Green tea polyphenol-reduced graphene oxide: derivatisation, reduction efficiency, reduction mechanism and cytotoxicity

This paper reports on the derivatisation, reduction efficiency, reduction mechanism and cytotoxicity of green tea polyphenol-reduced graphene oxide (GTP-RGO). The reduction of graphene oxide (GO) at 90°C using a weight ratio (WR) of GTP/GO=1 resulted in the production of a stable GTP-RGO dispersion in aqueous media, as indicated by the results of ultravioletvisible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the measurement of zeta potential and electrophoretic mobility. In addition, the results from UV-Vis spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated the comparable reduction ability of GTP relative to the standard reducing agent, hydrazine (N2H4). The removal mechanism of epoxy group from GO via reduction reaction with GTP was investigated by implementing hybrid functional method of Becke-3-parameters-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP)using Gaussian 09 software. The energy and frequency calculations showed that the GO reduction using GTP was more spontaneous and relatively took place faster than the reduction using N2H4, as evidenced by higher entropy change (ΔS) (0.039 kcal/mol·K) and lower Gibbs free energy (ΔG) barrier (58.880 kcal/mol).The cytotoxicities of GO and GTP-RGO samples were evaluated against human colonic fibroblasts cells (CCD-18Co). The GO sample was determined to be toxic even at low concentration (6.25 μg/mL), while the GTP-RGO sample possesses notably low toxicity at the same concentration. The cell culture experiments revealed that the incorporation of GTP led to a decrease in the toxicity of GTP-RGO samples

Quantum transport across van der Waals domain walls in bilayer graphene

Bilayer graphene can exhibit deformations such that the two graphene sheets are locally detached from each other resulting in a structure consisting of domains with different inter-layer coupling. Here we investigate how the presence of these domains affect the transport properties of bilayer graphene. We derive analytical expressions for the transmission probability, and the corresponding conductance, across walls separating different inter-layer coupling domain. We find that the transmission can exhibit a valley-dependent layer asymmetry and that the domain walls have a considerable effect on the chiral tunnelling properties of the charge carriers. We show that transport measurements allow one to obtain the strength with which the two layers are coupled. We performed numerical calculations for systems with two domain walls and find that the availability of multiple transport channels in bilayer graphene modifies significantly the conductance dependence on inter-layer potential asymmetry.Comment: 20 pages, 24 Figure

Optimization of Initial pH and Total Sugar Concentration Variables on Citric Acid Production from Pineapple Waste with Aspergillus niger Yeast by Using Response Surface Methodology

Citric acid can be produced from pineapple waste by using fermentation process. This process is done in bubble column reactor with Aspergillus niger yeast. The objective of this research is to find the optimum conditions of initial pH and total sugar concentration. The optimization method used was response surface methodology. This research was carried out at a temperature of 30 oC, spore concentration of 1.23 x 109 spore/ml, total volume 2.0 liter, flow rate of air 58.07 cc/sec and a 5% antifoam concentration. The fermentation process lasted 7 days and the citric acid concentration was analyzed by High Pressure Liquid Cromatography (HPLC) method. Statistica 6 software was used for the data treatment. The mathematical model for the optimization citric acid fermentation in bubble column reactor is Y = 54.507 + 2.9851X - 8.987X12 - 2.581X2 - 15.446X22 - 7.989X1X2 The parameter of Y is citric acid yield, X1 is a coding initial pH and X2 is a coding total sugar concentration. The results has given an initial pH optimum 3.61 and total sugar concentration 19,285% w/v with optimum an yield of 55.03 % .Keywords: Bubble column bioreactor, Citric acid fermentation, Initial pH, Total sugar concentration, Response surface methodolog

Corrosion study of pipeline material for seabed sediment in tropical climate

Corrosive environments such as marine sediments can cause corrosion to steel pipelines at any time when certain conditions are met. Seabed sediment could cause severe corrosion damage due to its corrosiveness to the pipelines buried under it. Many consequences could take place in case if there is incident in oil/gas pipelines. Successfully identifying elements of corrosion in marine sediment would enhance the future of steel structure protection and monitoring systems. This article focuses on the behaviour of corrosion rate of steel located near shore environment and the aim is to determine the effect of sediment on corrosion of steel. To investigate that, simulated near shore sediment conditions have been used where the steel coupons buried in sediments which have different characteristics. Weight loss technique has been implemented to determine the weight loss rate of the steel specimens. Based on the results of this study, metal weight loss increases as the duration of exposure to seabed sediment environment become longer. The sea sediment simulated condition has given significant levels of corrosion. Conclusively, the corrosion rate of steel in seabed sediment located in tropical region is complicated and further studies are suggested

Faktor-Faktor Keluarga dan Tingkah Laku Penyalahgunaan Dadah: Satu Kajian Perbandingan antara Penyalahguna Dadah dengan Bukan Penyalahguna Dadah

The present study compares aspects of parent-child communication, parent-child nurturance, and family members involvement in drug abuse between drug abusers and non-drug abusers. Sample for the stud), were 191 drug abusers who were undergoing rehabilitation treatment at ('lUr Government Serenti Centres, and 191 non-drug abusers living in Kuala Lumpur. Two special instruments namely Communication and Parent-Child Interaction Rating Scales were used in this study. The study found significant differences between drug abusers and non-drug abusers in parent-child nurturance, parent-child communication, and family members involvement in drug abuse. Findings from this study have implications for drug abuse programmes in this country specifically those related to nurturance and parent-child communication, and parent behaviour model for children

Application of a hybrid of least square support vector machine and artificial bee colony for building load forecasting

Accurate load forecasting is an important element for proper planning and management of electricity production. Although load forecasting has been an important area of research, methods for accurate load forecasting is still scarce in the literature. This paper presents a study on a hybrid load forecasting method that combines the Least Square Support Vector Machine (LSSVM) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) methods for building load forecasting. The performance of the LSSVM-ABC hybrid method was compared to the LSSVM method in building load forecasting problems and the results has shown that the hybrid method is able to substantially improve the load forecasting ability of the LSSVM method