The quest to synthesize nanomaterials with improved properties, but less undesirable effects on the environment necessitated this research. Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and zinc oxide-silver (ZnO-Ag), zinc oxide-copper (ZnO-Cu) nanocomposites were synthesized with pure eco-friendly dye extracted from Bridelia ferruginea, zinc acetate (Zn(CH 3 COO) 2 ) as host, copper acetate (Cu (CH 3 COO) 2 ), and silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) as dopant precursors. Phytochemical screening of dyes showed high, presence of phenols and terpenoids. The nanomaterials were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The results showed the capping agents in the dyes were responsible for reducing the bulk materials. The crystallinity of the nanomaterials were found to be 19.02, 18.98 and 18.90 nm for the ZnO, ZnO-Ag and ZnO-Cu nanoparticles respectively. The ZnO nanoparticles were flakelike in shape, whereas the Cu and Ag doped particles were spherical. An optical bandgap of 4.73 eV was recorded for the dye and 3.24 eV for the ZnO nanoparticles. This was narrowed to 3.18 and 3.13 eV by silver and copper dopant respectively. These results showed the nanoparticles as a potential agent for photovoltaics and other optical applications.
Starch is a biopolymer with outstanding economic and environmental friendly attributes which has driven technological innovations to enhance its applications in food and nonfood industries. Starch is constituted by O-H groups with valency and electronic characteristics that can initiate adsorption of aqueous heavy metal ions (AHMIs). However, this can be enhanced using various modification sequences. A common procedure is the cross-linking and substitution of the O-H groups via esterification and/or etherification reactions to produce starch derivative adsorbents (SDAs) with improved structural and functional properties for adsorption of AHMIs. The efficiency of SDAs developed using these procedure depends on the botanical source of the native starch base, porosity and structural stability of the derivative (i.e. degree of cross-linking), substituted functional group(s), degree of substitution (DS) and the steric/conformation effects of the substituted groups. Many works have been done to optimize these factors, and this review highlighted some of the tailored procedures and the results obtained.
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