Continual escalation of our world population demands a vast and safe energy supply, the majority of which has been produced by fossil fuel sources. However, because of the huge energy demand, exponential depletion of these nonrenewable energy sources is inescapable and forthcoming in the coming century. Hence, utilization of renewable energy such as solar energy has gained attention because of its direct conversion of light energy into electrical power without any harmful environmental impacts. Solar energy has been harvested by different types of solar cells varying from inorganic to organic to the combination of both. Among them, the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with a biopolymer-based electrolyte has gained enormous consideration from researchers because of its sustainability, abundance of available raw material, low production cost, and easy production in addition to the low volatilization of electrolytes compared to liquid state electrolytes. This review aims to give an overview of the recent inputs in the development of biopolymer-based DSSCs. The performance of the biopolymers as electrolytes in DSSCs will be critically reviewed based on the physicochemical properties of the biopolymers. Key technical challenges and future research areas for the advancement of biopolymer-based DSSCs are also discussed.

CaPd 2 P 2 is a recently reported superconducting material belonging to the well-known ThCr 2 Si 2 -type family. First-principles density functional theory calculations have been carried out to investigate the structural, mechanical, thermophysical, optical, electronic, and superconducting properties of the CaPd 2 P 2 compound under pressure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first theoretical approach to studying the pressure effect on the fundamental physical and superconducting properties of CaPd 2 P 2 . It is mechanically stable under the studied pressures. The applied hydrostatic pressure reveals a noticeable impact on elastic moduli of CaPd 2 P 2 . It exhibits ductile nature under the studied pressure. Significant anisotropic behavior of the compound is revealed with/without pressure. The study of melting temperature shows that the compound has a higher melting temperature, which increases with the increasing applied pressure. The investigation of the electronic properties strongly supports the optical function analysis. The reflectivity as well as the absorption spectra shifts to higher energy with the increasing applied pressure. The pressure-dependent behavior of the superconducting transition temperature, T c , is revealed with a pressure-induced increasing trend in Debye temperature.

This study was based on to determine the concentration of macro and micro nutrients as well as toxic and nontoxic heavy metals present in the chicken feed available in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. All macro nutrients, if present in the feed at high concentration have some adverse effect, at the same time if this nutrient present in the feed at low concentration this have some adverse effect too. So that this nutrient level should be maintained at a marginal level. On the other side toxic heavy metals if present in the feed at very low concentration those can contaminate the total environment of the ecosystem. In this study six brand samples (starter, grower, finisher and layer) which was collected from different renowned chicken feed formulation industry in Bangladesh. Those samples were prepared for analysis by wet ashing and then metals were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. It was found that 27.7 to 68.4, 57.3 to 121.9, 0.21 to 4.1, 0.32 to 2.1, 0.11 to 1.58, 0.28 to 2.11 and 0.28 to 1.78 for zinc, iron, copper, mercury, cadmium, nickel and cobalt respectively. It was found that essential macro and micro nutrients were present in the feed in low concentration on the other side mercury was present in high concentration in the feed samples.

Flexible, transparent, and biodegradable films that can shield dangerous UV and high-energy blue light (HEBL) are high in demand to satisfy the ever-increasing expectations for environmental sustainability. To achieve this goal, biopolymer alginate is an excellent choice that has an outstanding film-forming ability. However, alginate has the limitation of poor UV and HEBL blocking ability. Thus, in this study, UV and HEBL blocker graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) was incorporated in alginate films to enhance the compatibility, applicability, and durability. The ATR-FTIR, TGA, DTG, and FE-SEM results indicated that the composite film formation was due to hydrogen bonding, and the composite films revealed synergistic properties of alginate and g-C 3 N 4 . Though the incorporation of g-C 3 N 4 in films enhanced the mechanical and thermal stabilities of the films, the films were still flexible. The UV−visible transmittance characterization confirmed that the prepared films could block both UV and HEBL radiation while maintaining transparency in visible regions. In experiments involving only 2 wt % g-C 3 N 4 , nearly 90% of UV (200−400 nm) and 95% of HEBL (400−450 nm) irradiation were blocked. Additionally, the inclusion of g-C 3 N 4 also facilitated the biodegradation process of composite films. Moreover, after 6 months, the composite films exhibited excellent UV and HEBL shielding with excellent mechanical durability.