Microplastics are found ubiquitous in the natural environment and are an increasing source of worry for global health. Rapid industrialization and inappropriate plastic waste management in our daily lives have resulted in an increase in the amount of microplastics in the ecosystem. Microplastics that are <150 μm in size could be easily ingested by living beings and cause considerable toxicity. Microplastics can aggregate in living organisms and cause acute, chronic, carcinogenic, developmental, and genotoxic damage. As a result, a sustainable approach to reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic waste is required to manage microplastic pollution in the environment. However, there is still a significant lack of effective methods for managing these pollutants. As a result, the purpose of this review is to convey information on microplastic toxicity and management practices that may aid in the reduction of microplastic pollution. This review further insights on how plastic trash could be converted as value-added products, reducing the load of accumulating plastic wastes in the environment, and leading to a beneficial endeavor for humanity. 

Mitigating microplastic pollution: A critical review on the effects, remediation, and utilization strategies of microplastics.

Nanomaterials have gained huge applications ever since their discoveries, especially in the field of electronics, medicine, research, and environmental cleanup. Nanomaterials have a high surface area-to-volume ratio along with high surface energies making them suitable for such wide applications. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanocomposite (CNC) materials are remarkable nanomaterials that have become the backbone of most industries these days. Both materials have gained huge attention in the last decade by the scientific community. CNTs come in two variants, i.e., single-walled CNTs (SW-CNTS) and multiwalled CNTs (MW-CNTs). Due to their wider applications, CNT synthesis is currently emerging with the advancement in technology. Currently, CNTs are being synthesized by chemical as well as physical approaches. The current review article focuses on the vital research and application for the synthesis of CNTs depending on the quality of the nanotube materials. Controlled routes to their organization and assembly are also discussed in detail over here. The aim is to provide recent advances in the synthesis methods, of CNTs, their current applications, future applications, and the potential of agrowaste and industrial waste for the synthesis of CNTs and nanomaterials.

/pdf/recent-advances-in-methods-for-synthesis-of-carbon-nanotubes-3voqwu8o.pdf

Recent Advances in Methods for Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Nanocomposite and their Emerging Applications: A Descriptive Review

Retrieving back plastic wastes for conversion to value added petrochemicals: opportunities, challenges and outlooks

Renewable energy sources offer greater reliability and resilience compared to traditional sources. Biodiesel, derived from renewable resources that absorb carbon dioxide during growth and production, boasts a significantly lower carbon footprint than petroleum-based diesel fuel. Heterojunction photocatalysts have emerged as a promising solution for environmental challenges. This study focused on efficient biodiesel production using visible light-irradiated Si/MgO heterojunctions. The XPS analysis confirmed the crucial role of surface functionality in achieving high photocatalytic efficiency. Transesterification occurs through SiH and SiOH bond formation on the catalyst. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) predicts the structure–activity relationship, showing stronger plasmonic nearfields in Si/MgO due to distinct dielectric constants. The Si/MgO photocatalyst exhibited superior photocatalytic activity under visible light, consistent with FDTD results. Biodiesel production was attained to 96% yield using 2 wt% catalysts, a 12:1 M ratio of methanol to Jatropha curcas oil, and a 3.5 hrs reaction time. Therefore, the work provided valuable insights into the mechanism of efficient plasmonic photocatalysis, paving the way for future advancements in novel high-performance photocatalysts. 

Boosting biodiesel production over silicon heterojunction with visible light irradiation

Several environmental and techno-economic assessments highlighted the advantage of placing polystyrene-based materials in a circular loop, from production to waste generation to product refabrication, either following the mechanical or thermochemical routes. This review provides an assortment of promising approaches to solving the dilemma of polystyrene waste. With a focus on upcycling technologies available in the last five years, the review first gives an overview of polystyrene, its chemistry, types, forms, and varied applications. This work presents all the stages that involve polystyrene’s cycle of life and the properties that make this product, in mixtures with other polymers, command a demand on the market. The features and mechanical performance of the studied materials with their associated images give an idea of the influence of recycling on the structure. Notably, technological assessments of elucidated approaches are also provided. No single approach can be mentioned as effective per se; hybrid technologies appear to possess the highest potential. Finally, this review correlates the amenability of these polystyrene upcycling methodologies to frontier technologies relating to 3D printing, human space habitation, flow chemistry, vertical farming, and green hydrogen, which may be less intuitive to many.

Upcycling Polystyrene

Single step microwaves assisted catalytic conversion of plastic waste into valuable fuel and carbon nanotubes

This study performed in-situ microwave pyrolysis of plastic waste into hydrogen, liquid fuel and carbon nanotubes in the presence of Zeolite Socony Mobil ZSM-5 catalyst. In the presented microwave pyrolysis of plastics, activated carbon was used as a heat susceptor. The microwave power of 1 kW was employed to decompose high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) wastes at moderate temperatures of 400-450 °C. The effect of plastic composition, catalyst loading and plastic type on liquid, gas and solid carbon products was quantified. This in-situ CMP reaction resulted in heavy hydrocarbons, hydrogen gas and carbon nanotubes as a solid residue. A relatively better hydrogen yield of 129.6 mmol/g as a green fuel was possible in this process. FTIR and gas chromatography analysis revealed that liquid product consisted of C13+ fraction hydrocarbons, such as alkanes, alkanes, and aromatics. TEM micrographs showed tubular-like structural morphology of the solid residue, which was identified as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) during X-ray diffraction analysis. The outer diameter of CNTs ranged from 30 to 93 nm from HDPE, 25-93 nm from PP and 30-54 nm for HDPE-PP mixure. The presented CMP process took just 2-4 min to completely pyrolyze the plastic feedstock into valuable products, leaving no polymeric residue. 

/pdf/production-of-combustible-fuels-and-carbon-nanotubes-from-2j4j6tyd.pdf

Production of combustible fuels and carbon nanotubes from plastic wastes using an in-situ catalytic microwave pyrolysis process

The use of ZnO as a photocatalyst with a reduced recombination rate of charge carriers and maximum visible light harvesting remains a challenge for researchers. Herein, we designed and synthesized a unique La/ZnO/CNTs heterojunction system via a sol–gel method to evaluate its photocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution. A ferrocene powder catalyst was tested for the production of CNT forests over Si/SiO2/Al2O3 substrate. A chemical vapor deposition (CVD) route was followed for the forest growth of CNTs. The La/ZnO/CNTs composite showed improved photocatalytic efficiency towards hydrogen evolution (184.8 mmol/h) in contrast to 10.2 mmol/h of pristine ZnO. The characterization results show that promoted photocatalytic activity over La/ZnO/NTs is attributed to the spatial separation of the charge carriers and extended optical absorption towards the visible light spectrum. The optimum photocatalyst shows a 16 h cycle performance for hydrogen evolution. The H2 evolution rate under visible light illumination reached 10.2 mmol/h, 145.9 mmol/h and 184.8 mmol/h over ZnO, La/ZnO and La/ZnO/CNTs, respectively. Among the prepared photocatalysts, ZnO showed the lowest H2 evolution rate due to the fast recombination of electron–hole pairs than heterojunction photocatalysts. This research paves the way for the development of ZnO and CNT-based photocatalysts with a wide optical response and reduced charge carrier recombinations.

/pdf/si-sio2-al2o3-supported-growth-of-cnt-forest-for-the-1puqiier.pdf

Si/SiO2/Al2O3 Supported Growth of CNT Forest for the Production of La/ZnO/CNT Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Production

https://robots.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/863/1/012036/pdf

Plasma-fabric interaction for surface activation and functionalization: A review

https://robots.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/863/1/012018/pdf

Computational fluid dynamics study of a single stage solar still for water treatment

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