Utilization of waste heat from laptop/electronic gadgets to generate electricity by using 2D CoTe₂ working as a piezo-tribo nanogenerator (PTNG).

Polyaniline-based materials have been widely used for supercapacitors due to their outstanding properties, such as high specific capacitance, excellent electrochemical properties, and ease of synthesis methods; however, the short-cycle stability of PANI-based supercapacitors and swelling and shrinking of polymeric structures limit their commercialization. Herein, we synthesized polyaniline (PANI) nanomaterials, which meet high specific capacitance through the chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline with ammonium persulfate (APS) in aqueous salicylic acid. The electrode materials were characterized using UV–vis, TGA, SEM, XRD, BAS-50 W potentiostat, and FTIR instrumentations. The electrical conductivity of the prepared materials was analyzed and found to be relatively high. The electrochemical supercapacitance performance of PANI nanomaterials was characterized using cyclic voltammetry. The polyaniline nanomaterials with a [salicylic acid]/[aniline] molar ratio of 0.8 showed a maximum specific capacitance of 688.5 Fg-1 at a scan rate of 50 mV s⁻¹. Polyaniline nanomaterials were found to exhibit better specific capacitance when compared to bulk polyanilines. Thus, PANI nanomaterials have been found to be a promising alternative for supercapacitor applications.

Cement is a globally produced building material and a crucial component of every construction project. Alternative materials, mostly agro-industrial wastes, are emerging as potential cement replacements due to high carbon dioxide emissions associated with cement manufacturing and rising cost of cement. Numerous naturally occurring materials like rice husk ash, corn cob ash, fly ash, slag, silica fume, bagasse ash (BA), and natural pozzolans are used as partial substituents for cement in concrete and mortars due to their strength, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits. BA is frequently used as a partial cement replacement in concrete, but most studies limit its utilization to 15%, highlighting the limitations of pozzolanic materials. This study investigates the effects of binary blended BA and calcined dolomite powder (CDP) as partial cement replacement, i.e., 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, and 50%, on the compressive strength of C-25 grade concrete. Additionally, the physicochemical properties of BA, CDP, and the binary mixture were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Furthermore, the effects of the binary mixture on workability, setting time, compressive strength, strength activity index (SAI), water absorption, and dry density on the concrete were evaluated in detail. The compressive strength was examined by casting 66 standard cubes of 15 cm $$\:\times\:$$ 15 cm $$\:\times\:$$ 15 cm size and curing them for 7 and 28 days. The compressive strength test indicates that by reducing pozzolana particle size below cement grade and blending BA with CDP, up to 30% of cement can be replaced by enhancing the compressive strength to 36.7 MPa at the end of 28 days.