Superb catalytic activity of as-green synthesized copper ferrite's thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

A simple one step method is employed for the synthesis of CuFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) aided by utilizing egg albumin (EA) and aloe vera (AV) as solvents. The samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Thermo Gravimetric/Differential Thermal Anaysis (TG/DTA), Vibration Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and X-ray Photolectron Spectroscopy (XPS). XRD analysis of the samples sowed the presence of CuFe2O4 and CuO in the samples. The ambient VSM study proved the ferrimagnetism behavior of the CuFe2O4. TG/DTA was used to study the catalytic activity of the CuFe2O4 nanoparticles, the results revealed that a 78 °C reduction in the decomposition temperature of Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) was achieved while using 6% CuFe2O4 prepared using a mixed EA-AV and calcinated at 700 °C. Hence, CuFe2O4 can be potent catalytic agent in several environmental applications as an efficient catalyst

Moths (Insecta: Lepidoptera) of Delhi, India: An illustrated checklist based on museum specimens and surveys

There have been several recent checklists, books and publications about Indian moths; however, much of this work has focused on biodiversity hotspots such as North-east India, Western Ghats and Western Himalayas. There is a lack of published literature on urban centres in India, despite the increased need to monitor insects at sites with high levels of human disturbance. In this study, we examine the moths of Delhi, the national capital region of India, one of the fastest growing mega-metropolitan cities. We present a comprehensive checklist of 338 moths species using 8 years of light trapping data (2012-2020) and examining about 2000 specimens from historical collections at the National Pusa Collection of ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi (NPC-IARI) spanning over 100 years (1907-2020). The checklist comprises moths from 32 families spanning 14 superfamilies with Noctuoidea (48.5%) and Pyraloidea (20.4%) being the the two most dominant superfamilies. We provide links to images of live individuals and pinned specimens for all moths and provide detailed distribution records and an updated taxonomic treatment.This is the first comprehensive annotated checklist of the moths of Delhi. The present study adds 234 species to the biodiversity of moths from Delhi that were not reported previously, along with illustrations for 195 species