Novel adsorbents, magnetite nanoparticles modified with pectin shell and silica/pectin double shell, were fabricated and tested for single dye and dye mixture adsorption from water samples. Cationic dyes methylene blue (MB) and crystal violet (CV) and anionic dyes methyl orange (MO) and Eriochrome black T (EBT) were employed to assess dye removal efficiency. The influence of pH, amount of adsorbent, initial dye concentration and contact time was investigated. Results indicated that the optimum pH for removing cationic dyes was 8.0 and 2.0 for anionic dyes. The kinetic studies showed rapid sorption dynamics following a second-order kinetic model. Dye adsorption equilibrium data were fitted well to the Sips isotherm for cationic and anionic dyes. The maximum monolayer capacity, (q_max) for MB, CV, EBT and MO was calculated from Sips as 197.18, 180.29, 65.35 and 26.75 mg g⁻¹ respectively for magnetite/silica/pectin NPs and 168.72, 140.49, 72.35 and 27.22 mg g⁻¹ respectively for magnetite/pectin nanoparticles. For dye mixture adsorption, a new HPLC assay was proposed for quantitation of dyes in treated samples. The results came in accordance with that of single dye adsorption where the magnetite/pectin NPs showed preferred adsorption to anionic dyes while the magnetite/silica/pectin NPs had more affinity to cationic dyes. Thus, our proposed NPs can be used as cheap and efficient adsorbents for removal of cationic and anionic dyes from aqueous solutions.

Pec/CS/JO formulated nanocomposite showed a 13-fold increase in potency against cancer cells, whereas cell viability of normal cells wasn't affected.

On a score sheet for plastics, bioplastics have a medium score for combined mechanical performance and a high score for biodegradability with respect to counterpart petroleum-based plastics. Analysis quickly confirms that endeavours to increase the mechanical performance score for bioplastics would be far more achievable than delivering adequate biodegradability for the recalcitrant plastics, while preserving their impressive mechanical performances. Key architectural features of both bioplastics and petroleum-based plastics, namely, molecular weight (M_w) and crystallinity, which underpin mechanical performance, typically have an inversely dependent relationship with biodegradability. In the case of bioplastics, both macro and micro strategies with dual positive correlation on mechanical and biodegradability performance, are available to address this dilemma. Regarding the macro approach, processing using selected fillers, plasticisers and compatibilisers have been shown to enhance both targeted mechanical properties and biodegradability within bioplastics. Whereas, regarding the micro approach, a whole host of bio and chemical synthetic routes are uniquely available, to produce improved bioplastics. In this review, the main characteristics of bioplastics in terms of mechanical and barrier performances, as well as biodegradability, have been assessed—identifying both macro and micro routes promoting favourable bioplastics’ production, processability and performance.