Area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) is a promising bottom-up patterning approach for fabricating conformal thin films. One of the current challenges with respect to AS-ALD is the deficiency of the surface inhibitor used for fabricating nanoscale three-dimensional structures. In this study, a vapor-deliverable small inhibitor called ethanethiol (ET) that thermally adsorbs on surfaces was used for the AS-ALD of Al2O3. The inhibitor selectively adsorbed on Co and Cu substrates but not on the SiO2 substrate, allowing for the selective deactivation of Co and Cu substrates in Al2O3 ALD. The use of dimethylaluminum isopropoxide (DMAI) as the Al precursor resulted in better inhibition than the use of trimethylaluminum (TMA). Various experimental and theoretical methods, including water contact angle measurements, spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, density functional theory calculations, and Monte Carlo simulations, were used to elucidate the process of AS-ALD using ET. Dimerization of the DMAI precursor is considered to be a governing factor for its high deposition selectivity, while the probability of this phenomenon is very low for the TMA precursor. The current study provides insight into the selectivity of AS-ALD from the perspective of the chemical reaction and an opportunity to improve selectivity via precursor selection.

In this study, we synthesized hierarchical CuO nanoleaves in large-quantity via the hydrothermal method. We employed different techniques to characterize the morphological, structural, optical properties of the as-prepared hierarchical CuO nanoleaves sample. An electrochemical based nonenzymatic glucose biosensor was fabricated using engineered hierarchical CuO nanoleaves. The electrochemical behavior of fabricated biosensor towards glucose was analyzed with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometry (i–t) techniques. Owing to the high electroactive surface area, hierarchical CuO nanoleaves based nonenzymatic biosensor electrode shows enhanced electrochemical catalytic behavior for glucose electro-oxidation in 100 mM sodium hydroxide (NaOH) electrolyte. The nonenzymatic biosensor displays a high sensitivity (1467.32 μA/(mM cm2)), linear range (0.005–5.89 mM), and detection limit of 12 nM (S/N = 3). Moreover, biosensor displayed good selectivity, reproducibility, repeatability, and stability at room temperature over three-week storage period. Further, as-fabricated nonenzymatic glucose biosensors were employed for practical applications in human serum sample measurements. The obtained data were compared to the commercial biosensor, which demonstrates the practical usability of nonenzymatic glucose biosensors in real sample analysis.

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Benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFCs) are considered to be one of the eco-friendly bioelectrochemical cell approaches nowadays. The utilization of waste materials in BMFCs is to generate energy and concurrently bioremediate the toxic metals from synthetic wastewater, which is an ideal approach. The use of novel electrode material and natural organic waste material as substrates can minimize the present challenges of the BMFCs. The present study is focused on cellulosic derived graphene-polyaniline (GO-PANI) composite anode fabrication in order to improve the electron transfer rate. Several electrochemical and physicochemical techniques are used to characterize the performance of anodes in BMFCs. The maximum current density during polarization behavior was found to be 87.71 mA/m2 in the presence of the GO-PANI anode with sweet potato as an organic substrate in BMFCs, while the GO-PANI offered 15.13 mA/m2 current density under the close circuit conditions in the presence of 1000 Ω external resistance. The modified graphene anode showed four times higher performance than the unmodified anode. Similarly, the remediation efficiency of GO-PANI was 65.51% for Cd (II) and 60.33% for Pb (II), which is also higher than the unmodified graphene anode. Furthermore, multiple parameters (pH, temperature, organic substrate) were optimized to validate the efficiency of the fabricated anode in different environmental atmospheres via BMFCs. In order to ensure the practice of BMFCs at industrial level, some present challenges and future perspectives are also considered briefly.

The composite industry was attracted by natural fiber reinforced polymer materials for various valuable engineering applications due to its ecofriendly nature, less cost, and enhanced mechanical and thermal properties. This present work aimed at incorporating sisal and kevlar woven fabrics with the epoxy matrix and studying the effect of Pongamia pinnata shell powder on the sisal/ kevlar hybrid composite. Six different laminates were prepared using hand layup method with filler percentage varying 2, 4, and 6 wt%. The prepared laminates cut according to the ASTM standards for performing different mechanical tests. Results reveal that the reduction of void percentage was observed at higher filler contents, while the incorporation of kevlar fabric enhances the impact strength by 279%, tensile strength by 89.77%, and tensile modulus value by 2% in comparison with pure natural fabric laminate L-1. The flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength were higher for 2% filler composites, while the highest flexural modulus and hardness values were observed for 6% filler-filled composites. The water absorption percentage was maximum for sisal laminate L-1 and minimum for kevlar laminate L-2. The fractured tensile and flexural specimens were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy.