Efficiency and mechanistic insights of photocatalytic decomposition of tetracycline and rhodamine B utilizing Z-scheme g-C3N4/SnWO4 heterostructures under visible light irradiation.

The hydrothermal approach was used in the design and construction of the SnWO4 (SW) nanoplates anchored g-C3N4 (gCN) nanosheet heterostructures. Morphology, optical characteristics, and phase identification were investigated. The heterostructure architect construction and successful interface interaction were validated by the physicochemical characteristics. The test materials were used as a photocatalyst in the presence of visible light to break down the antibiotic tetracycline (TC) and the organic Rhodamine B (RhB). The best photocatalytic degradation efficiency of TC (97%) and RhB (98%) pollutants was demonstrated by the optimized 15 mg of gCNSW-7.5 in 72 and 48 min, respectively, at higher rate constants of 0.0409 and 0.0772 min-1. The interface contact between gCN and SW, which successfully enhanced charge transfer and restricted recombination rate in the photocatalyst, is responsible for the enhanced performance of the gCNSW heterostructure photocatalyst. In addition, the gCNSW heterostructure photocatalyst demonstrated exceptional stability and reusability over the course of four successive testing cycles, highlighting its durable and dependable function. Superoxide radicals and holes were shown to be key players in the degradation of contaminants through scavenger studies. The charge transfer mechanism in the heterostructure is identified as Z-scheme mode with the help of UV-vis DRS analysis. Attributed to its unique structural features, and effective separation of charge carriers, the Z-scheme gCNSW-7.5 heterostructure photocatalyst exhibits significant promise as an exceptionally efficient catalyst for the degradation of pollutants. This positions it as a prospective material with considerable potential across various environmental applications.

Impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystem - A review.

All living things depend on their natural environment, either directly or indirectly, for their high quality of life, growth, nutrition, and development. Due to the fast emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the Earth's climate system is being negatively impacted by global warming. Stresses caused by climate change, such as rising and hotter seas, increased droughts and floods, and acrid waters, threaten the world's most populated areas and aquatic ecosystems. As a result, the aquatic ecosystems of the globe are quickly reaching hazardous conditions. Marine ecosystems are essential parts of the world's environment and provide several benefits to the human population, such as water for drinking and irrigation, leisure activities, and habitat for commercially significant fisheries. Although local human activities have influenced coastal zones for millennia, it is still unclear how these impacts and stresses from climate change may combine to endanger coastal ecosystems. Recent studies have shown that rising levels of greenhouse gases are causing ocean systems to experience conditions not seen in several million years, which may cause profound and irreversible ecological shifts. Ocean productivity has declined, food web dynamics have changed, habitat-forming species are less common, species ranges have changed, and disease prevalence has increased due to human climate change. We provide an outline of the interaction between global warming and the influence of humans along the coastline. This review aims to demonstrate the significance of long-term monitoring, the creation of ecological indicators, and the applications of understanding how aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning respond to global warming. This review discusses the effects of current climate change on marine biological processes both now and in the future, describes present climate change concerning historical change, and considers the potential roles aquatic systems could play in mitigating the effects of global climate change.

Advancements in Nickel-Phosphate/Boron Based Electroless Composite Coatings: A Comprehensive Review of Mechanical Properties and Recent Developments.

Nickel-Phosphate/Boron (Ni-P/B) electroless coatings have been widely used to improve physical and mechanical properties in various industrial applications, including the automotive, aerospace, chemical processing, food, oil and gas, electronic, textile, and printing industries. Electroless nickel coatings are one of the most popular surface-coating methods due to their low cost and short processing time. The purpose of this review is to look at several coating materials and the existing processes for making electroless coatings on different materials. The improvement of Ni-P/B composite coatings by the incorporation of secondary particles into an alloy matrix at the macro, micro, and nano levels is explained in detail. Process parameters like type of surfactant, annealing temperature, size of the reinforcement material, and reducing-agent percentage on mechanical characteristics like hardness, high-temperature oxidation behaviour, friction, coefficient, wear, and corrosion have been broadly researched and illustrated clearly.

Review of Recent Developments in the Fabrication of ZnO/CdS Heterostructure Photocatalysts for Degradation of Organic Pollutants and Hydrogen Production.

Researchers have recently paid a lot of attention to semiconductor photocatalysts, especially ZnO-based heterostructures. Due to its availability, robustness, and biocompatibility, ZnO is a widely researched material in the fields of photocatalysis and energy storage. It is also environmentally beneficial. However, the wide bandgap energy and quick recombination of the photoinduced electron-hole pairs of ZnO limit its practical utility. To address these issues, many techniques have been used, such as the doping of metal ions and the creation of binary or ternary composites. Recent studies showed that ZnO/CdS heterostructures outperformed bare ZnO and CdS nanostructures in terms of photocatalytic performance when exposed to visible light. This review largely concentrated on the ZnO/CdS heterostructure production process and its possible applications including the degradation of organic pollutants and hydrogen evaluation. The importance of synthesis techniques such as bandgap engineering and controlled morphology was highlighted. In addition, the prospective uses of ZnO/CdS heterostructures in the realm of photocatalysis and the conceivable photodegradation mechanism were examined. Lastly, ZnO/CdS heterostructures' challenges and prospects for the future have been discussed.

Effect of annealing environment on the photoelectrochemical water oxidation and electrochemical supercapacitor performance of SnO2 quantum dots.

SnO2 quantum dots (SQD) were prepared by utilizing the soft-chemical approach. The formed SQD's were annealed in two kinds of environments: air and nitrogen (N2). Each annealing environment resulted in significant improvement in the performance of water oxidation and electrochemical supercapacitor performance. The specific capacitance of the SQD's under the N2 annealing process (SQD-N2) shows significantly better electrochemical performance. A specific capacitance of 79.13 F/g was achieved for SQD-N2 sample by applying a current of 1 mA, which was approximately 1.5 times greater than that of the pristine SQD's. A cycle stability of 99.4% over 5000 cycles was achieved by SQD-N2. The process of nitrogen annealing environment brings down the bandgap from 3.37 to 1.9 eV. The SQD-N2 sample shows the highest photocurrent over SQD and SQD-Air samples. From the LSV study, SQD-N2 shows the photocurrent density of 4.82 mA/cm2, which is 1.43 times greater than pristine SQD sample. The nitrogen-annealing environment provides the optimal environment to tune the average crystallite size and crystallinity nature of SQD's to improve the optical properties like bandgap to enhance the water oxidation and also electrochemical performance.