Improved lead recovery and sulphate removal from used lead acid battery through electrokinetic technique.

This paper presents improvement in lead (Pb) recovery and sulphate removal from used Pb acid battery (ULAB) through Electrokinetic technique, a process aimed to eliminate environmental pollution that arises due to emission of gases and metal particles from the existing high temperature pyrometallurgical process. Two different cell configurations, (1) one with Nafion membrane placed between anode and middle compartments and Agar membrane between cathode and middle compartments and (2) another with only Agar membrane placed between both sides of the middle compartments were designed for the Pb and sulphate separation from ULAB. This paper concludes that the cell with only Agar membranes performed better than the cell with Nafion and Agar membranes in combinations and also explains the mechanism underlying the chemical and electrochemical processes in the cell.

Rapid biological synthesis of platinum nanoparticles using Ocimum sanctum for water electrolysis applications.

The leaf extract of Ocimum sanctum was used as a reducing agent for the synthesis of platinum nanoparticles from an aqueous chloroplatinic acid (H(2)PtCl(6)·6H(2)O). A greater conversion of platinum ions to nanoparticles was achieved by employing a tulsi leaf broth with a reaction temperature of 100 °C. Energy-dispersive absorption X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the platinum particles as major constituent in the reduction process. It is evident from scanning electron microscopy that the reduced platinum particles were found as aggregates with irregular shape. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the compounds such as ascorbic acid, gallic acid, terpenoids, certain proteins and amino acids act as reducing agents for platinum ions reduction. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy suggested the associated forms of platinum with other molecules and the average particle size of platinum nanoparticle was 23 nm, calculated using Scherer equation. The reduced platinum showed similar hydrogen evolution potential and catalytic activity like pure platinum using linear scan voltammetry. This environmentally friendly method of biological platinum nanoparticles production increases the rates of synthesis faster which can potentially be used in water electrolysis applications.