Robust bioinspired surfaces and their exploitation for petroleum hydrocarbon remediation

The current improvement in science and engineering, actively dealing with surfaces and interfaces, turns into a functioning control with a thriving advancement propensity. Superlyophobic/superlyophilic phenomena in surface sciences have pulled in broad considerations of researchers and specialists. Inspired by the natural and living organism, researchers have designed different biomimetic materials with exceptional surface wettability, such as the smart wetting of asymmetric spider silk surfaces. These smart materials with superlyophobic/superlyophilic wettability are generally utilized for water assortment, self-cleaning, fluid transportation and separation, and many researchers’ domains. Among them, emulsion separation, including division of oil-water blend, mixtures of immiscible liquids and oil-water emulsions, is highlighted by an increasing number of researchers. Numerous materials with one- and two-dimensional morphology, smart surfaces, and super wettability have been effectively designed and utilized in various scientific research applications. We expect that these bioinspired materials with super wettability can have promising applications in practical for emulsion destabilization and liquid transportation.

     

Conception of an environmental friendly O/W cosmetic emulsion from microalgae

The development of eco-friendly cosmetic such as those from microalgae for skin regeneration and collagen synthesis has gained a great interest worldwide. Accordingly, the potential of microalgae biomass as source of anti-aging cosmetic cream with high antioxidant activity has been investigated. Stabilities and sensory characteristics of cosmetic creams supplemented with Spirulina, Tetraselmis sp. and Dunaliella sp. at 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5%, respectively, revealed a conservation of physico-chemical and preliminary stability properties of formulations. To analyze physico-chemical and textural parameters, accelerated stability study was evaluated under two thermal conditions (25 and 40 °C) during 90 days. Results showed that pH values of all formulations were within the limits of normal skin pH range under storage time at 25 and 40 °C. During this period, the colored creams showed a significant changes of a* and b* indices, reflecting the instability of microalgae colors. Microalgae modified the textural characteristics of emulsions. The Tetraselmis sp. containing-cream had the lowest (P < 0.05)?values of hardness, springiness, and cohesiveness. The 0.5% Spirulina containing-cream had the best stable consistency and adhesiveness under time and temperature variations. It exhibited the best properties to be used for skin care products. Thanks to their high content in bioactive macromolecules, microalgae considerably improved the antioxidant activity of the new formulated skin creams.

     

Kaempferol prevents cadmium chloride-induced liver damage by upregulating Nrf2 and suppressing NF-κB and keap1

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study evaluated the protective effect of kaempferol, a natural flavonoid, against cadmium chloride (CdCl2)-induced liver damage and examined the...     

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Biobased Ion-Exchange Bisfuran Polyamides Prepared by Interfacial Polycondensation of Bisfuran Diamine Monomer and Sustainable Dicarboxylic Acid Derivatives

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Polymers based on the furanic compounds derived from renewable carbohydrates have seen massive growth due to their unique properties and increasing...     

Synthesis of CS/PVA Biodegradable Composite Nanofibers as a Microporous Material with Well Controllable Procedure Through Electrospinning

In this study, we have showed a facile route for fabrication of a novel microporous material based on chitosan (CS) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) biodegradable nanofibers that have high specific surface area, considerable porosity, and small diameter. Scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis, and CHNS/O elemental analyser were applied to characterize the fabricated CS/PVA composite nanofibers. Moreover, the influences of spinning conditions including concentration, voltage, electrospinning distance, and flow rate, on size distribution and pore diameter of the final product were systematically studied using 2^k?1 factorial design experiments, and the response surface optimization was used for determining the best synthesis parameter. The results obtained from 2^K?1 factorial design experiments showed that electrospinning parameters influenced the size distribution and pore diameter of the CS/PVA microporous material. Based on the response surface methodology, the CS/PVA product could be obtained with a high microporous diameter of 1.8 nm and a small diameter distribution of 15.0 nm under optimized conditions. The obtained results showed that the fabricated samples could be utilized in different applications.     

Antibacterial and Catalytic Performance of Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles Embedded in Crosslinked PVA Sheet

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - In this research work, a green method of using Saussurea costus extract for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is developed. Analysis of the...     

Bacteriological quality assessment of drinking water available at the flood affected areas of Peshawar

Monsoon flooding occurred in the main areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Balochistan as well as parts of Gilgit Baltistan of Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir in July 2010. Water-borne diseases such as cholera, enteric fever, and dysentery were common among the inhabitants of flood-affected areas which were selected for sample collection. In the present study, 10 sites in District Peshawar were selected and drinking water samples collected. These samples were analyzed for the total plate count (TPC), total coliform bacteria (TCB), total fecal coliform bacteria (TFCB), Escherichia coli (EC), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), Vibrio cholerae (VB), Salmonella Shigella, and Staphylococcus aureus. The TPC ranged from 8 × 10¹ to 7 × 10⁴ CFU/ml. The TCB ranged from <1.1 to 280 MPN/100 ml. Twenty percent of the samples were contaminated with TFCB, EC, Salmonella, Shigella, and Staphylococcus aureus, while only one sample contaminated with PA. Forty percent of the samples were contaminated with VB. The surface and well water was greatly contaminated by flooding and major improvements on priority basis are essential.     

A novel framework-based cuckoo search algorithm for sizing and optimization of grid-independent hybrid renewable energy systems

Hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) turned into an appealing choice for supplying loads in remote areas. The application of smart grid principals in HRES provides a communication between the load and generation from the HRES. Using smart grid in the HRES will optimally utilize the generating resources to reschedule the loads depending on its importance. This paper presents a new proposed design and optimization simulation program for techno-economic sizing of grid-independent hybrid PV/wind/diesel/battery energy system using Cuckoo search (CS) optimization algorithm. Using of CS will help to get the global minimum cost condition and prevent the simulation to be stuck around local minimum. A new proposed simulation program (NPSP) is acquainted using CS to determine the optimum size of each component of the HRES for the lowest cost of generated energy and the lowest value of dummy energy, at highest reliability. A detailed economic methodology to obtain the price of the generated energy has been introduced. Results showed that using CS reduced the time required to obtain the optimal size with higher accuracy than other techniques used iterative techniques, Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Numerous significant outcomes can be extracted from the proposed program that could help scientists and decision makers.     

Degradation of ampicillin antibiotic in aqueous solution by ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite as photocatalyst under sunlight irradiation

PURPOSE AND METHOD: ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite in core-shell structure was prepared by the synthesis and adsorption of polyaniline chains on the structure of ZnO nanoparticles. Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the composition and structure of the nanocomposite. The nanocomposite was used as an active photocatalyst for photodegradation and removal of ampicillin in aqueous solution. RESULTS: UV-Vis spectroscopy studies showed that ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite absorbs visible light irradiation as well as ultraviolet spectrum, and therefore, it can be photoactivated under visible and ultraviolet lights. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite in degradation of ampicillin molecules in aqueous solution under natural sunlight irradiation was evaluated and compared with that of ZnO nanoparticles and pristine polyaniline. The ZnO/polyaniline core-shell nanocomposite exhibited higher photocatalytic activity compared to ZnO nanoparticles and pristine polyaniline. The effect of operating conditions (pH, ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite dosage, and ampicillin concentration) in the photocatalytic degradation of ampicillin using ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite was investigated. The optimum conditions for maximum efficiency of ampicillin degradation under 120 min sunlight irradiation were found as 10 mg L(-1) dosage of ZnO/polyaniline nanocomposite, ampicillin concentration of 4.5 mg L(-1), and solution pH?=?5. Under optimum operating conditions, degradation efficiency was reached to 41% after 120 min of exposure to the sunlight irradiation.