Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards face mask use among residents of Greater Chennai Corporation, India, March 2021

BackgroundWearing a mask is one of the simplest ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Studies reported poor mask compliance in Greater Chennai Corporation, India. Hence, we described the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding mask use among adults (≥18 years) in Greater Chennai Corporation, Tamil Nadu, India.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey among residents of Greater Chennai Corporation in March 2021. We estimated the sample size to be 203 per strata (slum and non-slum). We used a simple random sampling technique to select 20 locations using a digital map in the slum and non-slum areas. After reaching the location chosen, we selected 10 consecutive households and one adult (≥18 years of age) from each household. We used a validated, semi-structured questionnaire for collecting data regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices for mask use. We estimated proportions and 95% CI for key variables and compared the variables between slums and non-slums.ResultsOf 430 participants included in the study, 51.4% were males. The mean (S.D.) age of the participants is 41.1 (14.6) years. The majority (86.7%) of the participants felt that wearing a mask helped in reducing the spread of coronavirus and the knowledge differed (p-value < 0.05) between the slum (81.4%) and non-slum (92.3%). Nearly half (46.5%) of the participants did not like being forced to wear the mask. About 63.9% of the participants reported the practice of mask use while going out which was similar across slums and non-slums.ConclusionAlthough the knowledge regarding mask use was good among the public, the attitude was unfavorable. We suggest continuous reinforcement by spreading awareness and educating the community on the appropriate use of the mask

Ru Nanoparticles Supported on Mesoporous Al-SBA-15 Catalysts for Highly Selective Hydrogenation of Furfural to Furfuryl Alcohol

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.Furfuryl alcohol, which is the hydrogenated product of furfural, has been identified as a very promising platform chemical with high potential for applications in the manufacture of key chemicals, lubricants, fragrances, and pharmaceuticals. In this work, bare SB, and x % Ru/Al-SB (x=1.5, 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 wt. %) samples were fabricated by a hydrothermal method. Bare and most active catalysts were characterized by different techniques, such as BET, FE-SEM, TEM, FT-IR, and XRD, to understand their physical and chemical properties. An evaluation of the effects of various reaction parameters, such as catalyst loading, reaction temperature, and reaction time, on the catalytic performance, showed higher catalytic conversion of furfural and selectivity for the desired products. The most active RuS3 catalyst showed 100 % conversion of furfural and 99 % selectivity for furfuryl alcohol. It could be reused for five consecutive reaction cycles without significant loss of performance. In addition, Ru leaching and loss of conversion or selectivity were not noticed during the five-run recycling test. The EDS elemental mapping analysis of the used catalyst established the preservation of the mesoporous structure, suggesting a strong interaction between the hexagonal porous silicate and the Ru nanoparticles

Highly Efficient Solar-Light-Active Ag-Decorated g-C3N4 Composite Photocatalysts for the Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).In this study, we utilized calcination and simple impregnation methods to successfully fabricate bare g-C3N4 (GCN) and x% Ag/g-C3N4 (x% AgGCN) composite photocatalysts with various weight percentages (x = 1, 3, 5, and 7 wt.%). The synthesized bare and composite photocatalysts were analyzed to illustrate their phase formation, functional group, morphology, and optical properties utilizing XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis DRS, PL, FE-SEM, and the EDS. The photodegradation rate of MO under solar light irradiation was measured, and the 5% AgGCN composite photocatalyst showed higher photocatalytic activity (99%), which is very high compared to other bare and composite photocatalysts. The MO dye degradation rate constant with the 5% AgGCN photocatalyst exhibits 14.83 times better photocatalytic activity compared to the bare GCN catalyst. This photocatalyst showed good efficiency in the degradation of MO dye and demonstrated cycling stability even in the 5th successive photocatalytic reaction cycle. The higher photocatalytic activity of the 5% AgGCN composite catalyst for the degradation of MO dye is due to the interaction of Ag with GCN and the localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Ag. The scavenger study results indicate that O2 •− radicals play a major role in MO dye degradation. A possible charge-transfer mechanism is proposed to explain the solar-light-driven photocatalyst of GCN

Synthesis and characterization of visible active Fe grafted ZnO nanocomposites for NBB degradation in water

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).Photocatalysis embraces prodigious ability as an efficient and sustainable oxidation technology for application in wastewater treatment. In general, a good photocatalytic material should have chemical stability, low production cost, and especially environment-friendliness characteristics. The present study involves the development of visible light active semiconductors by surface-grafted Fe(III) ions and bulk metal oxide. Fe-grafted ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized at two different temperatures. Initially, the precipitation-decomposition method was adopted for the ZnO preparation; later, surface of ZnO was grafted with Fe3+ ions at two different temperatures under basic condition. The prepared materials have been characterized by various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and Photoluminescence (PL) study. The degree of electron-hole recombination decreased in Fe-modified ZnOs as evidenced by PL measurements. The prepared materials used for naphthol blue black (NBB) dye destruction under visible light, and found that Fe modification slightly enhances the degradation ability of the ZnO. DRS measurements confirm the higher absorbance at the visible region in Fe/ZnOs materials. The catalyst was found to be reusable. A suitable degradation mechanism is proposed for the destruction of Naphthol Blue Black (NBB) dye by Fe-grafted ZnO nanocomposites under visible light