Abstract. Lornoxicam is a potent oxicam class of non steroidal anti-inflammatory agent, prescribed for mild to moderate pain and inflammation. Niosomal gel of lornoxicam was developed for topical application. Lornoxicam niosomes (Lor-Nio) were fabricated by thin film hydration technique. Bilayer composition of niosomal vesicles was optimized. Lor-Nio dispersion was characterized by DSC, XRD, and FT-IR. Morphological evaluation was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Lor-Nio dispersion was incorporated into a gel using 2% w/w Carbopol 980 NF. Rheological and texture properties of LorNio gel formulation showed suitability of the gel for topical application. The developed formulation was evaluated for in vitro skin permeation and skin deposition studies, occlusivity test and skin irritation studies. Pharmacodynamic activity of the Lor-Nio gel was performed by carragenan-induced rat paw model. Optimized Lor-Nio comprised of Span 60 and cholesterol in a molar ratio of 3:1 with 30 μM dicetyl palmitate as a stabilizer. It had particle size of 1.125±0.212 μm (d 90 ), with entrapment efficiency of 52.38± 2.1%. DSC, XRD, and IR studies showed inclusion of Lor into niosomal vesicles. SEM studies showed spherical closed vesicular structure with particles in nanometer range. The in vitro skin permeation studies showed significant improvement in skin permeation and skin deposition for Lor-Nio gel (31.41±2.24 μg/ cm 2 , 30.079±1.2 μg/cm 2 ) over plain lornoxicam gel (7.37±1.27 μg/cm 2 , 6.6±2.52 μg/cm 2 ). The Lor-Nio gel formulation showed enhanced anti-inflammatory activity by exhibiting mean edema inhibition (87.69± 1.43%) which was significantly more than the plain lornoxicam gel (53.84±2.21%).

A lotus leaf like self‐cleaning superhydrophobic coating has high demand in industrial applications. Such coatings are prepared by alternative dip and spray deposition techniques. A layer of polyvinyl chloride is applied on glass substrate by dip coating and then spray coated a suspension of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles at substrate temperature of 50 °C. This coating procedure is repeated for three times to achieve rough surface morphology which exhibits a water contact angle of 169 ± 2° and sliding angle of 6°. The superhydrophobic state of the coating is still preserved when water volume of 1.2 L is used to impact the water drops on coating surface. The stability of the wetting state of the coating is analyzed against the water jet, adhesive tape and sandpaper abrasion tests. The prepared superhydrophobic coating strongly repelled the muddy water suggesting its importance in self‐cleaning applications.

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ZnO has large exciton binding energy (60 meV) and wide direct band gap (3.37 eV). It is a promising base materials for optoelectronics applications. To optimize its optical properties, Cu doped ZnO is synthesized by low cost sol–gel method and analyzed by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The XRD analysis reveals that the samples are polycrystalline with hexagonal wurtzite structure. It also indicates that there is no impurity peaks present in prepared samples and shows that the samples are stoichiometric. SEM images of Cu doping exhibit a slight variation in grain size. In addition, the absorption spectrum of pure and Cu doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) are studied and Tauc plots show band gap narrowing effect on Cu doping concentration to use it as advance material in diiferent devices.