Effect of seed layer on the self assembly of spray pyrolyzed Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Al-doped ZnO (AlZO) nanorod arrays and nanostructures were fabricated on seed coated glass substrates via CoSP (Continuous Spray Pyrolysis) reactor. The as-synthesized aluminium doped ZnO nanoparticles and nanorods were analyzed through different characterization techniques. There were no significant changes found in the structure with doping of Al but the morphology of the film changed to branched nanorods and nanosheets with the change in seed solution and annealing temperature, respectively. Also, the current–voltage curves of the ZnO and AZO nanorod arrays was measured and it was found that the current response of AZO nanorods was higher than that of ZnO nanorods, proving the Al incorporation as a dopant

Size Dependent Gold Assisted ZnO Growth on Si Surface by Continuous Spray Pyrolysis Reactor for Light Suppression

AbstractColloidal Au particles of sizes 15 and 40nm are spray deposited on polished Si surface and then the deposition of ZnO nanostructure layer using Continuous Spray Pyrolysis reactor is performed. XRD data suggests that the larger size Au nanoparticles act as seed particles for ZnO nanostructure formation, while smaller Au nanoparticles favour (002) oriented growth. SEM measurement confirms enhancement of ZnO nanorods growth in the case of 40nm Au assisted deposition. The reflection measurement shows higher surface plasmon resonance for larger size Au particles and hence significant light reduction up to 51% of existing value in 500-900nm wavelength region is achieved which may ultimately help in the increase of photocurrent in Si solar cells

Remediation of inland water using microbial fuel cell technology

243-246Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) convert biomass into electricity using the metabolic activity of microorganisms to oxidize organic molecules. MFC technology is an efficient system for remediation and water treatment. River water with glucose as substrate gave a maximum voltage between 415-463 mV with a coulombic efficiency (CE) between 50-61%. River water with sucrose as substrate gave lower voltage in the range of 285-376 mV with a CE in the range of 71-77%. River water with cellulose as substrate gave a maximum voltage of 408mV and a CE of 72%. The polarization curves of all three fermentable substrates of glucose, sucrose and cellulose demonstrate regions of stable power generation during the 10-15 day batch run. Voltage and power density obtained with pond water was724mV and 190.6<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">mW/cm2 respectively with a CE of 75%.CE of >70% of various inland water samples with sucrose as substrate demonstrates the improved design of the MFC and the feasibility of MFC technology for water remediation. </span

CoSP approach for the synthesis of blue MoO3 nanoparticles for application as hole transport layer (HTL) in organic solar cells

The synthesis of MoO3 nanoparticles is reported using a Continuous Spray. Pyrolysis (CoSP) reactor and the influence of zone temperature, precursor concentration on the structural and morphological properties is investigated. The collected nanoparticles are utilized to prepare thin films by spin coating and further annealing at various temperatures. The improvement in morphology, crystallinity and the band gap shift shows the effectiveness of the annealing treatment in creating a proper hole transport layer for device applications. The technique thus allows the film formation using a non-vacuum method well suited for organic solar cells. The CoSP based MoO3 (CoSP_MoO3) films are demonstrated to have equal performance to hole-injection layers composed of thermally evaporated MoO3 (eMoO(3))

TiO2 nanorod-based photoelectrodes for dye solar cells with tunable morphological features

The ability to create photoanodes in which the structural and morphological features of the underlying TiO2 nanocrystalline constituents provide a tailored nanotexture with a higher degree of functionality still represents an indispensible step toward boosting the ultimate light-to electricity conversion of photoelectrochemical devices. This is especially evident for dye solar cells. In this paper we have systematically analyzed the impact of several different TiO2 nanorod morphologies on the most meaningful electrochemical features of the mesoporous photoelectrode of a dye solar cell. The most relevant findings have been then adopted as design criteria to realize an optimized multilayered photoelectrode with a properly engineered architecture which embodies three different breeds of nanocrystal with synergistic peculiarities. It exhibited superior power conversion efficiencies with respect to conventional nanoparticle-based reference film

Complete Genome Analysis of Thermus parvatiensis and Comparative Genomics of Thermus spp. Provide Insights into Genetic Variability and Evolution of Natural Competence as Strategic Survival Attributes

Thermophilic environments represent an interesting niche. Among thermophiles, the genus Thermus is among the most studied genera. In this study, we have sequenced the genome of Thermus parvatiensis strain RL, a thermophile isolated from Himalayan hot water springs (temperature &gt;96°C) using PacBio RSII SMRT technique. The small genome (2.01 Mbp) comprises a chromosome (1.87 Mbp) and a plasmid (143 Kbp), designated in this study as pTP143. Annotation revealed a high number of repair genes, a squeezed genome but containing highly plastic plasmid with transposases, integrases, mobile elements and hypothetical proteins (44%). We performed a comparative genomic study of the group Thermus with an aim of analysing the phylogenetic relatedness as well as niche specific attributes prevalent among the group. We compared the reference genome RL with 16 Thermus genomes to assess their phylogenetic relationships based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, average nucleotide identity (ANI), conserved marker genes (31 and 400), pan genome and tetranucleotide frequency. The core genome of the analyzed genomes contained 1,177 core genes and many singleton genes were detected in individual genomes, reflecting a conserved core but adaptive pan repertoire. We demonstrated the presence of metagenomic islands (chromosome:5, plasmid:5) by recruiting raw metagenomic data (from the same niche) against the genomic replicons of T. parvatiensis. We also dissected the CRISPR loci wide all genomes and found widespread presence of this system across Thermus genomes. Additionally, we performed a comparative analysis of competence loci wide Thermus genomes and found evidence for recent horizontal acquisition of the locus and continued dispersal among members reflecting that natural competence is a beneficial survival trait among Thermus members and its acquisition depicts unending evolution in order to accomplish optimal fitness

Direct Visualization of Lead Corona and Its Nanomolar Colorimetric Detection Using Anisotropic Gold Nanoparticles

The study presents dithiothreitol (DTT) functionalized anisotropic gold nanoparticles (GNP) based colorimetric sensor for detection of toxic lead ions in water. Our results demonstrate the selectivity and sensitivity of the developed sensor over various heavy metal ions with detection limit of ∼9 nM. The mechanism of sensing is explained on the basis of unique corona formation around the DTT functionalized anisotropic GNP