins will help elucidate the molecular mechanism of neuronal death in excitotoxicity.

We demonstrate the hydrothermal synthesis of three dimension (3D) peony-like morphology of zinc gallate (ZnGa2O4), dominated by assembled nanosheets and applied as electrode material in electrochemical detection of N,N-dimethylmethanamide chemical. The crystalline, structural and compositional characterizations deduced the formation of high quality ZnGa2O4 with spinal crystal structure. Peony-like 3D ZnGa2O4 was benefited by a high surface area of ~62.3 m2 g−1, good pore distribution (mean pore diameter of ~23.3 nm) and large pore volume of ~0.3622 cm3 g−1. N,N-dimethylmethanamide chemical sensor based on peony-like 3D ZnGa2O4 electrode presented a linear curve in the working dynamic range of 1 nM−10 mM. Significantly improved chemical sensitivity of ~154.2 mA mM−1 cm−2 with low detection limit value of ~0.14 μM were achieved. The fabricated sensor based on peony-like 3D ZnGa2O4 electrode endorsed real sample analysis and ascertained the selectivity towards N,N-dimethylmethanamide chemical by analyzing a range of interfering analytes, viz. ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, methyl amine chemical.

This work describes the preparation of spinel NiMn2O4 nanodisks decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via low-temperature colloidal solution method and analyzes their performances as electro-active electrode for electrochemical sensor and supercapacitors. The morphological analysis revealed the well-decorated spinel NiMn2O4 nanodiks over the rGO surfaces. The crystalline, structure, and composition of spinel NiMn2O4nanodisks decorated rGO was studied and extensively used as electrode materials for electrochemical applications. For sensing measurements, the NiMn2O4/rGO composite modified GCE expressed the high sensitivity of 78.56 mA.mM−1·cm−2 with an excellent linear dynamic range of 1.0 μM–500.0 μM towards the acetylacetone chemical. The electrode prepared by NiMn2O4/rGO composite was applied to fabricate the double layer electrochemical supercapacitors. NiMn2O4/rGO electrode showed a reasonably high specific capacitance of 356 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 Ag−1 in 1 M Na2SO4 electrolyte. The fabricated supercapacitor exhibited the admirable rate capability by maintaining 86% from initial capacity after 5000 cycles. The prepared NiMn2O4/rGO composite and obtained results are the promising electrode materials for achieving high-performance sensing and supercapacitors.

In this paper, we report a size-controlled metal oxide under a low-temperature process for the fabrication of an electrochemical sensor based on ultra-small nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles (NPs) which are utilized as electrode materials for the detection of n-butylamine chemical. The small size effect (∼6 ± 0.5 nm) and richness of Ni3+ ion concentration of as-synthesized ultra-small NiO nanoparticles exhibited high and reproducible sensitivity of ∼9.51 mA·mM−1·cm−2, limit of detection (LOD) ∼144.21 μM and correlation coefficient (R) ∼ 0.9688 with improved linearity in the range of 100 nM−100 μM.

The uniform growth of aligned silicon nanowires (SiNWs) on p-type silicon (Si) wafer were obtained by metal-assisted chemical etching (MCE) technique. MCE was performed using aqueous solution of AgNO3 and HF for Ag deposition and etching respectively. The morphological characterizations showed well-aligned and uniform growth of SiNWs with the average diameter of ~80–100 nm. The grown SiNWs were applied as effective photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of rose bengal (RB) dye under the light illumination. The high degradation rate of ~96 % within ~90 min over the surface of SiNWs was observed for the degradation of RB dye. The enhanced photocatalytic activity might due to the increase of electron trapping and reduction in the recombination rate.

Non-enzymatic glucose biosensor was developed by utilizing the electrochemically grown nanocages-augmented polyaniline nanowires (NCa-PANI NWs) on silicon (Si) substrate. The NCa-PANI NWs were comprehensively analyzed in terms of the composition, optical, structural and the morphological properties. The grown NCa-PANI NWs were distributed uniformly on the entire surface of Si substrate, which confirmed the formation of highly dense NCa-PANI NWs networks during the electrochemical oxidation. A series of sensing performances for NCa-PANI NWs electrode were investigated by current (I)–voltage (V), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry measurements. The sensing results revealed that fabricated non-enzymatic sensor showed an excellent response to glucose with a stable, reliable, and high sensitivity of ∼156.4 mA mM−1 cm−2, good detection limit of ∼0.657 μM with correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.99493. The fabricated glucose sensor based on NCa-PANI NWs electrode exhibited significant electrochemical stability, good reproducibility and the selectivity.

The simple reflux method was employed to grow the unique lotus-leaf (LL) like ZnO nanostructures on the FTO substrate and utilized as working electrode for the fabrication of ethyl acetate (EA) chemical sensor at low level detection. Well-defined and uniform lotus-leaf like morphology was observed which possessed the average size of ~100–150 nm. The synthesized LL-ZnO nanostructures were highly crystalline, pure and exhibited typical wurtzite hexagonal structure. The fabricated EA chemical sensor based on LL-ZnO electrode displayed substantially high sensitivity of ∼139.8 µA mM −1 cm −2 , the limit of detection (LOD) of ∼0.26 mM, with correlation coefficient ( R ) of ∼0.9749.

The flexible perovskite thin film solar cell was fabricated using polypyrrole (PPy) as binding agent on ITO-PET flexible substrates. PPy as binding agent and PC 61 BM as electron transporting material on perovskite (CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 )-sensitized PEDOT:PSS/ITO-PET substrates formed an efficient flexible perovskites solar cell, which demonstrated the reasonably high solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency ( η ) of ∼6.38% with high short circuit current ( J SC ) of ∼15.59 mA/cm 2 and open circuit voltage ( V OC ) of ∼0.852 V under the light illumination of ∼100 mW/cm 2 (1.5 AM). The transient photocurrent and photovoltage studies explained the improved charge transport time, efficient diffusion coefficient, diffusion length and high charge collection efficiency of the fabricated flexible perovskite solar cells. These enhancements might attribute to active PPy as binding agent along with electron transporting material of PC 61 BM. Thus, a reduced recombination and the improved charge transfer properties might render PPy as a cost-effective competitor in the flexible perovskites solar cell.

All the currently available cancer therapeutic options are expensive but none of them are safe. However, traditional plant-derived medicines or compounds are relatively safe. One widely known such compound is beta-sitosterol (BS), a plant derived nutrient with anticancer properties against breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, and leukemia. Studies have shown that BS interfere with multiple cell signaling pathways, including cell cycle, apoptosis, proliferation, survival, invasion, angiogenesis, metastasis and inflammation. Most of the studies are incomplete partly due to the fact that BS is relatively less potent. But the fact that it is generally considered as nontoxic, the opposite of all currently available cancer chemo-therapeutics, is missed by almost all research communities. To offset the lower efficacy of BS, designing BS delivery for "cancer cell specific" therapy hold huge potential. Delivery of BS through liposome is one of such demonstrations that has shown to be highly promising. But further research did not progress neither in the field of drug delivery of BS nor in the field on how BS mediated anticancer activities could be improved, thus making BS an orphan nutraceutical. Therefore, extensive research with BS as potent anticancer nutraceutical is highly recommended.

This paper reports the synthesis of D-A type π-conjugated organic chromophore, 1-hexyl-5-(5′-hexyl-[2,2′-bithiophen]-5-yl)indoline-2,3-dione (RBTh-NR) using isatin-core moiety as strong electron-acceptor and terminal alkyl bithiophene as electron-donor. The synthesized RBTh-NR chromophore was utilized as donor material for the fabrication of the solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ-SMOSCs) and the effects of 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) as an additive was investigated. Due to the presence of isatin-core moiety, RBTh-NR displayed good optical properties with absorption at ∼526 nm. The obtained cyclicvoltametry (CV) results exhibited good HOMO and LUMO energy levels of −5.24 eV and −3.46 eV, respectively for RBTh-NR thin film. The use of DIO as an additive in an active layer considerably improved the morphology, and also tuned the optical and electrical properties. As compared to the pristine device, the performance of RBTh-NR-PC61BM-DIO (1:3, w/w) active layer based optimized BHJ-SMOSC displayed the better performance with enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼4.10 %, short circuit current density (Jsc) of ∼12.21 mA/cm2 and improved fill factor (FF) of ∼45%.

The organic chromophore of (D1-π-A-D2) type, (E)-4-(3,5-dimethoxystyryl)-7-(5'-hexyl-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzo[c] [1] , [2] , [5] thiadiazole, OMe-BBTz, was synthesized using 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole as an acceptor with dimethoxyphenyl and hexyl bithiophene as donor units for the fabrication of bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ-OSCs). The synthesized OMe-BBTz chromophore was comprehensively analyzed through structural, thermal, electrochemical, and photovoltaic characterizations. Reasonable HOMO (-5.39 eV) and LUMO (-3.41 eV) energy levels along with the optical band gap of ∼1.98 eV were observed. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ∼3.53 % with the short circuit current density (JSC) of ∼8.71 mA/cm2 and the open-circuit voltage (VOC) of ∼0.698 V were achieved by BHJ-OSCs with OMe-BBTz:PC61BM (1:3, w/w) active layer.

The power conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has been certified as ∼22.1%, approaching the best single crystalline silicon solar cells. The improvement in the performance of PSCs could be achieved through the testing of novel materials in the device. This review briefly discusses the systematic introduction about several inorganic and organic electron-transporting materials (ETMs) and hole-transporting materials (HTMs) for efficient PSCs. The transport mechanism of electrons and holes in different ETMs/HTMs is also discussed on the basis of energy band diagrams with respect to the perovskite absorber. Moreover, the introduction of appropriate interfacial materials, hybrid ETMs, and doping is discussed to optimize the interfacial electronic properties between the perovskite layer and the charge-collecting electrode.

This work highlights the utilization of a novel hole-transporting material (HTM) derived from benzothiadiazole: 4-(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-7-(5'-hexyl-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (CF-BTz-ThR) and aligned TiO

Highly dense ZnO nanowhiskers were obtained by the hydrothermal method and utilized as active working electrode material for the low level detection of p-hydroquinone. The morphological characterizations revealed that the synthesized nanomaterials exhibited the highly dense whiskers morphology with the average diameter of ~80–120 nm. The synthesized ZnO nanowhiskers were crystalline, highly pure and possessed wurtzite hexagonal structure. ZnO nanowhiskers modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was used to fabricate the chemical sensor for the low level detection of p-hydroquinone. The fabricated chemical sensor attained substantially high sensitivity of ~99.2 µA µM −1 cm −2 , the limit of detection (LOD) of ~4.5 µM, with correlation coefficient ( R ) of ~0.98144.

This paper reports on the synthesis of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) by the leaves extract of Calotropis gigantea plant in aqueous medium through green synthesis and their characterizations in terms of morphology, structure, crystallinity and catalytic properties. The synthesized CuO NPs are crystalline in nature having the average sizes in range of 30–40 nm. Green synthesized CuO NPs are utilized as effective catalyst in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and combustion of composite solid propellants (CSPs) by measuring the thermo gravimetric analysis–differential scanning calorimetry (TGA–DSC), ignition delay and burning rate. High catalytic activity to AP decomposition and high burning rate for CSPs containing hydroxyl terminates polybutadiene (HTPB) as binder and AP as oxidizer have observed over the surface of green synthesized CuO NPs. Kinetics of thermal decomposition of AP with and without green synthesized CuO NPs was also studied by isoconversional method using isothermal TG data.

Aligned p-type polypyrrole (PPy) nanofibers (NFs) thin film was grown on n-type silicon (100) substrate by an electrochemical technique to fabricate Schottky junction diode for the efficient detection of m-dihydroxybenzene chemical. The highly dense and well aligned PPy NFs with the average diameter (∼150-200 nm) were grown on n-type Si substrate. The formation of aligned PPy NFs was confirmed by elucidating the structural, compositional and the optical properties. The electrochemical behavior of the fabricated Pt/p-aligned PPy NFs/n-silicon Schottky junction diode was evaluated by cyclovoltametry (CV) and current (I)-voltage (V) measurements with the variation of m-dihydroxybenzene concentration in the phosphate buffer solution (PBS). The fabricated Pt/p-aligned PPy NFs/n-silicon Schottky junction diode exhibited the rectifying behavior of I-V curve with the addition of m-dihydroxybenzene chemical, while a weak rectifying I-V behavior was observed without m-dihydroxybenzene chemical. This non-linear I-V behavior suggested the formation of Schottky barrier at the interface of Pt layer and p-aligned PPy NFs/n-silicon thin film layer. By analyzing the I-V characteristics, the fabricated Pt/p-aligned PPy NFs/n-silicon Schottky junction diode displayed reasonably high sensitivity ∼23.67 μAmM(-1)cm(-2), good detection limit of ∼1.51 mM with correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.9966 and short response time (10 s).

The unique morphology of spindle shaped zinc oxide (ZnO) was synthesized by the low temperature hydrothermal method and employed as electron mediator to fabricate chemical sensor for the selective monitoring of piperidine. The synthesized ZnO spindles possessed an average length of ~1–2 µm. The quality and nature of the synthesized ZnO spindles were extensively studied by analyzing the crystalline, optical and structural characterizations. The synthesized ZnO spindles modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) based piperidine chemical sensor exhibited the high sensitivity of ~237.7 µA mM −1 cm −2 and good linearity in the range of 12.5 µM–0.1 mM with limit of detection (LOD) of ~9.4 µM.

Hollow mesoporous ZnO nanoglobules were synthesized through carbon spheres template assisted sonochemical process followed by annealing at 600 °C. The synthesized hollow mesoporous ZnO nanoglobules was applied as a working electrode or electron mediator electrode for the fabrication of reproducible, highly sensitive and reliable chemical sensors for the detection of piperidine chemical. The synthesized nanomaterials possessed the porous hollow globular morphology due to the radial arrangement of nanoparticles on the outer shell of nanoglobules. The formation of hollow mesoporous ZnO nanoglobules was confirmed by analyzing the structural, crystalline and the compositional properties. The electrochemical behavior was examined by performing the cyclic voltammetry using hollow mesoporous ZnO nanoglobules based glassy carbon electrode (GCE) towards the detection of piperidine chemical. The performance of piperidine chemical sensor based on hollow mesoporous ZnO nanoglobules GCE was analyzed by measuring the current (I)–voltage (V) characteristics of different piperidine concentrations in phosphate buffer solution. The hollow ZnO nanoglobules GCE based piperidine chemical sensor exhibited the high sensitivity of ∼59.9 μA mM−1 cm−2 and a detection limit of ∼3.3 μM with a correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.98782 and a short response time of 10 s.

Green synthesized copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) were employed as electrocatalytic materials for the fabrication of counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Uniform CuO NPs were synthesized by the leaves extract of Calotropis gigantea plant in aqueous medium through green synthesis. The synthesized CuO NPs were extensively characterized in terms of morphology, crystalline nature, structural, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties using various experimental tools. The synthesized CuO NPs possessed a well crystalline nature which was perfectly matched to monoclinic structure of bulk CuO. For DSSC application, a thin film of synthesized CuO NPs was prepared by the paste of CuO NPs and coated onto FTO glass using glass rod. The cyclovoltametry measurement revealed that CuO NPs based thin film showed reasonably good surface for the reduction of triiodide ions in redox electrolyte, suggesting its good electrocatalytic activity toward the iodide ions. Moderately high solar to electrical energy conversion efficiency of ∼3.4% along with high short circuit current density (JSC) of ∼8.13 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage (VOC) of ∼0.676 V and fill factor (FF) of 0.62 was recorded in the DSSC fabricated with synthesized CuO NPs based counter electrode.

In this paper, we report on the green synthesis of cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Co 3 O 4 NPs) using leaves extract of plant Calotropis gigantea and characterize by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The green synthesized Co 3 O 4 NPs showed excellent catalytic effect on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and burning rate of composite solid propellants (CSPs). Kinetics of slow and rapid thermal decomposition has been investigated by isoconversional and ignition delay methods, respectively. Moreover, the electrocatalytic performance of green synthesized Co 3 O 4 NPs in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) has also been evaluated. The cyclic voltametry measurement shows good electrocatalytic activity of Co 3 O 4 NPs toward the reduction of I 3 − to I − ions.

A facile and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of α-Fe2O3 in a hexagonal cone (HC) like morphology by the addition of Azadirachta indica (neem) leaf extract into the aqueous solution of ferric chloride has been developed. The morphology, optical, crystalline and structural properties of the synthesized α-Fe2O3 HC nanomaterials were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultra violet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. The α-Fe2O3 HCs synthesized by the A. indica leaf extract were used as a burn rate enhancer for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and the combustion of composite solid propellants (CSPs). The thermal properties were evaluated systematically using TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), burn rate data and activation energy calculations.

Novel furan-bridged thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole based π-conjugated organic chromophore (RFTzR) was formulated and utilized for small molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs). The presence of furan spacer along with two terminal alkyl units significantly improved its absorption and solubility in the common organic solvents. RFTzR exhibited the reasonable HOMO and LUMO energy levels of −5.36 eV and −3.14 eV, respectively. The fabricated SMOSCs with RFTzR (donor) and PC60BM (acceptor) as photoactive materials presented relatively high power conversion efficiency of ∼2.72% (RFTzR : PC60BM, 2 : 1, w/w) along with good open-circuit voltage of ∼0.756 V and high photocurrent density of ∼10.13 mA cm−2, which might attribute to its improved absorption, electrochemical properties and the presence of strong electron-withdrawing furan moieties.

A facile and eco-friendly biosynthetic method was employed to synthesize NiO nanoparticles (NPs) using leaf extract of plant Calotropis gigantea. The crystalline and structural characterizations confirmed the formation of NiO NPs. A possible mechanism was proposed to explain the formation of NiO NPs through the plant assisted synthesis. The catalytic effect of biosynthesized NiO NPs on thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP) and burning rate of composite solid propellants (CSPs) has been analyzed. The Kinetic studies of slow and rapid thermal decomposition have also been done.

Graphene oxide (GO)–ZnO quantum dots (QDs) thin film electrode was prepared by the deposition of ZnO QDs through spin coating over the surface of electrophoretic deposited (EPD) GO on FTO substrate. The interaction of ZnO QDs with GO surface was confirmed by the crystalline, structural and optical properties of GO–ZnO QDs thin film. The prepared GO–ZnO QDs thin film was utilized as working electrode in chemical sensor for the low level detection of ethyl acetate (EA). GO–ZnO QDs thin film electrode based EA chemical sensor exhibited substantially high sensitivity of ~16.035 mA mM −1 cm −2 , the limit of detection (LOD) of ~26 µM, limit of quantification (LOQ) of ~80 µM with correlation coefficient ( R ) of ~0.97879.

A high performance perovskite solar cell was fabricated using the distinguished morphology of polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI-NPs) as an efficient hole transporting layer (HTL) with methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) as sensitizer. PANI-NPs were simply synthesized by the oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline monomer at 0-5 °C. A reasonable solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of ∼6.29% with a high short circuit current (JSC) of ∼17.97 mA/cm(2) and open circuit voltage (VOC) of ∼0.877 V were accomplished by Ag/PANI-NPs/CH3NH3PbI3/mp-anatase-TiO2/bl-TiO2/FTO perovskite solar cell. The transient photocurrent and photovoltage studies revealed that the fabricated solar cell showed better charge transport time, diffusion coefficient, diffusion length, and charge collection efficiency. Herein, the use of PANI-NPs as the HTL improved the charge carrier generation and the charge collection efficiency of the fabricated solar cell.

A solution-processed cerium oxide (CeO 2 )–titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) nanocomposite was utilized as an effective visible-light driven photocatalyst for the photodegradation of bromophenol (Bph) dye. The structural and the morphological properties revealed good interaction between CeO 2 and TiO 2 nanomaterials in CeO 2 –TiO 2 nanocomposite. The CeO 2 –TiO 2 nanocomposite showed enhanced optical properties with significant red shift after the addition of CeO 2 nanoparticles. The CeO 2 –TiO 2 nanocomposite as photocatalyst accomplished enormously high degradation of Bph-dye by ∼72% within 3 h under visible-light illumination. The improved degradation might attribute to the higher adsorption capacity and the better ē–h + pair separation under light illumination.

The transparent graphene-like carbon (GLC) thin films were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) without using any catalyst. The GLC thin film substrates presented reasonably low sheet resistance with good transparency. The thickness and transparency of GLC thin film substrates were easily controlled by varying the deposition time from 5-30 min at the constant filament temperature 1400 °C. The prepared GLC thin film substrates were directly used as conducting substrates to make TiO 2 photoanode for the fabrication of dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A solar-to-electrical conversion efficiency of ∼6.94% was achieved by DSSC fabricated with GLC thin film substrate (10 min) which was reasonably higher than DSSC fabricated with bare FTO substrate. The deposition of GLC thin film on FTO significantly improved the open circuit voltage (V OC , ∼0.70 V) and fill factor (FF, ∼0.63) of the fabricated DSSC. The enhanced V OC and FF might attribute to the reduced recombination and improvement of contacts between TiO 2 layer and the conducting layer.

The effective working electrode based on polypyrrole (PPy) nanobelts was employed for the fabrication of highly sensitive and reproducible aliphatic alcohols chemical sensor. The unique PPy nanobelts were simply synthesized by in situ chemical polymerization of pyrrole monomer in the presence of ferric chloride as oxidant and methylene blue as reactive self-degraded template. The morphological properties and elemental mapping revealed that the synthesized PPy nanobelts possessed the uniform dimension with high aspect of chemical compositions. The PPy nanobelts electrode showed reasonably high electrical conductivity of ∼1.80 × 10−4 Ω−1 cm−1. The electrochemical and electrocatalytic behavior of PPy nanobelts based electrode toward the detection of aliphatic alcohols were elucidated by measuring the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. Furthermore, the current (I)–voltage (V) characteristics were performed to evaluate the sensing performance of PPy nanobelts electrode toward the detection of aliphatic alcohols. Among different aliphatic alcohols, the methanol chemical sensor based on PPy nanobelts electrode displayed the highest sensitivity of ∼205.64 μA mM−1 cm−2, good detection limit of ∼6.92 μM with correlation coefficient (R) of ∼0.98271 and short response time (10 s).