The article summarizes the scientific progress that has occurred in the past several years in regard to the preparation of carbon nanofibers from lignin as a low-cost environmentally-friendly raw material using electrospinning. It presents an overview of using lignin, electrospinning, and carbonization to convert lignin to carbon nanofibers. Lignin is a renewable source for carbon material, and it is very abundant in nature. It is mostly produced as a byproduct from the paper industry and biomass fractionation. Despite its extensive availability and beneficial properties, only a few studies have reported on its use in electronic applications. Lignin-based carbon nanofibers have a high surface area, high porosity, and good electrical conductivity; thus, it is proposed that they are suitable for future energy storage applications.
Electromagnetic stimuli of spin crossover compounds restricted to UV-vis light irradiation for many years could be recently extended to X-ray excitation. This review covers a large variety of light-induced effects, as well as recent analogues stimulated by X-ray irradiation which have not yet been reviewed. The focus is also on multistable multinuclear spin crossover compounds which are the subject of lively discussions within the spin crossover community. Their spin transition often occurs incompletely and with different switching mechanisms. In this review, we recall a predicted sequential switching induced thermally as well as a concerted stimulation mechanism by light irradiation for these interesting multifunctional materials.
Single-phase BiVO 4 (BV) powder was synthesized successfully at 600 • C within 4 h duration through the mechanochemical high energy ball milling method, and the combined photocatalytic and piezocatalytic activity was studied to exhibit piezo-photocatalytic efficiency. Monoclinic BV phase existence in the synthesized powder was affirmed through Raman spectroscopy and the X-ray diffraction techniques. The scanning electron microscopy affirmed the irregularshaped BV powder in the synthesized powders. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy affirmed the existence of various oxidation states of the elements V, Bi, and O in BV powders. The piezocatalytic and photocatalytic methylene blue (MB) dye degradation efficiency using BV powdered sample was observed to be 28% and 60%, respectively, within 240 min. The piezo-photocatalytic MB dye degradation using BV powdered sample was observed to be 81% within 240 min. Effect of dye concentration on kinetic rate constant was also studied.
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