Development of photo catalytic active building materials using zno nanorods

In many urban cities, the pollutants concentration at street level is quite high because of the dispersion of the exhaust generated by a large number of vehicles is hindered by surrounding tall buildings. Control of these pollutions has become a pressing need for the well-being of society. Many methods have been developed to control these pollutions. Currently, there is an increasing interest in the control of urban pollution level by using construction materials containing photocatalytic nanomaterials, without changing original performance of the building structure. The photocatalytic materials used in the building materials for the purification process are efficient to remove the contaminants such as NOx and VOC. Many works have been concerned with the application of different types of nanomaterials in photocatalytic processes. This paper presents the systematic study on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods on construction materials. In this method, ZnO nanorods were successfully synthesized by a wet chemical route. Systematic experiments were carried out to investigate the photocatalytic activity of the samples. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It has been found that the ZnO nanoflowers contain many radial nanorods with the diameter of 100 nm and the length of 1–1.5 μm and these ZnO single-crystalline nanorods with wurtzite structure grow along the [ 0 0 1] direction. The formation mechanism of ZnO nanoflowers and nanorods was initially interpreted in terms of the general theory of the crystal nucleation and crystal growth direction. ZnO with flower-like morphology exhibited improved ability on the photocatalytic degradation

Global Farm Animal Production and Global Warming: Impacting and Mitigating Climate Change

BACKGROUND: The farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to many environmental problems, including global warming and climate change. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to synthesize and expand upon existing data on the contribution of farm animal production to climate change. METHODS: We analyzed the scientific literature on farm animal production and documented greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as various mitigation strategies. DISCUSSIONS: An analysis of meat, egg, and milk production encompasses not only the direct rearing and slaughtering of animals, but also grain and fertilizer production for animal feed, waste storage and disposal, water use, and energy expenditures on farms and in transporting feed and finished animal products, among other key impacts of the production process as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns are both critical and timely if GHGs from the farm animal sector are to be mitigated

Tracking Molecular Interactions in Membranes by Simultaneous ATR-FTIR-AFM

In situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) is an exceedingly powerful and useful technique for characterizing the structure and assembly of proteins in real-time, in situ, and especially at model membrane interfaces, such as supported planar lipid bilayers. There remains, however, a fundamental challenge with AFM-based imaging. Conclusions are inferred based on morphological or topographical features. It is conventionally very difficult to use AFM to confirm specific molecular conformation, especially in the case of protein-membrane interactions. In this case, a protein may undergo subtle conformational changes upon insertion in the membrane that may be critical to its function. AFM lacks the ability to directly measure such conformational changes and can, arguably, only resolve features that are topographically distinct. To address these issues, we have developed a platform that integrates in situ AFM with attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. This combination of tools provides a unique means of tracking, simultaneously, conformational changes, not resolvable by in situ AFM, with topographical details that are not readily identified by conventional spectroscopy. Preliminary studies of thermal transitions in supported lipid bilayers and direct evidence of lipid-induced conformational changes in adsorbed proteins illustrates the potential of this coupled in situ functional imaging strategy