Bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugated gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized to explore their applications as drug delivery vehicles in systemic circulation. They showed little hemolysis and cytotoxic responses essentially required for such applications. This study shows some of the important physiochemical aspects needed for an appropriate synthesis of BSA-conjugated NPs where unfolded BSA is an essential reaction component. Unfolding of BSA was carried out under different experimental conditions in the presence of different ionic/ zwitterionic surfactants and monitored simultaneously by UV−visible studies. Cationic surfactants induced unfolding at relatively lower temperatures than anionic and zwitterionic surfactants due to stronger electrostatic interactions with BSA. TEM analysis revealed the presence of NPs with almost similar shapes and sizes for different samples, and all NPs were stabilized by a coating of unfolded BSA. Isoelectric point of unfolded BSA coating on NP surface was close to 4.7 in all cases, which was similar to that of unconjugated BSA. BSA free and cationic surfactant coated Au NPs were used as controls. They showed high hemolytic activity and very low cell viability under identical conditions. Thus, BSA coated NPs were considered to be the best vehicles for drug release and other possible biomedical applications.

Recently, there is a growing research interest in the applications and development of novel sustainable hydrogel materials in waste water treatment because of radically distinctive chemical and physical characteristics of hydrogels such as hydrophilicity, swell ability and modifiability to name a few. Hydrogels have exposed the hypernym functioning in the removal of a wide range of aqueous pollutants containing toxic dyes and heavy metal ions. A large amount of water gets incorporated in the three dimensional networks of hydrophilic structures of hydrogels. The prime objective of this review article is to render a presentation on the recent advances in the modifications of sodium alginate based hydrogels for the adsorptive removal of toxic pollutants. In addition, article also briefly gives the classification and properties of hydrogels and alginate.

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Recycling is groundwork of the worldwide efforts to diminish the amount of plastics in waste. Mostly around 7.8-8.2 million tons of poorly-used plastics enter the oceans every year. Nonbiodegradable plastics settlements in landfills are uncertain, which hinders the production of land resources. Non-biodegradable plastic solid wastes, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, various air pollutants, cancerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins, released to the environment cause severe damage and harmfulness to the inhabitants. Due to the bio-degradability and renewability of biopolymers, petroleum-based plastics can be replaced with bio-based polymers in order to minimize the environmental risks. In this review article, bio-degradability of polymers has been discussed. The mechanisms of bio-recycling have been particularly emphasized in the present article.

et al., Graphite modified sodium alginate hydrogel composite for efficient removal of malachite green dye,

In the present scenario, civilization wholly depends on energy generation and storage for better technological progress and extension in several scientific applications. Due to limited conventional energy sources and high energy requirement; absolute, cost-effective, and eco-friendly substitute roots of energy are of the principal interest. In this direction, direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC) is becoming more familiar and promising due to its straightforward configuration system, weight and elevated power generation efficiency. Indeed, recent years have seen extensive research on the preparation and properties of the fuel cell system. The literature review presented in this article provides comprehensive information on electro-oxidation of alcohol developed on different type of electro-catalyst. The integration of a range of nanomaterials is depicted, in order to comprehend the effect of different properties such as a well-ordered porous structure, exemplary high specific surface areas, electronic conductivity, tremendous convenience to active sites, and improved mass

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Due to their superior properties, plastics derived from petroleum have been extensively used almost in everyday life since last few decades. Because of lack in the manageability of plastic solid waste, their volume is increasing steadily in the natural world. Unfortunately, the disposal of plastics wastes in the oceans and land filling has led to a global issue. To effectively and efficiently deal with plastic solid waste is becoming a great challenge for the society as plastic solid waste creates big threat to our environment. Recycling of plastics solid waste should be performed to produce products having same quality to original plastics. This review article gives an overview of plastics solid waste with particular emphasis on the recent progress in polystyrene based plastics.