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Schematic of photocatalytic H2 generation using Ni/SnS2 nanosheets along with the energy levels of SnS2 and Ni nanostructures.

In our current endeavor, 3-dimensional (3D) tungsten oxide (WO3) nanostructures (nanocubes, nanobars and nanobricks) have been swiftly generated via hydrothermal route at 160 °C for 24 h. Physico-chemical characterization of the resultant powder revealed formation of WO3 nanostructures with predominantly faceted cube, brick and rectangular bar-like morphology. The present study was also aimed at exploring the antimicrobial and anticancer potential of WO3 nanostructures. Antimicrobial activity was tested against different micro-organisms viz., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Aspergillus fumigatus. The antibacterial and antifungal activity was ascertained against these micro-organisms by measuring the diameter of inhibition zone in agar well diffusion test which revealed that the resultant WO3 nanostructures acted as excellent antibacterial agents against both bacteria and fungi but were more effective against the fungus, A. fumigatus. To examine the growth curves of bacterial cells, time kill assay was monitored for E. coli, against which significant antibacterial action of WO3 nanostructures was noted. The anti-cancer activity of WO3 nanostructures was found to be concentration-dependent against KB cell line by viable cell count method. In our pilot study, WO3 nanostructures suspension with concentration in the range of 10−1 to 10−5 mg/ml was found to kill KB cells effectively.

Development of highly sensitive, stable and reliable eco-friendly gas sensors is still an open-ended research domain and thus demands many related materials. Bismuth-based compounds form an important material platform in such developments; however, they are so far not reviewed. This review highlights the detailed gas sensing attributes for a range of gases and humidity for n-type and p-type as well as mixed composite materials and influences of catalytic doping on gas sensing in different bismuth-based composites. The future scope in the development of such gas sensors leading to commercialization is also discussed.

A simple, efficient and economically viable method for the Heck reaction has been accomplished in the absence of phosphine ligand. The Heck reaction was performed using nanostructured Ni-Co/ZnO material as a heterogeneous catalyst in a DMF/H2O solvent system and in the presence of K2CO3, at 120 °C. The Ni-Co/ZnO nanostructures were prepared by the facile reduction-impregnation method. The structural and morphological properties of Ni-Co/ZnO nanostructure were investigated using various physico-chemical characterization techniques. Structural studies displayed the formation of hexagonal (wurtzite) ZnO. Electron microscopy imaging showed the presence of agglomerated clusters of Ni-Co nanoparticles over the surfaces of elliptical, flower bud-like and irregularly shaped sub-micron sized particle bundles of ZnO. The elemental composition analysis (EDX) confirmed the loading of Ni and Co nanoparticles over the nanocrystalline ZnO. The surface chemical state analysis of Ni-Co/ZnO material validated that Ni nanostructure exists in Ni2+ and Ni3+ species, whereas, Co nanostructure exists in Co2+ and Co3+ species. UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy displays red shift in the light absorption edge of Ni-Co/ZnO catalyst compared to pure ZnO. The as-prepared Ni-Co bimetallic supported ZnO nanostructure showed better catalytic activity and stability for the Heck reactions under phosphine ligand-free conditions. Ni-Co/ZnO catalyzed Heck reactions afforded the corresponding cross-coupled products with moderate to good yields (up to 92%). Ni-Co/ZnO catalyst could be reused for five successive runs without significant loss of catalytic activity.

Seeds are vulnerable to physical and biological stresses during the germination process. Seed priming strategies can alleviate such stresses. Seed priming is a technique of treating and drying seeds prior to germination in order to accelerate the metabolic process of germination. Multiple benefits are offered by seed priming techniques, such as reducing fertilizer use, accelerating seed germination, and inducing systemic resistance in plants, which are both cost-effective and eco-friendly. For seed priming, cold plasma (CP)-mediated priming could be an innovative alternative to synthetic chemical treatments. CP priming is an eco-friendly, safe and economical, yet relatively less explored technique towards the development of seed priming. In this review, we discussed in detail the application of CP technology for seed priming to enhance germination, the quality of seeds, and the production of crops in a sustainable manner. Additionally, the combination treatment of CP with nanoparticle (NP) priming is also discussed. The large numbers of parameters need to be monitored and optimized during CP treatment to achieve the desired priming results. Here, we discussed a new perspective of machine learning for modeling plasma treatment parameters in agriculture for the development of synergistic protocols for different types of seed priming.

In present study, hollow urchin-like nanostructures of Nb2O5 with elongated nanofilaments as photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are successfully synthesized at different reaction times (viz. 12, 24, and 40 h, respectively, named as samples NB-1, NB-2, and NB-3) using facile hydrothermal route. We have studied the significant influence of hydrothermal reaction time on the structural, optical, morphological, and electrical properties. The photovoltaic performance of different samples is understood from response of current-potential (J-V) curve and incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) while charge recombination behavior and resistance of the cells are studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) study shows the orthorhombic crystalline form for the synthesized samples. Electron microscopy studies confirm the formation of porous spherical morphology with hairy filaments protruding outward. Size of urchin-like particle is found to be in the range of about 1 μm diameter, and the filaments emerging out from the surface of hollow spheres are seen to be 30–70 nm long and 5–20 nm in diameter. The DSSCs fabricated from the resultant nanostructures show the better photovoltaic performance with Nb2O5 sample synthesized at 24-h reaction time. The Jsc and efficiency for NB-2 are 8.24 mAcm−2 and 3.58% respectively, which are better than corresponding samples synthesized at the reaction time of 12 h and 40 h, respectively. These photovoltaic results obtained from the DSSCs fabricated using Nb2O5 nanostructures are comparatively exciting with TiO2 spheres. By further optimizing reaction conditions, it is expected that niobium pentoxide can emerge as better semiconductor oxide for photovoltaic and optical devices.

In the present study, we have demonstrated a unique approach for the synthesis of nanostructured ternary metal sulphides, XIn2S4 (X = Cd, Zn), using a simple, template free and low temperature solid phase reaction. A stoichiometric amount of precursors including CdO/ZnO, In2O3 and thiourea were mixed homogeneously and heated at 150 °C for different time intervals to produce nanostructured XIn2S4. Various molar ratios of the precursors were tried and among the different ratios, the molar ratio of 1 : 1 : 8 was found to be optimum for the growth of phase pure nano crystalline XIn2S4. X-ray analysis confirms the formation of cubic spinel Cadmium Indium Sulfide (CdIn2S4) and hexagonal Zinc Indium Sulfide (ZnIn2S4). HRTEM analysis confirms the formation of nanostructures of XIn2S4 with spherical and rod like mixed morphology. The band gap of the as synthesized materials is within the visible region i.e. 2.25 and 2.6 eV for CdIn2S4 and ZnIn2S4, respectively. Therefore, the activity of both the photocatalyts was tested for hydrogen generation by H2S and H2O splitting under natural solar light. The ZnIn2S4 photocatalyst was found to be more active for both H2S and H2O splitting reactions with H2 evolution rates of 6994 μmol h−1 g−1 and 243 μmol g−1, respectively, whereas for CdIn2S4 the rates were found to be 6128 μmol h−1 g−1 and 128.4 μmol g−1, respectively. The H2 evolution rate by H2S splitting was found to be much higher than various previously reported nanostructured photocatalysts. The simple, environmentally friendly and cost effective method reported herein can be applied for the large scale synthesis of XIn2S4 nanoparticles, which is the novelty of the present work.

Economical fabrication of semiconductor nanomaterials based gas sensor operating at relatively low temperature is very essential. Herein, nanostructured NixSn1-xO2 (where x = 0, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1) powders were synthesized using facile solvothermal method at 200 °C for 24h. These powders were characterized using various analytical techniques viz. X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, field emission transmission electron microscopy to understand their physico-chemical properties. Thick film pastes were formulated for the synthesized nanopowders. The thick films were printed on to glass substrates and fired at 400 C for 1h. The gas sensing performance of the resultant thick films was studied for hydrogen and ammonia. Thick film gas sensor based on Ni0.01Sn0.99O2 nano powder exhibited highest responseto hydrogen gas at lowest operating temperature (78 °C). On the other hand, the highest response to ammonia gas at lowest operating temperature (74 °C) was obtained in case of thick film gas sensor fabricated using nano powder of Ni0.1Sn0.90O2

This paper introduces application of Multi Agent Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients algorithm for multiple traffic intersection problems. The problem of decrease in waiting time at traffic intersections is still unsolved. Reinforcement learning is the recent technique which was introduced in past years. This paper is an attempt to apply Reinforcement Learning for multiple intersections.

Electricity generation using simple and cheap dye-sensitized solar cells and photocatalytic water splitting to produce future fuel, hydrogen, directly under natural sunlight fascinated the researchers worldwide. Herein, synthesis of indium-doped wurtzite ZnO nanostructures with varying molar percentage of indium from 0.25 to 3.0% with concomitant characterization indicating wurtzite structure is reported. The shift of (002) reflection plane to higher 2θ degree with increase in indium-doping thus is a clear evidence of doping of indium in zinc oxide nanoparticles. Surface morphological as well as microstructural studies of In@ZnO exhibited generation of ZnO nanoparticles and nanoplates of diameter 10–30 nm. The structures have been correlated well using computational density functional (DFT) studies. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy depicted the extended absorbance of these materials in the visible region. Hence, the photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen generation from water under natural sunlight as well as efficient DSSC fabrication of these newly synthesized materials has been demonstrated. In-doped ZnO exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen evolution (2465 μmol/h/g) via water splitting under natural sunlight. DSSC fabricated using 2% In-doped ZnO exhibited an efficiency of 3.46% which is higher than other reported In-doped ZnO based DSSCs.

We report tunable-morphology oriented facile yet scalable route to synthesize 1D (nanorod) and 2D (nanobelt) MoO3 nanostructures at gram scale using conventional as well as sonochemistry assisted sol–gel technique. The structural, morphological and optical properties of the samples can be befittingly altered by varying the synthesis protocol. The resultant orthorhombic MoO3 nanomorphs demonstrated efficient and expeditious photocatalytic degradation of the pollutant dye, Methylene Blue (MB). We have observed that appreciable photocatalytic MB dye-degradation can be accomplished within 30 minutes with high rate constants of 0.0786 min−1 and 0.233 min−1 for rod and belt-like MoO3-nanostructures, respectively. The pilot results indicate that the resultant MoO3 nanomorphs can be potentially used as solar light driven industrial photocatalyst material with their intrinsic photostability.

Herein, we report facile hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical MoS2 -based nanomorphs (displaying onion-flower-like features) with the primary focus on field-emitter applications. The synthesized nanostructures were characterized physicochemically to understand their basic structural and morphological features. Interesting nanoscale morphological evolution of onion-flower-like MoS2—from plain nanoflowers to those containing seedpods—is observed with the change in hydrothermal reaction time from 9 h to 21 h. Peculiarly, MoS2 nanomorphs with only onion-flower-like morphology displayed lower turn-on field value of 3.7 V/μm as compared to 4.2 V/μm for the nanoflowers containing seedpod-like particles. This might be attributed to the possibility of an easy electron conduction path available for the petals in plain nanoflowers, which may be impeded by the seedpod-like particles in the latter case.

One-pot green synthesis of propargylamines using ZnCl2 loaded TiO2 nanomaterial under solvent-free conditions has been effectively accomplished. The aromatic aldehydes, amines, and phenylacetylene were reacted at 100 °C in the presence of the resultant catalyst to form propargylamines. The nanocrystalline TiO2 was initially synthesized by a sol–gel method from titanium(IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) and further subjected to ZnCl2 loading by a wet impregnation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed the formation of crystalline anatase phase TiO2. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) showed the formation of agglomerated spheroid shaped particles having a size in the range of 25–45 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) validates cubical faceted and nanospheroid-like morphological features with clear faceted edges for the pure TiO2 sample. Surface loading of ZnCl2 on spheroid TiO2 nanoparticles is evident in the case of the ZnCl2 loaded TiO2 sample. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the presence of Ti4+ and Zn2+ species in the ZnCl2 loaded TiO2 catalyst. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDS) spectroscopy also confirmed the existence of Ti, O, Zn and Cl elements in the nanostructured catalyst. 15% ZnCl2 loaded TiO2 afforded the highest 97% yield for 3-(1-morpholino-3-phenylprop-2-ynyl)phenol, 2-(1-morpholino-3-phenylprop-2-ynyl)phenol and 4-(1,3-diphenylprop-2-ynyl)morpholine under solvent-free and aerobic conditions. The proposed nanostructure-based heterogeneous catalytic reaction protocol is sustainable, environment-friendly and offers economic viability in terms of recyclability of the catalyst.

In our current endeavor, 3-dimensional (3D) tungsten oxide (WO₃) nanostructures (nanocubes, nanobars and nanobricks) have been swiftly generated via hydrothermal route at 160 °C for 24 h. Physico-chemical characterization of the resultant powder revealed formation of WO₃ nanostructures with predominantly faceted cube, brick and rectangular bar-like morphology. The present study was also aimed at exploring the antimicrobial and anticancer potential of WO₃ nanostructures. Antimicrobial activity was tested against different micro-organisms viz.

With the propulsion of technological innovation and advances, data today is being compared to oil of the previous century. Today, our world is overwhelmed by the gathering and dissemination of huge amounts of data. Thus, Text Summarization has become a valuable tool which would help us save time and efforts. Text summarization can be defined as the process of presenting the most important information from a source (or a set of sources) to produce a concise version for a particular user and tasks, without causing any significant loss of information. In this paper, various text summarization techniques- both extractive and abstractive have been surveyed and presented.

Herein, the preparation of gold nanoparticles-silk fibroin (SF-AuNPs) dispersion and its label-free colorimetric detection of the organophosphate pesticide, namely chlorpyrifos, at ppb level are reported. The silk fibroin solution was extracted from B. mori silk after performing degumming, dissolving and dialysis steps. This fibroin solution was used for synthesis of gold nanoparticles in-situ without using any external reducing and capping agent. X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), Field Emission Transmission Electron Microscopy (FETEM) along with Surface Plasmon Resonance based optical evaluation confirmed generation of gold nanoparticles within SF matrix. The resultant SF-AuNPs dispersion exhibited rapid and excellent colorimetric pesticide sensing response even at 10 ppb concentration. Effect of additional parameters viz. pH, ionic concentration and interference from other pesticide samples was also studied. Notably, SF-AuNPs dispersion exhibited selective colorimetric pesticide sensing response which can be calibrated. Furthermore, this method was extended to various simulated real life samples such as tap water, soil and agricultural products including plant residues to successfully detect the presence of chlorpyrifos pesticide. The proposed colorimetric sensor system is facile yet effective and can be employed by novice rural population and expert researchers alike. It can be exploited as preliminary tool for label-free colorimetric chlorpyrifos pesticide sensing in water and agricultural products.

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the semiconductor photo-anode film plays a significant role in enhancing the overall power conversion efficiency. ZnO is considered as the futuristic hope for photoanodes in DSSCs due to manifold properties over TiO2. However, the power conversion efficiency of ZnO-based DSSCs is still low due to its poor chemical stability and surface defects. In this work, we reported the synthesis of ZnO nano-flowers as well as its surface modification of with TiCl4 at different concentration. In DSSCs, the enhancement in power conversion efficiency results suggested that surface modification of ZnO film by TiCl4 leads to the deposition of TiO2 which subsequently increases the roughness factor of film as well as scattering layer. This preferential surface modification of ZnO film facilitates the accumulation of large number of photo-injected electrons in the HOMO of the photoanode with rapid transfer of charge carriers to FTO via ZnO layer by lowering the recombination of photo-injected electrons with the redox electrolyte as well as oxidized dye. The intensity-modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMVS) and intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMPS) study also indicated that the recombination rate decreased considerably during the electron transportation. The ZnO film surface modified by TiCl4 achieved a power conversion efficiency of 4.48%, which is two times higher than that of the non-modified ZnO photoanode.

In this work, we reported the synthesis of zinc sulphide microspheres using the hydrothermal method. ZnS microspheres were synthesized using water, zinc acetate, thiourea and ammonia solution at 150°C for 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h. The as-synthesized ZnS powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. XRD indicates the cubic (major phase) as well as hexagonal (minor phase) crystalline phase with enhanced crystallinity increased gradually with more reaction time. UV–Vis spectra show the absorption peaks in the UV–Vis region for all the samples. The Tauc’s plot was used to calculate the band gap energy of ZnS samples, which are found to be 3.39 eV, 3.4 eV, and 3.42 eV for the samples synthesized at reaction times of 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h, respectively. FESEM images confirm the formation of microspheres as aggregates of spherical nanoparticles. The as-synthesized ZnS microspheres have been explored for solar light-induced photo-catalytic dye degradation of methylene blue (MB), and the results confirm that such microspheres exhibit effectual photocatalytic properties. Zinc sulphide microspheres have been synthesized hydrothermally at different reaction times (6 h, 12 h, and 24 h). The as-synthesized ZnS microspheres were successfully employed as photocatalyst for MB dye degradation. Due to high crystallinity, ZnS microspheres synthesized for 24 h show more efficient degradation potential than others.

Thin films of covellite copper sulphide (CuS) were deposited on FTO substrates using chemical spray pyrolysis technique. Influence of Cu-to-S molar ratio on structural, surface morphological, optical and electrical properties were systematically investigated using variety of characterization techniques. Formation of covellite CuS films was confirmed by low angle-XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed the formation of faceted CuS particles without secondary growth. Optical studies exhibited decrease in optical band gap (from 2.21 to 1.69 eV) with increase in Cu-to-S molar ratio. Electrical properties were investigated using Van der Pauw four point probe method and Hall measurements revealed that as-synthesized CuS films have low sheet resistance (1.47–2.45 Ω/□), high carrier mobility (8.90–54.89 cm2/Vs) and high sheet concentration (1016–1018/cm2). The CuS films deposited at optimized Cu-to-S molar ratio (1:2.5) were then further studied for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and photovoltaic characteristics. A quantum-dot sensitized solar cell incorporating optimized CuS film as counter electrode showed power conversion efficiency of ~ 1.05% with Voc ~ 0.46 V, Isc ~ 1.01 mA/cm2 and fill factor ~ 0.34%. Although the cell is not fully optimized and better results can be anticipated.

Dialyzed natural polymer, fibroin, from Bombyx mori was used to synthesize biocompatible silver and gold nanoparticles in-situ in dispersion form. The films of pure fibroin (PF), fibroin-silver nanocomposite (FSNC) and fibroin-gold nanocomposite (FGNC) were fabricated by drop casting method. The characterization of the resultant dispersion and films was performed by visual color change, UV-Vis spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The dispersions of PF, FSNC and FGNC were tested for antibacterial activity against E. coli NCIM 2065, S. aureus NCIM 5021, K. pneumoniae NCIM 2957, P. aeruginosa ATCC 9027 and antifungal activity against A. fumigatus NCIM 902. FSNC dispersion exhibited an effective antimicrobial action against all the tested microbes as compared to FGNC dispersion. The mechanism of action for FSNC and FGNC against these microorganisms is proposed. Additionally, the larvicidal activity of the films was investigated against the larvae of Aedes aegypti. The films of FSNC exhibited 100% mortality while the films of FGNC revealed 86–98% mortality against all the larval instars and pupae of A. aegypti. The phytotoxicity study of the nanocomposite films was also carried out to confirm the reusability of water. This is first noble metal nanocomposite based report on larvicidal activity of zika virus vector.

Hierarchically nano-structured ZnO microspheres have been synthesized solvothermally at variable reaction times (6, 12, 36, and 48 h) by using ethylene glycol as a solvent, zinc acetate as precursor, and hexamethylene triamine (HMT) as structure directing agent. The study also focused on the mechanism of time-dependant growth of hierarchical ZnO microspheres and their deployment in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as photoanode. Longer reaction times lead to formation of nearly spherical ZnO microspheres. The structural and morphological analysis reveals the formation of a wurtzite hexagonal crystalline structure having a microsphere-like morphology. ZnO hierarchical microspheres synthesized at different reaction times have been used as photoanode in DSSCs which show enhanced light-harvesting properties than the commercial ZnO powders. ZnO microspheres synthesized at 48 h show maximum current density and cell efficiency of 8.51 mA/cm2 and 3.31%, respectively. This enhancement in photovoltaic parameters could be due to highly porous microspheres which provide more specific surface area for dye loading, retardation of recombination, and better charge transport.

In present work, thin films of CZTS have been prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) by spraying precursor solution directly onto the soda lime glass (SLG) substrates by varying sulphur molar concentration. Copper chloride [CuCl2.2H2O], zinc chloride [ZnCl2.2H2O], tin chloride [SnCl4.5H2O] and thiourea [(NH2)2CS] were used as precursor materials to deposit CZTS thin films by using home-built chemical spray pyrolysis system. Influence of sulphur variation on structural, optical, morphology and electrical properties of CZTS films have been investigated by using variety techniques such as low angle x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-Visible spectroscopy, four probe method, etc. The formation of CZTS has been confirmed by low angle XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The structural analysis reveals formation of kesterite tetragonal phase with preferential orientation along (112) direction. The band gap values of CZTS thin films have been calculated and found in the range 2 - 2.25 eV over the entire range of sulphur variation studied. The change in band gap may be due to quantum confinement effects at nanoscale. The morphological studies show formation of islands of nanoscale particulate clusters which constitute the films in most of the samples. The films exhibit higher resistivity values (in KΩ) which may be due to presence of the strain in the films.

Developing stable semiconducting oxides that are active in the visible region for photocatalytic reactions is a major technological challenge. Herein, we report a facile co-precipitation based synthesis of PbCrO4 nanostructures with the aim to study their hitherto unreported hydrogen production potential. It has been observed that monoclinic PbCrO4 nanorods have been generated using a simple co-precipitation method in the presence of water and methanol as solvents while spherical nanostructures are produced using an ultrasonication assisted co-precipitation method. The nanorods synthesized by the aqueous co-precipitation method have yielded the highest rate of hydrogen production (3214 μmol h−1 0.5 g−1) by splitting hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas.

Innovative colorimetric biosensing platform has been realized by in-situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles in silk-fibroin matrix derived from domesticated silkworm species Bombyx mori. As-synthesized nano-biocomposite dispersion was characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. In a pilot attempt to develop hassle free on-site screening protocol, such green hybrid systems were explored for colorimetric detection of broad range of metal ion targets, viz. toxic heavy metals such as mercury and chromium (which adversely affect hydrosphere, lithosphere, anthroposphere and biosphere) as well as relatively less-toxic metals like copper and iron in a solution. Quite interestingly, our simple biointerfacial-sensing approach reveals highly selective colorimetric sensor response down to ppb level for mercury ions analyte.

We report

The SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites were synthesized using semisolvothermal reaction technique. These nanocomposites were prepared using different combination of solvents viz., ethanol, water, and ethylene glycol at 180 °C for 24 h. The synthesized nanocomposites were analyzed with various characterization techniques. Structural analysis indicates the formation of tetragonal phase of SnO2 for the sample prepared in ethanol, whereas for other solvent combinations, the mixture of SnO and SnO2 having tetragonal crystal structures were observed. The optical study shows enhanced absorbance in the visible region for all the prepared SnO/SnO2 nanocomposites. The observed band gap was found to be in the range of 3.0 to 3.25 eV. Microstructural determinations confirm the formation of nanostructures having spherical as well as rod-like morphology. The size of nanoparticles in ethanol-mediated solvent was found to be in the range of 5 to 7 nm. Thermogravimetric analysis indicate the weight gain around 1.3 wt% confirming the conversion of SnO to SnO2 material. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized nanocomposites was evaluated by following the aqueous methylene blue (MB) degradation. The sample prepared in ethylene glycol-mediated solvent showed highest photoactivity having apparent rate constant (Kapp) 0.62 × 10−2 min−1.

The hierarchically structured ZnO pomegranates as well as hollow spheres have been prepared in a solvothermal assisted process using ethylene glycol as a solvent and l -ascorbic acid and oxalic acid as additives/surfactants respectively, without using water as solvent. Depending on the surfactant used, the morphology of the ZnO hierarchical nanostructures has changed dramatically which can be attributed to the reaction kinetics affected by presence of generated solvents, evolved gases. The structural analysis reveals the formation of wurtzite hexagonal crystalline structure. Electron microscopy images show the pomegranate and hollow sphere like morphology. The secondary nanoscale growth has been observed on the shell of pomegranate like ZnO microspheres. The synthesized ZnO hierarchial nanostructures have been used as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) which showed enhanced light harvesting properties than the commercial ZnO. Pomegranate like structure has displayed better light conversion efficiency (4.35%) as compared to ZnO hollow sphere structures (3.28%). This enhancement in photocurrent and power conversion efficiency could be due to interesting pomegranate like architecture of ZnO coupled with secondary 1-dimensional growth which provided more specific surface area for dye loading.

In our contemporary endeavor, metallic molybdenum (Mo) and semiconducting molybdenum trioxide $({\rm MoO}_{3})$ nanostructures have been simultaneously generated via solid state reaction between molybdenum (III) chloride $({\rm MoCl}_{3})$ and polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) at 285 $^{\circ}{\rm C}$ in unimolar ratio for different time durations, namely, 6 h, 24 h, and 48 h. The resultant nanocomposites (NCs) revealed formation of predominantly metallic Mo for all the samples. However, ${\rm MoO}_{3}$ gradually gained prominent position as secondary phase with rise in reaction time. The present study was intended to investigate the antibacterial potential of metal-metal oxide-polymer NCs, i.e., Mo- ${\rm MoO}_{3}$ -PPS against microorganisms, viz., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Aspergillus fumigatus. The antibacterial activity of the NCs was evaluated by agar well diffusion investigation. Maximum sensitivity concentrations of NCs were determined by finding out minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC). Moreover, the NCs prepared at reaction time of 48 h exhibited best MBC values and were tested with time kill assay which revealed that the growth of S. aureus was substantially inhibited by Mo- ${\rm MoO}_{3}$ -PPS NCs. This synchronized formation of Mo- ${\rm MoO}_{3}$ nanostructures in an engineering thermoplastic may have potential antimicrobial applications in biomedical devices and components. Prima facie results on antifungal activity are indicative of the fact that these materials can show anti-cancer behavior.

ZnO shows promising candidature as photoanode material for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) due to its high bulk electron mobility and easily tailorable geometrical structures. The objective of this study is to facilitate the development of highly porous hierarchical ZnO for enhanced power conversion efficiency in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) due to its greater dye adsorption. This study investigated the influence of reaction temperatures of 120 °C (sample Z-1) and 180 °C (sample Z-2) in hydrothermal synthesis on structural, morphological and optical properties of resultant ZnO nanostructures and their performance as photoanode material in DSSCs. The synthesized beaded nanochain bundles of ZnO, with multilayered and highly ordered texture, have diameters of several micrometers. Structural and morphological analysis shows that the ZnO beaded nanochain-like architectures possess wurtzite crystalline nature. These morphological improvements (beaded nanochains) of ZnO were found to exhibit higher dye loading and conversion efficiency due to increase in the surface area while reducing charge recombination. The maximum conversion efficiency was obtained with Z-1 and Z-2 is 2.95 and 3.56% with photocurrent of 7.73 and 9.24 mA/cm2, respectively. The obtained results pertaining to the DSSC performance studies were corroborated by the impedance spectroscopy data. Hierarchical beaded ZnO nanochains synthesized at different hydrothermal reaction temperatures of 120 and 180 °C were used as photoanode in DSSCs (probably for the first time) exhibited enhanced light harvesting characteristics (efficiencies of 2.95 and 3.56%, respectively) than the commercial ZnO.

This study focused on the effect of different reaction temperature on the morphology of zinc oxide. The temperature plays a significant role for the growth along different planes and axis. We synthesized ZnO hydrothermally at different temperature (60, 100, 140, and 180 °C). The synthesized ZnO nanopowders were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The absorption spectrum of ZnO nanoparticles was observed with excitonic peaks in the range 372 to 376 nm. The XRD patterns of the particles reveal the formation of hexagonal phase for ZnO with high degree of crystallinity. The FESEM images of ZnO powder shows the formation of nanobelts, nanoplates, and nanorods. As temperature was increased, the morphology of ZnO nanostructures changed from nanobelts to nanorods. The synthesized ZnO powders were successfully employed as electrode material in dye-sensitized solar cells to evaluate the photovoltaic performances of synthesized ZnO nanobelts, nanoplates, and nanorods.

Nanocomposites containing magnetic nanoparticles embedded in a polymer matrix with good thermal stability (up to 200°C) are technologically important. We report an environmentally benign solid–solid approach for synthesis of cobalt sulfide and its nanocomposite using a thermally stable matrix of polyphenylene sulfide. Physicochemical characterizations reveal the formation of nanoclusters of the hexagonal phase CoS. Even though bulk CoS is nonmagnetic, magnetization studies exhibit anomalous magnetic behavior for phase-pure nanoscale CoS and its nanocomposites.

To facilitate in situ generation of single and mixed-phase molybdenum oxide on the nanoscale in a network of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), a novel polymer–inorganic solid-state reaction is proposed. Ammonium molybdate was homogeneously mixed with PPS in 1:1 molar ratio and heated at 285°C for different times (6 h, 24 h, or 48 h) under ambient conditions. The products were characterized by x-ray diffractometry, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Structural investigations revealed the co-existence of mix-phased molybdenum oxide, i.e. dominant orthorhombic α-MoO3, and minor monoclinic Mo8O23 phases, within the modified PPS matrix. The resulting molybdenum oxide nanostructures had rod and sheet-like morphology in the PPS matrix. Dielectric measurements on pellets prepared from the resulting nanocomposites revealed improvement of the dielectric properties compared with values reported for pure PPS. The resulting nano-composites may exhibit properties synergistically derived from those of their components (molybdenum oxide and PPS), i.e. lower dielectric constant and loss tangent, enabling application as relatively high-temperature capacitors.

Herein, we report the synthesis of metallic molybdenum microspheres and hierarchical MoS2 nanostructures by facile template-free solvothermal and hydrothermal approach, respectively. The morphological transition of the Mo microspheres to hierarchical MoS2 nanoflower architectures is observed to be accomplished with change in solvent from ethylenediamine to water. The resultant marigold flower-like MoS2 nanostructures are few layers thick with poor crystallinity while spherical ball-like molybdenum microspheres exhibit better crystalline nature. This is the first report pertaining to the synthesis of Mo microspheres and MoS2 nanoflowers without using any surfactant, template or substrate in hydro/solvothermal regime. It is opined that such nanoarchitectures of MoS2 are useful candidates for energy related applications such as hydrogen evolution reaction, Li ion battery and pseudocapacitors. Inquisitively, metallic Mo can potentially act as catalyst as well as fairly economical Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) substrate in biosensor applications.

The pulse laser ablation is a simple and direct method used for the generation of nanostructures in liquid environment. In this paper, formation of tungsten sulfide [Formula: see text] nanostructures has been carried out using nanosecond (ns) and femtosecond (fs) laser ablation with ablation time 120 min. In addition, the field emission studies were performed of the prepared sample. The characterization techniques such as the transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-visible spectroscopy have been used to confirm the surface morphology as well as structural details. It is observed that the laser pulse regime plays a vital role on the size reduction of [Formula: see text] nanostructure. The X-ray spectra reveal the formation of [Formula: see text] nanoparticles for ns laser ablation, while [Formula: see text] nanosheets for fs laser ablation. The TEM images indicate that the transformation of [Formula: see text] microsheet into nanosheet of the size about 15–200 nm for the sample treated with ns laser and fs laser ablation. Also, the results clearly shows the improvement in the field emission characteristics for laser ablated [Formula: see text] nanosheets. The enhanced field emission characteristics is attributed to the formation and separation of few layer [Formula: see text] nanosheets. The [Formula: see text] nanostructures may have great potential for the applications in optoelectronic devices.