Sustainable, sufficient and pure water is vital on earth at present. Of all processes used to purify water, nanotechnology plays an important role. Nanomaterials are available in all stages like membranes in filtration, adsorbents of pollutants, photocatalysts for degradation and for detection of pollutants in water purification. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), an accidentally invented nanomaterial, like in many applications have supported in water purification in all stages. Hence, it is intended for a mini-review for the water purification techniques with carbon quantum dots (CQDs). The chapter consists of three parts. Many nanotechnological methods are employed in water purification. Among them, nanomembranes play a dominant role in detection, nanofiltration and degradation in water purification. Next, nanomaterials as adsorbents, sensors and photocatalytic activity for water remediation are being investigated largely. Hence, they are discussed in the first part. In the second part, the features of CQDs are considered for its versatile applications. The easy and low-cost preparation of CDQs from easily available materials are investigated from the research published articles. In the third part, an attempt is made to collectively analyze the CQDs contributions as membranes in water purification, to detect the presence of organic, inorganic and dye contamination from water is reviewed. Further, the removal of the harmful and or toxic elements from polluted and impure water is discussed from various research groups.
Energy conservation is an important issue in a world that is still largely dependent on non-renewable energy resources. Despite the growing awareness about the advantages of renewable resources, fossil fuels in the form of coal and petroleum dominate the energy consumption scenario. The primary reason for this situation is the greater commercial viability of fossil fuels. Fuel cells are an important, environment friendly means of utilizing the energy stored in hydrogen. It is however, essential to strive towards making them more economical for commercial use. This paper focuses on proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and usage of carbon nanotubes for increased efficiency. The paper also discusses a possible material that may find potential application in the fuel cell as an alternative to the carbon nanotubes existing so far.
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