In vitro Assessment of Neonicotinoids and Pyrethroids against Tea Mosquito Bug, Helopeltis antonii Sign. (Hemiptera: Miridae) on Guava

The tea mosquito bug (TMB), Helopeltis antonii, is an emerging pest of horticultural crops, specially on guava and moringa. Insecticides are indispensable component for the management of insect pests. Exploration of new molecules with shortest waiting period may pave way for managing TMB in fruit and vegetable crops with nil/low residue. Until now there are no recommended insecticides available under Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee (CIB&RC) against TMB on guava. In view of the above facts, new molecules with a low waiting period and are recommended by CIB&RC on tea, viz., Clothianidin 50% WDG, Thiacloprid 21.7% SC, Bifenthrin 10% EC, and Thiamethoxam 12.60% + Lambda-Cyhalothrin 9.5% ZC, were chosen and evaluated against TMB under in vitro condition. Clothianidin 50% WDG recorded the highest mortality of 100.00 per cent at 72 hours after treatment (HAT), and the lowest LC50 value (0.328 ppm, fiducial limits: 0.144-0.515 ppm) and LT50 value (10.49 h, fiducial limits: 5.444-14.551 h), followed by Thiamethoxam 12.60% + Lambda-Cyhalothrin 9.5% ZC, Thiacloprid 21.7% SC, and Bifenthrin 10% EC. The results showed that the Clothianidin 50% WDG and Thiamethoxam 12.60% + Lambda-Cyhalothrin 9.5% ZC, were highly effective, with the lowest LC50 and LT50 values. Since TMB occurs from new flushing to fruiting stage of guava, a minimum of two sprays are mandatory to have quality fruit yield. Hence, application of Clothianidin 50% WDG followed by Thiamethoxam 12.60% + Lambda-Cyhalothrin 9.5% ZC on need basis will help to reduce the impact of TMB on guava

Surfactant-exfoliated 2D hexagonal boron nitride (2D-hBN): role of surfactant upon the electrochemical reduction of oxygen and capacitance applications

Surfactant-exfoliated 2D hexagonal boron nitride (2D-hBN) nanosheets are fabricated using the surfactant sodium cholate in aqueous media and are explored towards the electrochemical reduction of oxygen (oxygen reduction reaction) within acidic media for the first time. Large quantifiable voltammetric signatures are observed at significantly reduced potentials compared to traditional graphitic-based electrodes indicating 2D-hBN's possible electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction, therefore having the potential as a useful electrode platform within fuel cell technology. We also demonstrate, for the first time, that surfactant-exfoliated 2D-hBN is an effective electrochemical supercapacitor material with a specific capacitance value of up to 1745 F g -1 . A full analysis of the electrochemical properties of 2D-hBN is performed, including the application of a novel capacitive circuit applied to galvanostatic charge/discharge analysis, which provides an unambiguous analysis of the capacitance of the 2D-hBN. Furthermore, a diverse range of methods are introduced and utilised to calculate the specific capacitance, a substantially overlooked and misinterpreted parameter within the literature allowing standardisation in the academic literature to be achieved. In both examples, we demonstrate through control experiments in the form of surfactant modified graphite electrodes, sodium cholate is the major contributing factor to the aforementioned electrocatalytic and capacitive behaviour, which has yet to be reported. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 201

Vertically Aligned BCN Nanotubes with High Capacitance

Using a chemical vapor deposition method, we have synthesized vertically aligned BCN nanotubes (VA-BCNs) on a Ni–Fe-coated SiO₂/Si substrate from a melamine diborate precursor. The effects of pyrolysis conditions on the morphology and thermal property of grown nanotubes, as well as the nanostructure and composition of an individual BCN nanotube, were systematically studied. It was found that nitrogen atoms are bonded to carbons in both graphitic and pyridinic forms and that the resultant VA-BCNs grown at 1000 °C show the highest specific capacitance (321.0 F/g) with an excellent rate capability and high durability with respect to nonaligned BCN (167.3 F/g) and undoped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (117.3 F/g) due to synergetic effects arising from the combined co-doping of B and N in CNTs and the well-aligned nanotube structure

Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Formic Acid Using Au@Pt Dendrimer-Encapsulated Nanoparticles

We report electrocatalytic oxidation of formic acid using monometallic and bimetallic dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs). The results indicate that the Au₁₄₇@Pt DENs exhibit better electrocatalytic activity and low CO formation. Theoretical calculations attribute the observed activity to the deformation of nanoparticle structure, slow dehydration of formic acid, and weak binding of CO on Au₁₄₇@Pt surface. Subsequent experiments confirmed the theoretical predictions

Design of Pt-Shell Nanoparticles with Alloy Cores for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

We report that the oxygen binding energy of alloy-core@Pt nanoparticles can be linearly tuned by varying the alloy-core composition. Using this tuning mechanism, we are able to predict optimal compositions for different alloy-core@Pt nanoparticles. Subsequent electrochemical measurements of ORR activities of AuPd@Pt dendrimer-encapsulated nanoparticles (DENs) are in a good agreement with the theoretical prediction that the peak of activity is achieved for a 28% Au/72% Pd alloy core supporting a Pt shell. Importantly, these findings represent an unusual case of first-principles theory leading to nearly perfect agreement with experimental results