Aerogels, due to their unique features like lightweight, ultra-low thermal conductivity, and design variations, have gotten a lot of interest in thermal insulation, photocatalysis, and protective areas. Besides their superior thermal properties, aerogel thermal insulation and photocatalyst materials also possess many inherent flaws, such as handling issues, high manufacturing costs, and low strength as well as toughness. The most persuasive and successful ways to improve photocatalytic and thermal insulating qualities while lowering costs are composition optimization and microstructure reconstruction. Their high surface area and porosity make them ideal for enhancing the efficiency and capacity of these devices. Research may lead to more efficient and longer-lasting energy storage solutions. This review describes the characteristics, microstructural reconstruction, design variation, and properties of all aerogel fabrication techniques and provides a comprehensive overview of scientific achievements linked to them. The effectiveness of raw material compositions, properties, and mechanical parameters are also discussed. The major goal of this review is to highlight the aerogel-based materials and design variations and to explore the most potential development trends for photocatalysis and thermal applications. The industrial as well as technical applications of silica aerogels are also highlighted. This review highlights futuristic applications of aerogel-based textile materials to alleviate the CO₂ burden on our atmosphere, either by providing next-level thermal insulation or by employing them in CO₂ mitigating technologies such as CO₂ capture.

In this research paper, aromatic sulfonamide-derived ethyl ester (p-TSAE) and its acyl hydrazide (p-TSAH) were directly synthesized, characterized, and employed for the first time as prospective anticorrosive agents to protect mild steel in 1.0 M HCl conditions. The corrosion efficiency was probed by electrochemical methods including polarization, impedance, and frequency modulation measurements. Optimal efficiencies of 94% and 92% were detected for the hydrazide and ester, respectively, revealing excellent corrosion inhibition. Moreover, both the hydrazide and ester molecules combat the cathodic and anodic reactions correspondingly in a mixed-type manner. The electron transfer (ET) at the inhibitor/metal interface was evaluated using DFT at the B3LYP/6-31g(d,p) level. Natural bond orbital analysis (NBO) and frontier molecular orbital analysis (FMO) calculations showed superior capabilities of the synthesized inhibitors to easily reallocate charge into the metal surface. However, the hydrazide molecules showed slightly better inhibition efficiency than the ester due to the strong interaction between the lone pairs of the nitrogen atoms and the d-orbitals of the metal. The chemical hardness of the hydrazide and ester are 2.507 and 2.511 eV, respectively, in good accordance with the recorded electrochemical inhibition efficiencies for both molecules. Good and straightforward correlations between the experiments and calculations are obtained.

Two azo derivatives, 4-((4-hydroxy-3-((4-oxo-2-thioxothiazolidin-5-ylidene)methyl)phenyl) diazinyl) benzenesulfonic acid (TODB) and 4-((3-((4,4-dimethyl-2,6-dioxocyclohexylidene) methyl)-4-hydroxyphenyl)diazinyl) benzenesulfonic acid (DODB) were synthesized and characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) and mass spectral studies. Gravimetric methods, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), electrochemical frequency modulation (EFM) techniques and inductive coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy were used to verify the above two compounds' ability to operate as mild steel (MS) corrosion inhibitors in 1 M HCl. Tafel data suggest that TODB and DODB have mixed-type characteristics, and EIS findings demonstrate that increasing their concentration not only alters the charge transfer (R_ct) of mild steel from 6.88 Ω cm² to 112.9 Ω cm² but also changes the capacitance of the adsorbed double layer (C_dl) from 225.36 to 348.36 μF cm⁻². At 7.5 × 10⁻⁴ M concentration, the azo derivatives showed the highest corrosion inhibition of 94.9% and 93.6%. The inhibitory molecule adsorption on the metal substrate followed the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic activation functions of the dissolution process were also calculated as a function of inhibitor concentration. UV-vis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques were used to confirm the adsorption phenomenon. The quantum chemical parameters, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICPE) measurements, and the anti-bacterial effect of these new derivatives against sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were also investigated. Taken together, the acquired results demonstrate that these compounds can create an appropriate preventing surface and regulate the corrosion rate.

Composites are a promising material for high-specific strength applications; specifically, fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) are in the limelight for their extraordinary mechanical properties. Amongst all FRPCs, carbon fiber reinforcements are dominant in the aerospace and automotive industry; however, their high cost poses a great obstacle in commercial-scale manufacturing. To this end, we explored alternate low-cost inorganic fibers such as basalt and rockwool as potential replacements for carbon fiber composites. In addition to fibrous inclusions to polymers, composites were also fabricated with inclusions of their respective particulates formed using ball milling of fibers. Considering automotive applications, composites’ mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties were compared for all samples. Regarding mechanical properties, rockwool fiber and basalt fiber composites showed 30.95% and 20.77% higher impact strength than carbon fiber, respectively. In addition, rockwool and basalt fiber composites are less stiff than carbon and can be used in low-end applications in the automotive industry. Moreover, rockwool and basalt fiber composites are more thermally stable than carbon fiber. Thermogravimetric analysis of carbon fiber composites showed 10.10 % and 9.98 % higher weight loss than basalt and rockwool fiber composites, respectively. Apart from better impact and thermal properties, the low cost of rockwool and basalt fibers provides a key advantage to these alternate fibers at the commercial scale.

Persistent bad breath has been reported as a sign of serious diabetes health conditions. If an individual's breath has a strong odor of acetone, it may indicate high levels of ketones in the blood owing to diabetic ketoacidosis. Thus, acetone gas in the breath of patients with diabetes can be detected using the current easy-to-use fluorescent test dipstick. In another vein, rice straw waste is the most well-known solid pollutant worldwide. Thus, finding a simple technique to change rice straw into a valuable material is highly important. A straightforward and environmentally friendly approach for reprocessing rice straw as a starting material for the creation of fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) has been established. The preparation process of NCDs was carried out via one-pot hydrothermal carbonization using NH₄OH as a passivation substance. A testing strip was developed on the basis of cellulose CD nanoparticles (NPs) immobilized onto cellulose paper assay. The NCDs demonstrated a quantum yield of 23.76%. A fluorescence wavelength was detected at 443 nm upon applying an excitation wavelength of 354 nm. NCDs demonstrated remarkable selectivity for acetone gas as their fluorescence was definitely exposed to quenching by acetone as a consequence of the inner filter effect. A linear correlation was observed across the concentration range of 0.5-150 mM. To detect and measure acetone gas, the present cellulose paper strip has a "switch off" fluorescent signal. A readout limit was accomplished for an aqueous solution of acetone as low as 0.5 mM under ambient conditions. The chromogenic fluorescence of the cellulose assay responsiveness depends on the fluorescence quenching characteristic of the cellulose carbon dots in acetone. A thin fluorescent cellulose carbon dot layer was deposited onto the surface of cellulose strips by a simple impregnation process. CDs were made using NP morphology and analyzed using infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The carbon dot distribution on the paper strip was evaluated by scanning electron microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The absorption and fluorescence spectral analyses were investigated. The paper sheets' mechanical qualities were also examined.