ZnO nanorods were capped with a simple amino acid, viz., l-Alanine to increase the carrier concentration and improve the performance of ZnO/CuI heterojunction diodes.

present on causes of hearing loss, identification of hearing loss at birth, NHS and intervention. Thus, indicating an urgent need to create awareness in the above areas. A demonstration of positive attitude was shown in the results towards NHS and intervention for hearing loss, which will facilitate early identification and intervention.

Microorganisms cause variety of diseases that constitutes a severe threat to mankind. Due to the upsurge of many infectious diseases, there is a high requirement and demand for the development of safety products finished with antimicrobial properties. The study involves the antimicrobial activity of natural cotton coated with copper iodide capped with Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. flower extract (CuI-FE) which is rich in anthocyanin, cyanidine-3-sophoroside by ultrasonication method. The coated and uncoated cotton fabric was characterised through XRD, SEM, AFM, tensile strength and UV-Visible spectroscopic techniques. XRD confirmed the formation of CuI particles, SEM showed that CuI-FE was prismatic in shape. The average size of CuI-FE particles was found to be 552.45 nm. Anti-bacterial studies showed copper iodide particles to be a potent antimicrobial agent. AFM images confirmed the rupture of bacterial cell walls in the presence of prismatic CuI-FE. In-vitro cytotoxicity investigation of CuI-FE was performed against cancer and spleen cell lines to evaluate the cell viability. Cytotoxicity analysis revealed the IC 50 value of 233.93 μg/mL in the presence of CuI-FE. Molecular docking study was also carried out to understand the interaction of CuI-FE with COVID-19 main protease. This paper has given an insight on the usage of CuI-FE coated on the cotton fabric that has proved to have strong inhibition against the nano ranged bacterial, cancerous cell line and a strong interaction with the COVID-19 protease.Such eco-friendly material will provide a safe environment even after the disposable of medical waste from the infectious diseases like influenza and current pandemic like COVID-19.

Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most significant environmental problems globally leading to ecological imbalance. There are many physicochemical and biological methods for the removal of heavy metals. Most of the physicochemical methods are less eco-friendly and less cost-effective, while the biological methods are slow in nature. Recently, nanoparticles have been suggested as efficient alternatives to existing treatment methods, in both resource conservation and environmental remediation of anthropogenic compounds. Nanotechnologies are pervasive solution vectors in our economic environment. Biological synthesis of nanoparticles has grown markedly to create novel materials that are ecofriendly, cost-effective and stable with great importance in wider application in the areas of electronics, medicine and agriculture. Thus, the current work focuses on a comparative remediation of heavy metals using physical, chemical and biological methods and nano-structured copper iodide is used as an adsorbent for the removal of chromium (Cr) and zinc (Zn). In the present study, we have experimented with a few methods in physical (UV light irradiation, adsorption studies using CuI), chemical (UV photocatalysis using CuI) and biological methods (using co-culture bacteria strains). A combination of chemical and biological methods was also probed using CuI-polyvinyl alcohol nano-composite containing bacterial co-cultures. The synthesized nano-composite was characterized using scanning electron microscope. The present study revealed that the most effective and cost-friendly method was using biologically prepared nano-composite of CuI (a combination of both chemical and biological methods) to remediate heavy metals Cr and Zn with a removal efficiency up to ~ 67% for Cr and ~ 55% for Zn at the end of 48 h.

Azo dyes released by the textile industries cause severe damage to the environment and living organisms. The degradation of azo dyes is widely studied using enzymatic methods. Laccase is a copper-containing enzyme that degrades the azo dyes into less toxic compounds. In this work, the crude laccase enzyme produced by the alkaliphile Pseudomonas mendocina in the degradation of mixed azo dye showed 0.386 U/mL activity at pH 8.5. A combination of enzymatic and green synthesized nanoparticles was used in the degradation of mixed azo dye. Laccase used in the degradation of mixed azo dyes showed 58.4% in 72 h, while the photocatalytic degradation of mixed azo dyes showed 15.9%. The degradation of azo dyes using copper iodide nanoparticles resulted in 15.8% degradation. However, it was noticed that the combined method of degradation of azo dyes involving both crude laccase and CuI nanoparticles gave a degradation of 62.3% in 60 min. Interaction of laccase enzyme with azo dyes using in silico analysis predicted the binding energy with reactive red (−7.19 kcal/mol), reactive brown (−8.57 kcal/mol), and reactive black dyes (−9.17 kcal/mol) respectively.