Significant Degradation Research Articles

Application of microencapsulated phase change materials in prefabricated building projects based on building information modeling technology

Faced with the rapidly increasing urban population, there is a surge in demand for building construction, accompanied by an incessant rise in building energy consumption. To promote sustainable development and mitigate building energy consumption, this study proposes the utilization of microencapsulated phase change materials in prefabricated buildings through the integration of building information modeling. We prepare polymethyl methacrylate/n-eicosane/wood cellulose nanocrystal microcapsules using Pickering emulsion through the solvent evaporation method. The results showed that the material exhibits optimal comprehensive performance at a core–shell ratio of 2:1, with a melting enthalpy of 152.10 J/g and a coating rate of 60.27%. However, when the core–shell ratio increases to 2.5:1, significant performance degradation occurs due to phase change material leakage. The materials show excellent cycling performance in cold-hot cycling tests, maintaining their melting enthalpy value above 97% even after 100 cycles. Moreover, materials with a core–shell ratio of 2:1 exhibit good thermal stability up to high temperatures (160 °C). In conclusion, this study has great significance for advancing the progress of prefabricated buildings and sustainable buildings.

Analyzing Heterogeneous Networks With Missing Attributes by Unsupervised Contrastive Learning.

Heterogeneous information networks (HINs) are potent models of complex systems. In practice, many nodes in an HIN have their attributes unspecified, resulting in significant performance degradation for supervised and unsupervised representation learning. We developed an unsupervised heterogeneous graph contrastive learning approach for analyzing HINs with missing attributes (HGCA). HGCA adopts a contrastive learning strategy to unify attribute completion and representation learning in an unsupervised heterogeneous framework. To deal with a large number of missing attributes and the absence of labels in unsupervised scenarios, we proposed an augmented network to capture the semantic relations between nodes and attributes to achieve a fine-grained attribute completion. Extensive experiments on three large real-world HINs demonstrated the superiority of HGCA over several state-of-the-art methods. The results also showed that the complemented attributes by HGCA can improve the performance of existing HIN models.

A Faithful Deep Sensitivity Estimation for Accelerated Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an essential diagnostic tool that suffers from prolonged scan time. To alleviate this limitation, advanced fast MRI technology attracts extensive research interests. Recent deep learning has shown its great potential in improving image quality and reconstruction speed. Faithful coil sensitivity estimation is vital for MRI reconstruction. However, most deep learning methods still rely on pre-estimated sensitivity maps and ignore their inaccuracy, resulting in the significant quality degradation of reconstructed images. In this work, we propose a Joint Deep Sensitivity estimation and Image reconstruction network, called JDSI. During the image artifacts removal, it gradually provides more faithful sensitivity maps with high-frequency information, leading to improved image reconstructions. To understand the behavior of the network, the mutual promotion of sensitivity estimation and image reconstruction is revealed through the visualization of network intermediate results. Results on in vivo datasets and radiologist reader study demonstrate that, for both calibration-based and calibrationless reconstruction, the proposed JDSI achieves the state-of-the-art performance visually and quantitatively, especially when the acceleration factor is high. Additionally, JDSI owns nice robustness to patients and autocalibration signals.

Haar Wavelet Feature Compression for Quantized Graph Convolutional Networks.

Graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are widely used in a variety of applications and can be seen as an unstructured version of standard convolutional neural networks (CNNs). As in CNNs, the computational cost of GCNs for large input graphs (such as large point clouds or meshes) can be high and inhibit the use of these networks, especially in environments with low computational resources. To ease these costs, quantization can be applied to GCNs. However, aggressive quantization of the feature maps can lead to a significant degradation in performance. On a different note, the Haar wavelet transforms are known to be one of the most effective and efficient approaches to compress signals. Therefore, instead of applying aggressive quantization to feature maps, we propose to use Haar wavelet compression and light quantization to reduce the computations involved with the network. We demonstrate that this approach surpasses aggressive feature quantization by a significant margin, for a variety of problems ranging from node classification to point cloud classification and both part and semantic segmentation.

TDeLTA: A Light-Weight and Robust Table Detection Method Based on Learning Text Arrangement

The diversity of tables makes table detection a great challenge, leading to existing models becoming more tedious and complex. Despite achieving high performance, they often overfit to the table style in training set, and suffer from significant performance degradation when encountering out-of-distribution tables in other domains. To tackle this problem, we start from the essence of the table, which is a set of text arranged in rows and columns. Based on this, we propose a novel, light-weighted and robust Table Detection method based on Learning Text Arrangement, namely TDeLTA. TDeLTA takes the text blocks as input, and then models the arrangement of them with a sequential encoder and an attention module. To locate the tables precisely, we design a text-classification task, classifying the text blocks into 4 categories according to their semantic roles in the tables. Experiments are conducted on both the text blocks parsed from PDF and extracted by open-source OCR tools, respectively. Compared to several state-of-the-art methods, TDeLTA achieves competitive results with only 3.1M model parameters on the large-scale public datasets. Moreover, when faced with the cross-domain data under the 0-shot setting, TDeLTA outperforms baselines by a large margin of nearly 7%, which shows the strong robustness and transferability of the proposed model.

Degradation of SDS by psychrotolerant Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Bacillus pumilus isolated from Southern Ocean water samples.

Bioremediation of surfactants in water bodies holds significant ecological importance as they are contaminants of emerging concern posing substantial threats to the aquatic environment. Microbes exhibiting special ability in terms of bioremediation of contaminants have always been reported to thrive in extraordinary environmental conditions that can be extreme in terms of temperature, lack of nutrients, and salinity. Therefore, in the present investigation, a total of 46 bacterial isolates were isolated from the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean and screened for degradation of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). Further, two Gram-positive psychrotolerant bacterial strains, ASOI-01 and ASOI-02 were identified with significant SDS degradation potential. These isolates were further studied for growth optimization under different environmental conditions. The strains were characterized as Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Bacillus pumilus based on morphological, biochemical, and molecular (16S RNA gene) characteristics. The study reports 88.9% and 93.4% degradation of SDS at a concentration of 100 mgL-1, at 20°C, and pH 7 by S. saprophyticus ASOI-01 and B. pumilus ASOI-02, respectively. The experiments were also conducted in wastewater samples where a slight reduction in degradation efficiency was observed with strains ASOI-01 and ASOI-02 exhibiting 76.83 and 64.93% degradation of SDS respectively. This study infers that these bacteria can be used for the bioremediation of anionic surfactants from water bodies and establishes the potential of extremophilic microbes for the utilization of sustainable wastewater management.

Coherent multi-band MIMO radar: robustness analysis to SSMF-based RF signal delivery.

A numerical evaluation is conducted to assess the impact of distributing radio frequency (RF) signals through optical fiber links on the performance of a coherent multi-band multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system. The analysis focuses on scenarios where the antennas are widely separated in comparison to the employed signal wavelengths. The development of a model to quantify the phase noise (PN) induced on each RF band due to the signal transmission through optical fiber links between the centralized base station and each radar peripheral is described. Monte Carlo simulation results are collected to estimate the key performance indicators (KPIs) for varying standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) length and different PN contributions. The main contributors to the PN are revealed to be chromatic dispersion (CD), double Rayleigh scattering (DRS), and mechanical vibrations. In a shipborne scenario, a significant performance degradation occurs only when the length of the fiber links reaches approximately 20 km. Further, the PN impact has also been studied in a shipborne scenario to analyze the robustness of the system for worse phase noise level assumptions. The results reveal excellent robustness of the proposed centralized acquisition and processing approach in the presence of both very long fiber links and economically employed RF oscillators.

Biodegradation of aryl-organophosphate flame retardants by Rhodococcus pyridinivorans YC-MTN: Performance, pathway and potential in environmental remediation

A strain capable of efficiently degrading aryl-organophosphate flame retardants (aryl-OPFRs) was isolated and identified as Rhodococcus pyridinivorans YC-MTN. The strain demonstrated high degradation efficiency within a wide range of pH (7.0–10.0), temperature (25–45 °C), and salinity (0–2%). Strain YC-MTN effectively utilized aryl-OPFRs as the sole carbon source, facilitating their rapid degradation. The estimated half-lives for four aryl-OPFRs, namely triphenyl phosphate (TPhP), tricresyl phosphate (TCrP), 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDPP), and resorcinol bis (diphenyl phosphate) (RBDPP), were found to be 8.73, 10.82, 30.28, and 16.14 h, respectively. Additionally, half of the aryl-OPFRs underwent mineralization after 7 d of incubation. In particular, hydrolysis played a dominant role in the metabolism of TPhP, EHDPP, and RBDPP by strain YC-MTN, while P–O bond cleavage generally occurred in the presence of phenol as the leaving group. In addition to hydrolysis, methylation participated in the biotransformation of TCrP. Strain YC-MTN exhibited significant degradability towards TPhP at various concentrations ranging from 1 to 1000 mg L−1. The remediation of TPhP was simulated in both freshwater and seawater, and within a span of 5 d, strain YC-MTN completely degraded the exogenous TPhP. Strain YC-MTN holds potential as a viable microbial agent in the bioremediation of aryl-OPFRs contamination.

One-step synthesis of a diverting erythrocyte-like heterojunction and the augmented activity of wastewater treatment: Morphology modulation, theoretical calculations and mechanism explanation

As a green and sustainable technology, semiconductor photocatalysis mediated by heterojunction has shown great potential in the removal of organic pollutants from water environment. Yet, the nugatory recombination of photogenerated carriers induced by strong Coulombic forces lead to inferior photoactivity of semiconductor photocatalysts. In this paper, the erythrocyte-like composite (BiBrW) was designed to drive Z-type separation of photogenerated carriers through heterojunction interface by tight coupling between BiOBr and Bi2WO6. Combined with the results of characterizations, CTAB used in the synthesis process not only provides a bromine source but also serves as a surfactant to modulate the morphology of Bi2WO6 from petal-like to erythrocyte-like morphology. In contrast with the BiOBr/Bi2WO6 material fabricated via the in-situ growth method, the BiBrW composite displayed a uniform erythrocyte-like morphology with fewer grain boundaries by lamellar stacking of nanosheets. The combined effect of the construction of heterojunction and lessened grain boundaries endowed the BiBrW composite with augmented physicochemical properties, thereby enhancing its photocatalytic removal performance for various contaminants. Based on theoretical calculations, HPLC-MS tests and toxicity analysis, the reaction sites, degradation pathway and toxic evolution of ciprofloxacin (CIP) during the process of photodegradation were thoroughly elucidated, respectively. Moreover, the BiBrW catalyst still exhibits significant degradation performance for CIP under the excitation of natural sunlight. For different water qualities and distinct target pollutants (2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol (DNBP), tetracycline (TC) and bisphenol A (BPA)), the catalyst maintains excellent photocatalytic removal capabilities, reflecting the superior universality of BiBrW catalyst. This research proposed novel mentality for preparation of heterojunction photocatalysts with less grain boundaries to assist in restoration of water environment.

Multifunctional Umbrella: In Situ Interface Film Forming on the High-Voltage LiCoO2 Cathode by a Tiny Amount of Nanoporous Polymer Additives for High-Energy-Density Li-Ion Batteries.

The LiCoO2 (LCO) cathode is foreseen for extensive commercial applications owing to its high specific capacity and stability. Therefore, there is considerable interest in further enhancing its specific capacity by increasing the charging voltage. However, single-crystal LCO suffers from a significant capacity degradation when charged to 4.5V due to the irreversible phase transition and unstable structure. Herein, an ultra-small amount (0.5%wt. in the electrode) of multi-functional PIM-1 (a polymer with intrinsic microporosity) additive is utilized to prepare a kind of binder-free electrode. PIM-1 modulates the solvation structure of LiPF6 due to its unique structure, which helps to form a stable, robust, and inorganic-rich cathod-eelectrolyte interphase (CEI) film on the surface of LCO at a high voltage of 4.5V. This reduces the irreversible phase transition of LCO, thereby enhancing the cyclic stability and improving the rate performance, providing new perspectives for the electrodes fabrication and improving LCO-based high-energy-density cathodes.

Facile and Nondestructive Transformation of Intrinsic Hydrophobic Behavior of a Carbon Nanotubes Sheet to Hydrophilic.

It is imperative to induce hydrophilicity in intrinsically hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) without losing their superior properties for applications that specifically deal with aqueous media. A method for transforming a CNTs sheet from hydrophobic to hydrophilic by treatment with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is explored. The NMP-treated CNT sheets are assessed based on complementing characterization, and it is concluded that the binding of NMP to a CNTs surface is through noncovalent interaction without the incorporation of defects in CNTs. The induced hydrophilicity in the CNTs sheet is stable for water exposure over a longer duration while it displays a semireversible nature upon heat treatment. The mechanical and electrical properties of the NMP-treated CNTs sheet revealed enhancement in the tensile strength from 221 to 421 MPa while maintaining a good electrical conductivity of ∼1.22 × 104 S/m because of the improved interfacial properties. The hydrophilic CNTs exhibited excellent adsorption capacity for methylene blue dye. The NMP-treated CNTs sheets demonstrated their suitability in flexible hybrid supercapacitor (FHSC) devices with improved electrochemical performance with enhancement in the capacitance from 5.4 to 7.6 F/g and a decrease in the equivalent series resistance from 53 to 34 Ω compared to pristine CNTs-based devices. These solid-state FHSC devices displayed excellent cyclic charge-discharge performance along with robust behavior over thousands of bending cycles without significant performance degradation. The excellent dye removal capability and superior electrochemical performance of the NMP-treated CNTs sheet is a consequence of their improved interface with aqueous media, which is governed by the hydrophilic nature of the CNTs sheet.

Cannabidiol and Indole-3-carbinol Reduce Intracellular Lipid Droplet Accumulation in HepaRG, A Human Liver Cell Line, as well as in Human Adipocytes

Introduction: An increase in obesity-related diseases is becoming an alarming worldwide problem. Therefore, new therapeutic methods are constantly sought to prevent, treat, and alleviate symptoms of the diseases associated with obesity. Method: This study investigates the effects of two natural compounds (indole-3-carbinol, I3C, a bioactive indolic compound found in cruciferous vegetables; cannabidiol, CBD, the active ingredient derived from the hemp plant) on the fatty acid accumulation in the human liver cell line HepaRG, a well-established model for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and in human pre-adipocytes (adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, MSC). Results: EC50s of each compound were in the high µM range (approximately 30 mg/L), showing the low toxicity of these compounds. Determination of the selected compounds in cell media showed no significant differences during the exposure, suggesting that no significant metabolism or degradation happened during the exposure time. Quantification of the bioaccumulation of lipid droplets on exposed HepaRG revealed a significant reduction and mitigation of fatty acid accumulation when exposed to 1 nM of I3C and 100 nM of CBD.). On MSC cells a significant inhibition of lipogenesis and adipocyte differentiation was observed in cells exposed to 0.1 nM of I3C and 1 nM of CBD. Conclusion: This study provides a significant contribution to advancing the understanding of preventative dietary strategies that target adipocyte differentiation and NAFLD.

Robust and Corrosion-Resistant Overall Water Splitting Electrode Enabled by Additive Manufacturing.

Electrolysis of water has emerged as a prominent area of research in recent years. As a promising catalyst support, copper foam is widely investigated for electrolytic water, yet the insufficient mechanical strength and corrosion resistance render it less suitable for harsh working conditions. To exploit high-performance catalyst supports, various metal supports are comprehensively evaluated, and Ti6Al4V (Ti64) support exhibited outstanding compression and corrosion resistance. With this in mind, a 3D porous Ti64 catalyst support is fabricated using the selective laser sintering (SLM) 3D printing technology, and a conductive layer of nickel (Ni) is coated to increase the electrical conductivity and facilitate the deposition of catalysts. Subsequently, Co0.8Ni0.2(CO3)0.5(OH)·0.11H2O (CoNiCH) nanoneedles are deposited. The resulting porous Ti64/Ni/CoNiCH electrode displayed an impressive performance in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and reached 30mAcm-2 at an overpotential of only 200mV. Remarkably, even after being compressed at 15.04MPa, no obvious structural deformation is observed, and the attenuation of its catalytic efficiency is negligible. Based on the computational analysis, the CoNiCH catalyst demonstrated superior catalytic activity at the Ni site in comparison to the Co site. Furthermore, the electrode reached 30mAcm-2 at 1.75V in full water splitting conditions and showed no significant performance degradation even after 60h of continuous operation. This study presents an innovative approach to robust and corrosion-resistant catalyst design.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the behavior of concrete sandwich slab panel for a structural system

This paper proposes a simplified methodology based on a concentrated plasticity model to develop numerical analysis of concrete sandwich slab panels for structural systems. Also, a proposal for the determination of experimental damage and its evolution within concrete sandwich panels is formulated. To validate the proposed methodology, an experimental study was carried out on full-scale slab panels to analyze the flexural behavior. Eight specimens were subjected to three- and four-point bending tests. A cycle loading protocol with unloading up to zero load was performed. These specimens, constructed with either one or two joined panels, were used to assess the group action. Mechanical properties for structural analysis—such as strength, stiffness, degree of composite action, and effective moment of inertia—were determined. The tested specimens exhibit significant stiffness degradation, indicating a notable evolution of damage even at small plastic displacements. The proposed methodology proves to be effective and reliable for predicting the behavior of concrete sandwich panels under bending moments. The numerical simulations performed show an adequate description of slab panel behavior until the ultimate load, regardless of its simplicity.

Heterogeneous Catalyst Coating for Boosting the Activity and Chromium Tolerance of Cathodes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

AbstractA challenge hindering the development of durable solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is the significant performance degradation of cathodes owing to poisoning by volatile Cr originating from the Fe─Cr alloy interconnect. Herein, a heterogeneous catalyst coating, composed of Ba1−xCe0.8Gd0.2O3–δ and BaCO3, remarkably improves the oxygen adsorption, dissociation capability, and Cr resistance of a La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3–δ (LSCF) cathode is demonstrated. The coherent heterointerface interactions formed between the catalyst coating and LSCF result in varied levels of surface strain and electrostatic interactions, significantly suppressing Sr surface segregation on LSCF. A single cell with the catalyst coating‐decorated LSCF (CC‐LSCF) achieves a peak power density of 1.73 W cm−2 at 750 °C, with no noticeable performance degradation for 100 h. The CC‐LSCF cathode also exhibits outstanding durability under accelerated Cr poisoning conditions, compared with the tremendous degradation rate of 0.42% h−1 for the bare LSCF cathode. The enhanced Cr resistance is attributed to synergy induced by the stabilization of the lattice Sr cations by heterointerface interactions and the remarkable structural stability of the catalyst coating under Cr poisoning conditions. The novel heterointerface engineering strategy in this study provides insight into the design and development of active and Cr‐tolerant cathodes.

THE IMPACT OF SOIL POLLUTION BY OIL ON THE CONTENT OF HUMIC SUBSTANCES

The research assesses the impact of oil contamination on soil humus substances. Laboratory experiments with varying concentrations of petroleum products on different soil types revealed that even small amounts of oil lead to significant degradation of humus substances, altering their structure and reducing their content. These changes may disrupt soil properties, diminishing fertility, structure, and water retention capacity, and reducing microbial activity. Understanding this influence is crucial for developing strategies to rehabilitate polluted soils and sustain ecosystems. Keywords: Humus, acidity, oil contamination, phytotesting, carbon content, oil mineralization, soil toxicity

Identification and Structural Characterization of Degradation Products of Linagliptin by Mass Spectrometry Techniques.

As part of the development and production of pharmaceuticals, the purity of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients stands as a fundamental parameter that significantly influences the quality, safety, and efficacy of the final drug product. Impurities in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients are various unwanted substances that can appear during the whole manufacturing process, from raw materials to the final product. These impurities can stem from multiple sources, including starting materials, intermediates, reagents, solvents, and even degradation products resulting from exposure to environmental factors such as heat, light, or moisture. Their presence can potentially compromise the therapeutic effect of the drug, introduce unexpected side effects, or even pose safety risks to patients. This study aims to conduct the forced degradation of linagliptin and subsequently attempt to identify the resulting degradants. The degradation procedures were carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee for Harmonization. The degradation profile of linagliptin was investigated under various conditions, including acid hydrolysis, alkaline hydrolysis, oxidation, heat, and light exposure, utilizing ultra-performance liquid chromatography connected to a photo array detector. Identification and characterization of the degradation products were achieved using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a single quadrupole detector mass spectrometer and also a liquid chromatography coupled with a high-resolution mass spectrometry. The identified degradation products demonstrate that linagliptin is particularly susceptible to degradation when exposed to acid and peroxide. Whereas, no significant degradation effects were observed under alkali, thermolytic, and photolytic conditions.

Photocatalytic activity of ZnMn2O4/TiO2 heterostructure under solar light irradiation: Experimental and theoretical study

This study focuses on the application of the hetero-junction ZnMn2O4/TiO2 as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), a cationic dye. ZnMn2O4 was synthesized by sol-gel auto-combustion, employing citric acid as fuel. The photocatalysts underwent characterization by X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy, Scanning Electronic Microscopy with integrated EDX and UV–Vis Diffuse Reflectance. Creating a p-n heterojunction could significantly boost photocatalytic efficiency. In this work, we use TiO2 as a n-type co-catalyst to enhance electron transfer efficiency. The ZnMn2O4 spinel exhibits direct optical transition at 1.97 eV, while TiO2 displays an indirectly allowed transition at 3.24 eV. Mott-Schottky plots revealed flat band potentials of -0.121 and +0.3 V/SCE for ZnMn2O4 and TiO2, respectively. Kinetic data of RhB adsorption were fitted using the pseudo-second order model. The heterojunction p-ZnMn2O4/n-TiO2 demonstrates a significant pollutant degradation rate, with 95% removal within 180 min under sunlight irradiation, surpassing the effectiveness of ZnMn2O4. To validate the experimental results, a theoretical investigation was conducted using density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Geometry optimization of the Rhodamine B molecule was studied in both gas and liquid phases, and various quantum chemical parameters were computed. Molecular dynamics simulations were additionally employed to examine the dynamic behavior of Rhodamine B adsorption on ZnMn2O4 (211) and TiO2 (101) surfaces in an aqueous environment.

Carbon Emissions Reduction of a Circular Architectural Practice: A Study on a Reversible Design Pavilion Using Recycled Materials

The construction industry, as a major consumer of resources and energy, accounts for about 40% of global carbon emissions. The concept of a circular economy (CE) is one effective means to address this issue. The entire lifecycle of a building includes: material production, construction, operation, and demolition. The production of building materials emits the largest proportion of carbon dioxide, followed by the operational phase, while construction (including demolition) has the smallest proportion. However, it is crucial to note the waste phase after demolition, where building materials are typically disposed of through incineration or landfill, leading to significant carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Therefore, carbon emissions generated during both the production and waste phases of the construction industry cannot be overlooked. This article employs a combined approach of practice and research, using the Circular Pavilion as a case study. From the design stage, reducing resource usage and carbon emissions are considered crucial factors. Reversible design, modularity, and the use of recycled materials are employed to reduce the emissions of “embodied carbon” and enhance material reuse. To validate the effectiveness of recycled materials in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this study calculates the material usage and carbon emissions during the production, transportation, and waste phases of the Circular Pavilion, Concrete Pavilion, and Steel Pavilion. The Circular Pavilion accounts for 34% and 3.5% of the total carbon emissions of the Concrete Pavilion and Steel Pavilion, respectively. In conclusion, the practical implementation of reversible design and recycled materials based on the concept of a circular economy is key to transitioning the construction industry from environmentally harmful impacts to eco-friendly practices. This establishes an effective method for resource reuse and carbon dioxide reduction in the construction sector, allowing waste resources to re-enter production and manufacturing processes, thereby reducing natural extraction, waste disposal, and energy consumption. Future applications of this method in the construction field involve establishing multidimensional composite design models and conducting feasibility assessments with upstream and downstream supply chains to support the realization of circular cities.

Preparation, characterization of co-Ni co-doped titania photocatalyst and its application for the photocatalytic degradation of textile and PPCPs industrial wastewater under sunlight

The undoped TiO2 (T), 1% Ni-doped TiO2 (N1T), and 1% Co–1% Ni co-doped TiO2 (C1N1T) photocatalysts were prepared by the sol–gel technique. The characterization of prepared materials was carried out by X-ray diffraction, Diffused Reflectance Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Thermogravimetric Analysis to analyze composition, phase, morphology, and optical properties. These results revealed that C1N1T exhibited higher surface area, better pore volume and enhanced optical properties as compared to undoped and Ni-doped TiO2. Furthermore, the photoactivity of C1N1T nanoparticles was manifested toward Acetaminophen, Phenol and reactive dyes i.e., Remazol Black B and Yellow 2 G. Moreover, C1N1T nanoparticles showed remarkable degradation efficiency of 53%, 56%, 98% and 89% for Acetaminophen, Phenol and anionic dyes, i.e. Remazol Black B and Yellow 2 G under optimized conditions (pollutant concentration = 20 ppm; time = 120 min; C1N1T loading = 20 mg; irradiation source = solar light; pH = 4 for each dye, pH = 7 for phenol and pH = 9 for acetaminophen). The significant degradation values suggested that the C1N1T photocatalyst can be effectively employed to degrade the textile dyes and PPCPs from industrial wastewater.