Soil remediation that revitalizes degraded or contaminated land while simultaneously contributing to biomass biofuel production and carbon sequestration is an attractive strategy to meet the food and ...energy requirements of the burgeoning world population. As a result, plant-based remediation approaches have been gaining in popularity. The drawbacks of phytoremediation, particularly those associated with low productivity and limitations to the use of contaminant-containing biomass, could be addressed through novel biotechnological approaches that harness recent advances in our understanding of chemical interactions between plants and microorganisms in the rhizosphere and within plant tissues. This opinion article highlights three promising approaches that provide environmental and economic benefits of bioremediation: transgenics, low-input ‘designer’ plants and nanotechnology.
The huge usage of rechargeable batteries in electronics has added to a recurrent problem worldwide in generating tonnage of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The inadequacy of the resources of the ...depleting critical metals has also been described in vogue. The environmental assessment of the life cycle of the LIBs has been elucidated vis-a-vis the effects of raw material supply, transportation, and recycling. Based on the available work for recycling technologies, this review also attempts to elicit the various methods practiced in discharging/dismantling, classification, and separation of components followed by metal recovery. The authors have reviewed the major developments in the area of recycling of cathode material by using various acids for extraction of metals from spent LIBs, compared the merits and demerits of acids used and presented a comprehensive outlook to the processes formulated vis-à-vis imperative need for using green techniques. The necessity for benign recycling methods is stressed upon to alleviate the need for high temperature and oxidative acid leaching conditions. The various green lixiviants (organic acids) attempted to extract metals from spent LIBs have been discussed in detail with respect to the mechanism, efficacies as well as the various factors (selectivity, cost, etc.) that govern the use of organic acids in battery recycling. It was ascertained that the GHG emissions to extract Co using organic acids stand 1/8 of that using an inorganic acid leaching process. Efforts need to be envisaged in separating the leached metals from these lixiviants ensuring economics and environmental benefits.
Battery Materials are less prone to affect the food chain, and efficient utilisation might resurrect the metal depletion imbalance. Display omitted
•Global distribution of Li, Ni, Co, Mn and graphite depicted.•Major ongoing processes vis-à-vis strategies described.•Discussed about various organic acids used and mechanism of leaching.•An overview on green processing perspective of LIBs recycling is presented.
Agricultural development continues to remain the most important objective of Indian planning and policy. In the process of development of agriculture, pesticides have become an important tool as a ...plant protection agent for boosting food production. Further, pesticides play a significant role by keeping many dreadful diseases. However, exposure to pesticides both occupationally and environmentally causes a range of human health problems. It has been observed that the pesticides exposures are increasingly linked to immune suppression, hormone disruption, diminished intelligence, reproductive abnormalities and cancer. Currently, India is the largest producer of pesticides in Asia and ranks twelfth in the world for the use of pesticides. A vast majority of the population in India is engaged in agriculture and is therefore exposed to the pesticides used in agriculture. Although Indian average consumption of pesticide is far lower than many other developed economies, the problem of pesticide residue is very high in India. Pesticide residue in several crops has also affected the export of agricultural commodities in the last few years. In this context, pesticide safety, regulation of pesticide use, proper application technologies, and integrated pest management are some of the key strategies for minimizing human exposure to pesticides. There is a dearth of studies related to these issues in India. Therefore, the thrust of this paper was to review the technology of application of pesticides in India and recommend future strategies for the rational use of pesticides and minimizing the problems related to health and environment.
Agrochemicals used to meet the needs of a rapidly growing human population can deteriorate the quality of ecosystems and are not affordable to farmers in low-resource environments. Here, we propose ...the use of plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) as a tool for sustainable food production without compromising ecosystems services.
Global rice cultivation is estimated to account for 2.5% of current anthropogenic warming because of emissions of methane (CH₄), a short-lived greenhouse gas. This estimate assumes a widespread ...prevalence of continuous flooding of most rice fields and hence does not include emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a long-lived greenhouse gas. Based on the belief that minimizing CH₄ from rice cultivation is always climate beneficial, current mitigation policies promote increased use of intermittent flooding. However, results from five intermittently flooded rice farms across three agroecological regions in India indicate that N₂O emissions per hectare can be three times higher (33 kg-N₂O·ha−1·season−1) than the maximum previously reported. Correlations between N₂O emissions and management parameters suggest that N₂O emissions from rice across the Indian subcontinent might be 30–45 times higher under intensified use of intermittent flooding than under continuous flooding. Our data further indicate that comanagement of water with inorganic nitrogen and/or organic matter inputs can decrease climate impacts caused by greenhouse gas emissions up to 90% and nitrogen management might not be central to N₂O reduction. An understanding of climate benefits/drawbacks over time of different flooding regimes because of differences in N₂O and CH₄ emissions can help select the most climate-friendly water management regimes for a given area. Region-specific studies of rice farming practices that map flooding regimes and measure effects of multiple comanaged variables on N₂O and CH₄ emissions are necessary to determine and minimize the climate impacts of rice cultivation over both the short term and long term.
Cells can sense and respond to mechanical signals over relatively long distances across fibrous extracellular matrices. Recently proposed models suggest that long-range force transmission can be ...attributed to the nonlinear elasticity or fibrous nature of collagen matrices, yet the mechanism whereby fibers align remains unknown. Moreover, cell shape and anisotropy of cellular contraction are not considered in existing models, although recent experiments have shown that they play crucial roles. Here, we explore all of the key factors that influence long-range force transmission in cell-populated collagen matrices: alignment of collagen fibers, responses to applied force, strain stiffening properties of the aligned fibers, aspect ratios of the cells, and the polarization of cellular contraction. A constitutive law accounting for mechanically driven collagen fiber reorientation is proposed. We systematically investigate the range of collagen-fiber alignment using both finite-element simulations and analytical calculations. Our results show that tension-driven collagen-fiber alignment plays a crucial role in force transmission. Small critical stretch for fiber alignment, large fiber stiffness and fiber strain-hardening behavior enable long-range interaction. Furthermore, the range of collagen-fiber alignment for elliptical cells with polarized contraction is much larger than that for spherical cells with diagonal contraction. A phase diagram showing the range of force transmission as a function of cell shape and polarization and matrix properties is presented. Our results are in good agreement with recent experiments, and highlight the factors that influence long-range force transmission, in particular tension-driven alignment of fibers. Our work has important relevance to biological processes including development, cancer metastasis, and wound healing, suggesting conditions whereby cells communicate over long distances.
This review article discusses the use of nanotechnology in combination with botanical insecticides in order to develop systems for pest control in agriculture. The main types of botanical ...insecticides are described, together with different carrier systems and their potential uses. The botanical insecticides include those based on active principles isolated from plant extracts, as well as essential oils derived from certain plants. The advantages offered by the systems are highlighted, together with the main technological challenges that must be resolved prior to future implementation of the systems for agricultural pest control. The use of botanical insecticides associated with nanotechnology offers considerable potential for increasing agricultural productivity, while at the same time reducing impacts on the environment and human health.
•Overview of the available botanical insecticides associated with nanotechnology•Description of main class of botanical insecticides and their applications•Novelty aspects in use of these systems in agrochemical applications
Amorphous metal oxides (AMOs) have aroused great enthusiasm across multiple energy areas over recent years due to their unique properties, such as the intrinsic isotropy, versatility in compositions, ...absence of grain boundaries, defect distribution, flexible nature, etc. Here, the materials engineering of AMOs is systematically reviewed in different electrochemical applications and recent advances in understanding and developing AMO‐based high‐performance electrodes are highlighted. Attention is focused on the important roles that AMOs play in various energy storage and conversion technologies, such as active materials in metal‐ion batteries and supercapacitors as well as active catalysts in water splitting, metal–air batteries, and fuel cells. The improvements of electrochemical performance in metal‐ion batteries and supercapacitors are reviewed regarding the enhancement in active sites, mechanical strength, and defect distribution of amorphous structures. Furthermore, the high electrochemical activities boosted by AMOs in various fundamental reactions are elaborated on and they are related to the electrocatalytic behaviors in water splitting, metal–air batteries, and fuel cells. The applications in electrochromism and high‐conducting sensors are also briefly discussed. Finally, perspectives on the existing challenges of AMOs for electrochemical applications are proposed, together with several promising future research directions.
Amorphous metal oxides (AMOs) with unique physicochemical properties play a crucial role in electrode materials across multiple energy technologies. This work offers a comprehensive overview of the synthesis, properties, and electrochemical performance of the AMOs, highlighting the recent advances in understanding the materials engineering of AMOs in diverse energy storage and conversion systems.
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