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Arulraj, A., Murugesan, P. K., Rajkumar, C., Zamorano, A. T., & Mangalaraja, R. V. (2023). Nanoarchitectonics of Layered Metal Chalcogenides-Based Ternary Electrocatalyst for Water Splitting. Energies, 16(4), 1669.
Abstract: The research on renewable energy is actively looking into electrocatalysts based on transition metal chalcogenides because nanostructured electrocatalysts support the higher intrinsic activity for both the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). A major technique for facilitating the conversion of renewable and sustainable energy is electrochemical water splitting. The aim of the review is to discuss the revelations made when trying to alter the internal and external nanoarchitectures of chalcogenides-based electrocatalysts to enhance their performance. To begin, a general explanation of the water-splitting reaction is given to clarify the key factors in determining the catalytic performance of nanostructured chalcogenides-based electrocatalysts. To delve into the many ways being employed to improve the HER's electrocatalytic performance, the general fabrication processes utilized to generate the chalcogenides-based materials are described. Similarly, to enhance the OER performance of chalcogenides-based electrocatalysts, the applied complementary techniques and the strategies involved in designing the bifunctional water-splitting electrocatalysts (HER and OER) are explained. As a conclusive remark, the challenges and future perspectives of chalcogenide-based electrocatalysts in the context of water splitting are summarized.
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Baraneedharan, P., Shankari, D., Arulraj, A., Sephra, P. J., Mangalaraja, R. V., & Khalid, M. (2023). Nanoengineering of MXene-Based Field-Effect Transistor Gas Sensors: Advancements in Next-Generation Electronic Devices. J. Electrochem. Soc., 180(10), 107501.
Abstract: In recent years, Two-Dimensional (2D) materials have gained significant attention for their distinctive physical and chemical properties, positioning them as promising contenders for the next generation of electronic technologies. One notable group within these materials is MXenes, which have exhibited remarkable breakthroughs across various technological domains, including catalysis, renewable energy, electronics, sensors, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. By making subtle modifications to the surface termination, introducing metal ions, precise etching timing, and applying surface functionalization, the characteristics of MXenes can be fine-tuned to achieve desired band structures, rendering them suitable for sensor design. This review focuses on the strategic development of gas sensors based on Field-Effect Transistors (FETs), thoroughly examining the latest progress in MXene-based material design and addressing associated challenges and future prospects. The review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of MXene, summarizing its current applications and advancements in FET-based gas sensing.
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Chelliah, C. K., Murugan, M., Rajivgandhi, G., Gnanasekaran, C., Govindan, R., Maruthupandy, M., et al. (2023). Phytochemical derivatives and secondary metabolites rich Rhizophora mucronata as an active anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial agent against multi drug resistant bacteria. J. King Saud Univ. Sci., 8, 102912.
Abstract: In the present study, the phytochemicals and anti-oxidant ability rich marine mangrove plant Rhizophora mucronata (R. mucronata) was evaluated. The UV-bio spectrometer result of O.D value of phenolic content was shown 0.986 as well as flavonoid content were shown 0.994 at 100 itg/mL concentration. The high yields of phenol and flavonoid contents were observed compared with standard gallic acid and rutin. Concisely, the more phenols and flavonoids and some bioactive derivatives were clearly exhibited by LC-MS scanning report. In addition, the anti-oxidant activity result shown with 85 % and DPPH scaveng-ing assay result shown 66% in crude extract of R. mucronata were observed and it was very higher than the rate of standard gallic acid and ascorbic acid. Further, the liquid-liquid extraction of available bioac-tive compounds were purified and shown excellent anti-bacterial activity against multi drug resistant bacteria. The anti-microbial activity result indicated that the 250 itg/mL of R. mucronata extract was shown 24 and 26 mm zone of inhibition against K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii. Then, the concentration dependent inhibition of R. mucronata extract was shown against both the tested pathogens and 250 itg/m concentrations was fixed as a minimum inhibition concentration range. Finally, the induction of outer cellular layer morphology effect and damaged size and shapes of the R. mucronata extract was shown against K. pneumoniae and A. baumannii. Altogether, the present study results were deliberately recom-mended that the R. mucronata extract as potential anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial agent. Hence, the natural marine mangrove plant R. mucronata is the safe, eco-friendly, low cost source for discovery of potential drug against various infections.(c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
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Eswaramoorthy, N., Arulraj, A., Mangalaraja, R. V., Pitchaiya, S., & Rajaram, K. (2022). Nanoscale interfacial engineering of 1D g-C-3 N-4 enables effective and thermally stable HTL-free carbon-based perovskite solar cells with aging for 100 hours. Int. J. Energy Res., 46(14), 20194–20205.
Abstract: Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have exhibited unprecedented progress in the past decades, however, the deficit of open-circuit voltage and non-radiative recombination losses are the dominating limiting factors in scaling up the devices in view of commercialization. The researchers and scientists recognize the dominating factors and propose different themes to overcome the limiting factors. Among the different solutions, interfacial engineering of PSCs between the interfaces of transporting layer (electron or hole) and perovskite influences the reduction of non-radiative recombination losses with improvement in device efficiency. In this work, one-dimensional (1D) graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is synthesized through simple pyrolysis using two different mediums (ethanol and ethylene glycol). 1D g-C3N4 is interfaced between electron transport layer and perovskite absorber influences effectively in fine-tuning the work function by aligning the energy level of the fabricated mixed halide PSCs. Nanoscale engineered 1D g-C3N4 interfacial layer supports boosting the power conversion efficiency of the PSCs to 5.20% and 7.14% for tube and layered tube structures at ambient conditions. Further, the interfacial layer aids in improving thermal (tube: similar to 59.80%; layered tube: similar to 74.50%) and photostability (tube: similar to 78.65%; layered tube: similar to 87.25%) characteristics of the fabricated devices for 100 h duration at ambient conditions.
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Kumar, M. P., Sasikumar, M., Arulraj, A., Rajasudha, V., Murugadoss, G., Kumar, M. R., et al. (2022). NiFe Layered Double Hydroxide Electrocatalyst Prepared via an Electrochemical Deposition Method for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction. Catalysts, 12(11), 1470.
Abstract: Herein, we aimed to obtain NiFe layered double hydroxide (LDH) with a controlled phase and surface morphology as a highly active and stable oxygen evolution catalyst via the electrochemical deposition method, which was thermodynamically stable for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline medium. The NiFe-LDH sample was analyzed by sophisticated instruments and tested as an electrocatalyst on Toray carbon (TC). The NiFe-LDH electrocatalyst showed an excellent performance with lower overpotential of 0.27 V at 35 mA cm(-2) and higher density of 125 mA cm(-2) for OER in the 1 M KOH electrolyte solution. Moreover, the prepared catalyst exhibited unpredictable long-time stability for 700 h. From our knowledge, NiFe-LDH is a robust highly stable electrocatalyst compared to the recent reports.
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Kumaresan, N., Alsalhi, M. S., Karuppasamy, P., Kumar, M. P., Pandian, M. S., Arulraj, A., et al. (2023). Nitrogen implanted carbon nanosheets derived from Acorus calamus as an efficient electrode for the supercapacitor application. Mol. Catal., 538, 112978.
Abstract: Modern society's biggest challenges are affordable, clean energy production and storage. Thus, recent research aims at the discovery of novel electrode materials for enhanced energy production and storage. Herein, nitrogen-implanted carbon particles were synthesized for the first time from the Acorus Calamus for the symmetric supercapacitor application. The KOH-activated carbon particles at 750 degrees C (C-750) under a nitrogen atmosphere revealed the better structural, textural, morphological, and electrochemical performance. The BET analysis confirmed that the C-750 carbon nanoparticles tremendously enhanced the surface area of about 3551.07 m(2)/g. Further, the pore size and pore volume were obtained from BJH analysis that showed 3.70 nm and 0.51 cc/g, respectively. The high surface area along with the mesoporous nature of the C-750 sample effectively enhanced the specific capacitance to 354.44 Fg(-1) at 1 Ag-1 using a 6 M KOH electrolytic solution. Further, the enhancement of energy and power density of the C-750 was observed at about 47.2 Whkg(-1) and 16,000 Wkg(-1), respectively.
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Nandhakumar, E., Selvakumar, P., Arulraj, A., Vivek, E., Venkatraman, M. R., Sasikumar, A., et al. (2023). Investigation on rod like SnO2@CdCO3 nanocomposite-based electron transport layer for CsPbBr3 heterojunction perovskite solar cell applications br. Mater. Lett., 330, 133396.
Abstract: A novel carbonate-based nanocomposite synthesized by hydrothermal technique for planar perovskite solar cells (PPSCs) applications. According to this study, SnO2@CdCO3and SnO2/SnO2@CdCO3 performs as dual electron transporting layers for CsPbBr3 based perovskite solar cell. The fabricated PSCs with architecture of FTO/SnO2/ SnO2@CdCO3/CsPbBr3/C showed a Voc of 0.84 V, Jsc of 12.30 mA cmi 2, PCE of 6.67 % and FF of 0.64 are obtained at ambient condition.
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Pandiyarajan, T., Mangalaraja, R. V., Karthikeyan, B., Arulraj, A., & Gracia-Pinilla, M. A. (2023). Fabrication and spectroscopic investigation of sandwich-like ZnO:rGO:ZnO: rGO:ZnO structure by layer-by-layer approach. Inorg. Chem. Commun., 149, 110383.
Abstract: Transparent conducting materials (TCMs) are the heart of modern optoelectronic industries and the properties of TCMs could be improved by the introduction of 2D carbon materials. In this report, the influence of order layering on microstructural, transparency and emission characteristics of ZnO:rGO:ZnO:rGO:ZnO and rGO:ZnO: rGO:ZnO:rGO sandwich structures has been investigated. The layer-by-layer approach has been adopted for the fabrication of sandwich structured materials ZnO:rGO:ZnO:rGO:ZnO and rGO:ZnO:rGO:ZnO:rGO through the spin coating technique. The sandwich structures of ZnO and rGO exhibited hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO without any impurities were identified through XRD. The ordering of layer's influenced the microstructural parameters and were significantly altered. The spherical nature of the particles and the formation of the sand-wich structures were confirmed by using SEM micrograph. The reduction in an optical transparency and nar-rowing bandgap of the ZnO upon the order of layering were identified through transmission spectra. The lower energy shift of near band edge (NBE) emission and reduction in the emission intensity with respect to pure ZnO nanostructures was observed. The present work provides a simple layer-by-layer approach to fabricating sand-wich structures and improving the optical properties which have potential applications in various optoelectronic devices.
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Rendon, R. C., Salvo, C., Sepulveda, E., Arulraj, A., Sanhueza, F., Rodriguez, J. J., et al. (2022). Evaluation of Structural and Functional Properties of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 Perovskite Prepared by the Fast Solution Combustion Approach. Catalysts, 12(12), 1636.
Abstract: A series of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (LSM) perovskite was made using the rapid solution combustion method, which was calcined by varying the temperatures. In order to determine how the calcination temperature affected the nanopowders produced and calcined at various temperatures, their microstructural, morphological, compositional, optical, and electrical properties were analyzed using corresponding characterization tools. The XRD results showed the coexistence of the rhombohedral polymorphs R-3c and Pm-3m for the perovskite phase under a calcination temperature of 1400 degrees C, which were eliminated with increased calcination temperature. The average grain size was found to increase with increasing calcination temperature. The EDS analysis showed better agreement of the stoichiometry with the theoretical composition. The apparent porosity decreased with increasing temperature due to the coalescence of sintering pores. The sample obtained after calcination at 1500 degrees C showed 10.3% porosity. The hardness also improved with increasing calcination temperature and reached a maximum value of 0.4 GPa, which matched the bulk density. A similar trend was observed in the resistivity studies as a function of temperature, and all the samples exhibited a low resistivity of similar to 1.4 Omega.cm in the temperature range of 500-600 degrees C. The optical characterization showed broad absorption at 560-660 nm and bandwidth values between 3.70 and 3.95 eV, according to the applied heat treatment.
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Sahlevani, S. F., Pandiyarajan, T., Arulraj, A., Valdes, H., Sanhueza, F., Contreras, D., et al. (2024). Tailored engineering of rod-shaped core@shell ZnO@CeO2 nanostructures as an optical stimuli-responsive in sunscreen cream. Mater. Today Commun., 38, 107959.
Abstract: The catalytic efficiency of the materials can be boosted with the selective designing (nanostructures) including the core@shell which aids in attaining the separation of photoinduced charge carriers. However, to effectively separate the carriers and reduce the rate of recombination, tuning the thickness of the shell wall is a vital one. The one-dimensional (1D) rod-like shell wall-controlled ZnO@CeO2 core@shell structures were successfully prepared via co-precipitation and hydrothermal methods using the hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) as a reagent. The CeO2 shell wall thickness was fine-tuned between 15 and 70 nm with a variation in the concentration of HMTA reagent. The results revealed that the concentration of HMTA played a significant role in the formation of ZnO@CeO2 core@shell structures and in tuning their thickness. The FE-SEM images evidenced the core-shell structures formation with the specific thickness and uniformity. The HR-TEM images confirmed the homogeneity and regular form of the shell thickness. The unit cell and crystallite size were identified from the XRD analysis. The constructed core-shell structures were further employed in the formula of the prototypes of sunscreen and their photoprotective performance was analyzed in the view to cut the solar light irradiation in a new sunscreen formulation. The developed core-shell ZnO@CeO2 structures showed the excellent optical absorption in both the UV as well as visible regions.
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Selvamani, M., Kesavan, A., Arulraj, A., Ramamurthy, P. C., Rahaman, M., Pandiaraj, S., et al. (2024). Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Flower-like MnMoO4 Nanostructures and Their Photocatalytic Performance. Materials, 17(7), 1451.
Abstract: This article describes an affordable method for the synthesis of MnMoO4 nanoflowers through the microwave synthesis approach. By manipulating the reaction parameters like solvent, pH, microwave power, and irradiation duration along this pathway, various nanostructures can be acquired. The synthesized nanoflowers were analyzed by using a powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS) to determine their crystalline nature, morphological and functional group, and optical properties, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was performed for the examination of elemental composition and chemical states by qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of the investigations demonstrated that the MnMoO4 nanostructures with good crystallinity and distinct shape were formed successfully. The synthesized MnMoO4 nanoflowers were tested for their efficiency as a photocatalyst in the degradation studies of methylene blue (MB) as model organic contaminants in an aqueous medium under visible light, which showed their photocatalytic activity with a degradation of 85%. Through the band position calculations using the electronegative value of MnMoO4, the photocatalytic mechanism of the nanostructures was proposed. The results indicated that the effective charge separation, and transfer mechanisms, in addition to the flower-like shape, were responsible for the photocatalytic performance. The stability of the recovered photocatalyst was examined through its recyclability in the degradation of MB. Leveraging MnMoO4's photocatalytic properties, future studies may focus on scaling up these processes for practical and large-scale environmental remediation.
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