Enhanced Total Contactless Photothermal Desalination by Translucent Thin Film Coating of Crystalline Nanocellulose.

The innovative approach of harnessing abundant solar energy to facilitate water purification holds great potential for addressing a diverse range of water-related challenges. Utilizing the same method of photothermal desalination is highly promising, sustainable, and cost effective. However, in photothermal desalination, generally, steam is generated at the liquid-air interface. Despite its immense potential, this results in a lower evaporation rate and is prone to salt fouling. Therefore, to address two main challenges, (1) fouling and (2) maximum interfacial temperature (100 °C), here, we report total contactless photothermal desalination by a translucent thin film coating of Crystalline Nanocellulose (CNC). In contactless photothermal desalination, the active photothermal layer remains in no physical contact with the saline water; thus, automatic antifouling and a temperature above the boiling point of water can be achieved for water purification. In this report, we have sustainably extracted CNC from waste sawdust by a sonochemical extraction method using minimal chemicals. Additionally, the sonoextraction method through cavitation helps in the desulfation of CNC. These thermally stable and highly crystalline CNCs are used in making active translucent photothermal active layers for photothermal desalination. CNCs were well characterized by both microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. In the photothermal desalination, the results show an augmented evaporation rate of ∼3.30 kg/m2·h and virtually infinite recyclability for longer usability. Moreover, the integrated setup reported here comprises an independent module with a highly flexible design that mimics the greenhouse effect for a high solar-to-steam output.

Fenton-mediated thermocatalytic conversion of CO2 to acetic acid by industrial waste-derived magnetite nanoparticles.

Iron oxide dust, discarded as industrial waste, has been used here to fabricate magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs). We have proposed the thermo-catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) using Fe3O4-NPs in the presence of H2O2 to get acetic acid (AcOH) at near ambient conditions (100 °C, 10 bar) with a maximum yield of ∼0.4 M in a batch-reactor. The importance of H2O2 can be described as it facilitates the production of higher concentrations of OH˙ and H+/˙, which consequently supports the synthesis of AcOH.

Sunlight-promoted photodegradation of Congo red by cadmium-sulfide decorated graphene aerogel.

Herein, a simpler-viable methodology for the surface decoration of pear fruit derived graphene aerogel (GA) via cadmium sulfide (CdS) has been presented. GA can be easily synthesized from bio-mass, which provide an economic advantage. Surface decoration via CdS imparts photocatalytic activities in functionalized graphene aerogels (f-GA). CdS-f-GA is being explored here as a photocatalyst for the degradation of a toxic azo dye named Congo red in the presence of sunlight. The rate and mechanism associated with photodegradation were analyzed by performing kinetics and radical trap-based quenching experiments. Nuclear magnetic resonance and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses of the control and photodegraded products were performed to ensure the degradation of the organic framework of Congo red. Additionally, the real-life applicability of CdS-f-GA was also analyzed by degrading the dye in different types of industrial samples (via the method of external spiking), which can advance its practical relevance.