Recent Advances on Nano-Catalysts for Biological Processes II

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanostructured Catalysts".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 5783

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biotechnology, K. L. University, Guntur 522302, Andhra Pradesh,India
Interests: bioprocess engineering; waste biomass valorization; biopolymers; biological wastewater treatment
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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, Republic of Korea
Interests: bioplastics; biodegradable polymers; molecularly imprinted polymers; polyhydroxyalkanoates; green synthesis of nanoparticles; bioprocess engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of the previous successful Special Issue “Recent Advances on Nano-Catalysts for Biological Processes”.

The importance of nanomaterials has increased significantly in recent years due to their wide range of applications in various sectors ranging from sensor technology to biomedicine and energy conversion, etc. Nanoparticles with a size of 100 nm or less have attracted great research attention due to their high surface to volume ratio and unusual and fascinating properties. Various methods such as physical, chemical, biological, and hybrid methods are available for the synthesis of these nanoparticles. However, the use of reliable, non-toxic, and eco-friendly technologies for the synthesis of nanoparticles is of utmost importance to expand their biological applications. Several biological applications of nanoparticles can be listed, e.g., carbohydrate hydrolysis, production of biofuel, immobilization of enzymes, biotransformation, gene and drug delivery, and the detection of pathogens and proteins. Recently, various nanocarriers have also been used for the immobilization of different enzymes to produce nanobiocatalysts (NBCs) which further enhance enzyme performance.

In view of this, this Special Issue aims to cover the most recent progress and advances in the application of nanocatalysts for biological processes. This Special Issue includes but is not limited to the green synthesis of nanoparticles, application of nanoparticles in wastewater treatment, dark fermentation, biofuel production, nanobiocatalysts in bioprocessing applications, usage of nanoparticles in pretreatment processes, and the production of other value-added products.

Dr. Pritam Kumar Dikshit
Prof. Dr. Beom Soo Kim
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • nanoparticles
  • green synthesis of nanoparticles
  • fermentation
  • wastewater treatment
  • biofuel production
  • enzyme immobilization
  • value-added products
  • pretreatment
  • dark fermentation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5830 KiB  
Article
Bio-Fabrication of Cu/Ag/Zn Nanoparticles and Their Antioxidant and Dye Degradation Activities
by Srijal Kunwar, Arpita Roy, Utsav Bhusal, Amel Gacem, Mahmood M. S. Abdullah, Promila Sharma, Krishna Kumar Yadav, Sarvesh Rustagi, Nidhi Chatterjee, Vishal Kumar Deshwal, Hyun-Kyung Park and Byong-Hun Jeon
Catalysts 2023, 13(5), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13050891 - 15 May 2023
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 2982
Abstract
The biological synthesis of nanoparticles with copper, silver, and zinc (Cu, Ag, Zn) is reported in this study, adopting a greener, safe, reliable, and eco-friendly approach by using an aqueous leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus. The synthesised trimetallic nanoparticles were characterised using [...] Read more.
The biological synthesis of nanoparticles with copper, silver, and zinc (Cu, Ag, Zn) is reported in this study, adopting a greener, safe, reliable, and eco-friendly approach by using an aqueous leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus. The synthesised trimetallic nanoparticles were characterised using different characterisation techniques. The UV–visible spectroscopic technique was initially used to assess nanoparticle formation, in which absorption bands were observed at 220, 270, and 370 nm for Cu, Zn, and Ag nanocomposites, respectively. XRD revealed that the average crystalline size of the nanocomposites was 34.67 nm. The roles of reducing and capping/stabilising agents in the synthesis of Cu/Ag/Zn nanoparticles were confirmed by FTIR analysis, and the successful biosynthesis of the same was also confirmed by X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. Potential applications of these synthesised trimetallic nanoparticles were evaluated by assessing their antioxidant and catalytic dye degradation activities. The antioxidant activity of the synthesised nanomaterial was studied using the DPPH assay. The catalytic breakdown of the harmful dyes phenol red and eosin yellow was examined using NaBH4 as a reducing agent. The results showed that the nanomaterial’s radical scavenging capacity at 1000 ug/mL was 75.76% and the degradation of these dyes was up to 78% in the presence of NaBH4. Furthermore, the biogenic trimetallic nanomaterial exhibited effective catalytic degradation activity against methyl red and phenol red dyes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances on Nano-Catalysts for Biological Processes II)
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21 pages, 10582 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Performance of Lithium-Doped Bismuth Ferrite [BiFe1−xLixO3]-Graphene Nanocomposites as Cathode Catalyst for the Improved Power Output in Microbial Fuel Cells
by Tenzin Pema, Ankit Kumar, Babita Tripathi, Soumya Pandit, Sunil Chauhan, Satyendra Singh, Pritam Kumar Dikshit, Abhilasha Singh Mathuriya, Piyush Kumar Gupta, Dibyajit Lahiri, Ram Chandra Singh, Jigisha Anand and Kundan Kumar Chaubey
Catalysts 2023, 13(3), 618; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13030618 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2126
Abstract
In this study, multifunctional lithium-doped bismuth ferrite [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene nanocomposites (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06) were synthesized by a sol-gel and ultrasonication assisted chemical reduction method. X-ray diffraction and FESEM electron microscopy techniques disclosed the nanocomposite phase [...] Read more.
In this study, multifunctional lithium-doped bismuth ferrite [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene nanocomposites (x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06) were synthesized by a sol-gel and ultrasonication assisted chemical reduction method. X-ray diffraction and FESEM electron microscopy techniques disclosed the nanocomposite phase and nanocrystalline nature of [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene nanocomposites. The FESEM images and the EDX elemental mapping revealed the characteristic integration of BiFe1−xLixO3 nanoparticles (with an average size of 95 nm) onto the 2D graphene layers. The Raman spectra of the [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene nanocomposites evidenced the BiFe1−xLixO3 and graphene nanostructures in the synthesized nanocomposites. The photocatalytic performances of the synthesized nanocomposites were assessed for ciprofloxacin (CIP) photooxidation under UV-visible light illumination. The photocatalytic efficiencies of [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene nanocomposites were measured to be 42%, 47%, 43%, and 10%, for x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, respectively, within 120 min illumination, whereas the pure BiFeO3 nanoparticles were 21.0%. BiFe1−xLixO3 nanoparticles blended with graphene were explored as cathode material and tested in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). The linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) analysis showed that the high surface area of BiFeO3 was attributed to efficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. The increasing loading rates of (0.5–2.5 mg/cm2) [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene composite on the cathode surface showed increasing power output, with 2.5 and 2 mg/cm2 achieving the maximum volumetric power density of 8.2 W/m3 and 8.1 W/m3, respectively. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis showed that among the different loading rates used in this study, BiFeO3, with a loading rate of 2.5 mg/cm2, showed the lowest charge transfer resistance (Rct). The study results showed the potential of [BiFe1−xLixO3]-graphene composite as a cost-effective alternative for field-scale MFC applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances on Nano-Catalysts for Biological Processes II)
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