Silica nanoparticles were synthesized from rice husk ash at room temperature by using high energy planetary ball mill. The milling time and mill rotational speed were varied in four levels. The morphology of the synthesized powders was investigated by the FE-SEM and TEM image as well as XRD patterns. The results have revealed that the nano-sized amorphous silica particles are formed after about 6 h ball milling and they are spherical in shape. The average particle size of the silica powders is found to be around 70 nm which decreases with increasing ball milling time or mill rotational speed. The as-synthesized silica nanoparticles were subsequently employed as drug carrier to investigate in vitro release behavior of Penicillin-G in simulated body fluid. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to determine the amount of Penicillin-G released from the carrier. Penicillin-G release profile from silica nanoparticles exhibited a delayed release effect.
Carbon nanotube-silicon (CNT-Si)-based heterojunction solar cells (HJSCs)are a promising photovoltaic (PV) system. Herein, few-layer black phosphorus (FL-BP) sheets are produced in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) using microwave-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation and introduced into the CNTs-Sibased HJSCs for the first time. The NMP-based FL-BP sheets remain stable after mixing with aqueous CNT dispersion for device fabrication. Due to their unique 2D structure and p-type dominated conduction, the FL-BP/NMP incorporated CNT-Si devices show an impressive improvement in the power conversion efficiency from 7.52% (control CNT-Si cell) to 9.37%. Our densityfunctional theory calculation reveals that lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of FL-BP is higher in energy than that of single-walled CNT. Therefore, we observed a reduction in the orbitals localized on FL-BP upon highest occupied molecular orbital to LUMO transition, which corresponds to an improved charge transport. This study opens a new avenue in utilizing 2D phosphorene nanosheets for next-generation PVs.
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