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Bismuth ferrite grafted on graphene nanosheets (BiFeO3-g-GNS) works as an efficient photocatalyst for organic pollutants/dyes, irrespective of the ionic nature of the pollutants.

Abstract. Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO 3 ) is considered as one of the most promising materials in the field of multiferroics. In this work, a simple green route as well as synthetic routes has been used for the preparation of pure phase BiFeO 3 . An extract of Calotropis Gigantea flower was used as a reaction medium in green route. In each case so formed BiFeO 3 particles are of comparable quality. These particles are in the range of 50-60 nm and exhibit mixed morphology (viz., spherical and cubic) as confirmed by TEM analysis. These pure phase BiFeO 3 nanoparticles were first time surface modified effectively by mean of two silylating agent's viz., tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES). Modified and unmodified BiFeO 3 nanoparticles were efficiently introduced into polyvinylacetate (PVAc) matrix. It has been shown that nanocomposite prepared by modified BiFeO 3 comprise superior dispersion characteristics, improved ferroelectric properties and favorable magneto-dielectric properties along with excellent wettability in compare to nanocomposite prepared by unmodified BiFeO 3 . These preliminary results demonstrate possible applications of this type of nanocomposites particularly in the field of multiferroic coating and adhesives. Vol.8, No.9 (2014) 669-681 Available online at www.expresspolymlett.com DOI: 10.3144/expresspolymlett.2014.70 * Corresponding author, e-mail: santanuchat71@yahoo.com © BME-PT mon in the eastern and southern parts of India, Ceylon and Eastern Asia. The milky juice obtained from Calotropis Gigantea is used for medicinal and insecticidal purposes [20]. The roots and leaves of Calotropis Gigantea are also used traditionally for treatment of abdominal tumors, boils, syphilis, leprosy, insect-bites and elephantiasis [21]. Extract of Calotropis Gigantean leaves also has significant antioxidant property. As reported in literature, there are numerous bio-organic compounds present in the plant systems such as flavonoids, terpenoids, proteins, reducing sugars and alkaloids [22,23]. These bio-organic compounds are supposed to be involved either as reducing agents or as stabilizing agent in the formation of nanoparticles. It is assumed that formation of nanoparticles occurs through the ionic or electrostatic interactions between the metal complexes and the functional groups on the biomass surfaces. But due to the bio-diversity of the plant biomasses, the exact mechanism by which bio-constituents of plants have contributed to the synthesis process is so far not completely understood. Moreover, though BiFeO 3 have many favorable properties, but still it is difficult to used directly. Being ceramic, as such BiFeO 3 is brittle in nature, very less shock resistive and has poor moldability [24]. To make it even more advantageous these disabilities ought to be rectified. The best way to do so is by making the composite of BiFeO 3 with a suitable polymer, since most of the polymers have better shock resistance, easy processability and being cheaper too. Also by judicious...

A series of spherical magneto-responsive nanogels were fabricated by formulating different sets of star block copolymers based on pentaerythritol–poly(ε-caprolactone)-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PE–PCL-b-PAA) combined with amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for targeted cancer therapy.