In an effort to produce non-toxic and economically viable “green” protocols for waste water treatment, researchers are actively involved to develop versatile and effective silver nanoparticles (SNPs) as nano-catalyst from bio-based techniques. Since, p-nitrophenol (PNP) is one of the anthropogenic contaminants, considerable attention has been focused in catalytic degradability of PNP in wastewater treatment by curtailing serious effect on aquatic fauna. Ingestion of contaminants by aquatic organisms will not only affect the aquatic species but is also a potential threat to human health, especially if the toxic contaminants are involved in food chain. In this short report, we provided a comprehensive insight on few remarkable nanocatalysts especially based on SNPs and its biopolymer composites synthesized via ecofriendly “green” route. The beneficiality and catalytic performance of these silver nanocatalysts are concisely documented on standard model degradation reduction of PNP to p-aminophenol (PAP) in the presence of aqueous sodium borohydride. The catalytic degradation of PNP to PAP using SNPs follows pseudo first order kinetics involving six-electrons with lower activation energy. Furthermore, we provided a list of highly effective, recoverable, and economically viable SNPs, which demonstrated its potential as nanocatalysts by focusing its technical impact in the area of water remediation.

Metallic nanostructures (MNs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) play a pivotal role by articulating their significance in high-performance supercapacitors along with conducting polymers (CPs). The interaction and synergistic pseudocapacitive effect of MNs with CPs have contributed to enhance the specific capacitance and cyclic stability. Among various conjugated heterocyclic CPs, polypyrrole (PPy) (prevalently knows as “synthetic metal”) is exclusively studied because of its excellent physicochemical properties, ease of preparation, flexibility in surface modifications, and unique molecular structure–property relationships. Numerous researchers attempted to improve the low electronic conductivity of MNs and MOFs, by incorporating conducting PPy and/or used decoration strategy. This was succeeded by fine-tuning this objective, which managed to get outstanding supercapacitive performances. This brief technical note epitomizes various PPy-based metallic hybrid materials with different nano-architectures, emphasizing its technical implications in fabricating high-performance electrode material for supercapacitor applications.

Amongst various intermetallic shape memory alloys (SMAs), nickel–titanium-based SMAs (NiTi) are known for their unique elastocaloric property. This widely used shape remembering material demonstrates excellent mechanical and electrical properties with superior corrosion resistance and super-long fatigue life. The straight-drawn wire form of NiTi has a maximum restorable strain limit of ~4%. However, a maximum linear strain of ~20% can be attained in its coil spring structure. Various material/mechanical engineers have widely exploited this superior mechanic characteristic and stress-triggered heating/cooling efficiency of NiTi to design smart engineering structures, especially in actuator technologies. This short technical note reflects the characteristics of the NiTi coil spring structure with its phase transformations and thermal transformation properties. The micro-actuators based on NiTi have been found to be possible, suggesting uses from biomedical to advanced high-tech applications. In recent years, the technical advancements in modular robotic systems involving NiTi-based SMAs have gained speculative commercial interest.

Understanding the properties of small molecules or monomers is decidedly important. The efforts of synthetic chemists and material engineers must be appreciated because of their knowledge of how utilize the properties of synthetic fragments in constructing long-chain macromolecules. Scientists active in this area of macromolecular science have shared their knowledge of catalysts, monomers and a variety of designed nanoparticles in synthetic techniques that create all sorts of nanocomposite polymer stuffs. Such materials are now an integral part of the contemporary world. Polymer nanocomposites with high dielectric constant (high-k) properties are widely applicable in the technological sectors including gate dielectrics, actuators, infrared detectors, tunable capacitors, electro optic devices, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and sensors. In this short colloquy, we provided an overview of a few remarkable high-k polymer nanocomposites of material science interest from recent decades.

To develop an electrochemical sensor for electroactive molecules, the choice and prediction of redox reactive sites of the modifier play a critical role in establishing the sensing mediating mechanism. Therefore, to understand the mediating mechanism of the modifier, we used advanced density functional theory (DFT)-based quantum chemical modeling. A carbon paste electrode (CPE) was modified with electropolymerization of brilliant blue, later employed for the detection of paracetamol (PA) and folic acid (FA). PA is an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic prescription commonly used in medical fields, and overdose or prolonged use may harm the liver and kidney. The deficiency of FA associated with neural tube defects (NTDs) and therefore the quantification of FA are very essential to prevent the problems associated with congenital deformities of the spinal column, skull and brain of the fetus in pregnant women. Hence, an electrochemical sensor based on a polymerized brilliant blue-modified carbon paste working electrode (BRB/CPE) was fabricated for the quantification of PA and FA in physiological pH. The real analytical applicability of the proposed sensor was judged by employing it in analysis of a pharmaceutical sample, and good recovery results were obtained. The potential excipients do not have a significant contribution to the electro-oxidation of PA at BRB/CPE, which makes it a promising electrochemical sensing platform. The real analytical applicability of the proposed method is valid for pharmaceutical analysis in the presence of possible excipients. The prediction of redox reactive sites of the modifier by advanced quantum chemical modeling-based DFT may lay a new foundation for researchers to establish the modifier–analyte interaction mechanisms.