ABSTRACT
The study explored the combined photosynthetic activities of two green microalgal species, Tetradesmus obliquus and Tetradesmus reginae, on an integrated biophotovoltaic (BPV) platform for simultaneous wastewater treatment, toxic metal biosorption, carbon biofixation, bioelectricity generation and biodiesel production. The experimental setup comprised of a dual-chambered BPV with copper anode surrounded by T. obliquus in BG11 media, and copper cathode with T. reginae in municipal wastewater separated by Nafion 117 membrane. The study reported a maximum power density of 0.344 Wm-2 at a cell potential of 0.415 V with external resistance of 1000 Ω and 0.3268 V maximum open-circuit voltage. The wastewater electrical conductivity and pH increased from 583 ± 22 to 2035 ± 29.31 mS/cm and 7.403 ± 0.174 to 8.263 ± 0.055 respectively, signifying increased photosynthetic and electrochemical activities. Residual nitrogen, phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, arsenic, cadmium, chromium and lead removal efficiencies by T. reginae were 100%, 80.68%, 71.91%, 47.6%, 88.82%, 71.24% and 92.96%, respectively. T. reginae accumulated maximum biomass of 0.605 ± 0.033 g/L with a CO2 biosequestration rate of 0.166 ± 0.010 gCO2/L/day and 42.40 ± 1.166% lipid content. Methyl palmitate, methyl undecanoate and 13-octadecenoic acid with relative abundances of 37.24%, 24.80% and 12.02%, respectively were confirmed.
Subject(s)
Chlorophyceae , Metals, Heavy , Microalgae , Water Purification , Biofuels , Biomass , Carbon Dioxide/chemistry , Copper , Fresh Water , Wastewater/chemistryABSTRACT
In this study, composite two-dimensional (2D) materials consisting of graphene (Gr) and tungsten disulfide (WS2) were coalesced with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through a self-assembly process to boost the conductivity of the resulting graphene-tungsten disulfide-gold nanoparticles (Gr-WS2-AuNPs) nanointerface structure. Structural and morphological characterization of the nanohybrid structure reveals crystalline thin flakelike agglomerates. Electrochemical characterization reveals an excellent electron transfer process for all the modified electrodes at the interface. The Gr/WS2/AuNPs/HRP/GCE modified bioelectrode exhibited a rapid electrobiocatalytic response in detecting H2O2 and a linear response from 0.40 to 23 mM, while 11.07 µA/mM/cm2 is the sensitivity value. This shows that the fabricated Gr/WS2/AuNPs/HRP interface structure is an excellent material for future developments in electrochemical biosensing and bioelectronics applications. The interactions, geometry, and energetic and electronic properties of H2O2 adsorption onto Gr/WS2/Au using the density functional theory (DFT) method have also been investigated along with the Grimme's DFT-D3 dispersion method. Different adsorption modes of the H2O2 molecule onto the Gr/WS2/Au surface were considered. In almost all the cases, the adsorption was found to be energetically favorable and chemisorbed, with energies ranging from -2.198 to -3.782 eV. It was found that the W 5d, S 3p, and Au 6s orbitals play a vital role in the adsorption process. The H2O2 adsorption on Gr/WS2/Au remarkably decreases its work function, thereby increasing the field electron emission from the H2O2 molecule to Gr/WS2/Au.
ABSTRACT
This research work delved into the photocatalytic degradation of monoazo dye (methyl orange) and diazo dye (congo red) in aqueous solution using Fe3+/C/S-doped TiO2 nanocomposites. The nanocomposites were synthesised through sol-gel method and characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDX, BET and UV-Vis. Photocatalytic degradation of the dyes was monitored under simulated visible light using pristine TiO2, C/S/doped-TiO2 and Fe3+/C/S doped-TiO2 with varying concentrations of Fe3+. The influence of catalyst doping, solution pH, and light intensity were also examined. Doping TiO2 with Fe3+/C/S caused reduction in its band gap value with the resultant improvement in its visible light activity. The photocatalytic efficiency of the catalysts is given as follows: TiO2 < C/S/TiO2 < Fe3+/C/S-TiO2 with Fe3+/C/S-TiO2 (0.3% Fe3+) as the best performing photocatalyst. The monoazo dye experienced higher degradation efficiency than the diazo dye. Degradation of the azo dyes was observed to decrease with increasing pH from 2 to 12. Increased visible light intensity enhanced the photodegradation efficiency of the dye. Dye decolourization was observed to be faster than its mineralization.
