Green synthesis is employed to prepare cobalt/cellulose nanocomposites with cubic (α-cobalt) cobalt as a main component with antibacterial and magnetic properties. An in situ reduction of aqueous solutions of cobalt ions on a model cellulose substrate surface using hydrogen gas affords spherical, cellulose-stabilised cobalt nanoclusters with magnetic properties and an average diameter of 7 nm that are distributed evenly over the surface of the cellulose fibres. These cobalt/cellulose nanocomposites exhibit good antibacterial action against opportunistic pathogens both Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli, A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa), with zones of inhibition up to 15 mm, thereby encouraging the deployment of these advanced materials for the treatment of wastewater or within medical dressings. This method of preparation is compared with the analogous in situ reduction of cobalt ions on a cellulose surface using sodium borohydride as reducing agent.

Silver/cellulose nanocomposite fibres, prepared using a simple reduction method, exhibit significant and competitive antibacterial activity against strains of bacteria, such as MRSA, which are proving resistant to broad-spectrum antibacterial agents.

The voltammetry of 4-nitrophenyl nonyl ether is studied in the form of microdroplets immobilised on a basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode surface immersed into aqueous electrolytes. A complex series of electron and proton transfers are voltammetrically initiated at the three-phase junction comprising electrode|4-nitrophenyl nonyl ether|aqueous electrolyte. In buffered aqueous solutions at acidic pH values, it is shown that 4-nitrophenyl nonyl ether is reduced in a six-electron, six-proton step to the corresponding aniline; at alkaline pH values, two voltammetric waves are present, attributed to a four-electron, four-proton wave followed by a two-electron, two-proton signal. In addition, alkali-metal cation insertion is shown to compete with proton addition to counter the negative charge injected into the organic phase.

A lightweight, autonomous and practical, proof-of-concept electrical power source is developed within this work. It comprises a photoredox-active material embedded within the non-ionic surfactant subphase, with a second redox reagent present within the aqueous pseudophase of a lamellar (L_α) lyotropic liquid crystal framework, which is sandwiched between two electrodes, one of which acts in a sacrificial manner. This quasi-biphasic, entirely new-concept, electrochemical cell, based on electron transfer, rather than ion transfer, is shown to act as a photogalvanic device which, under violet light, is demonstrated to exhibit maximum light-to-electrical power conversion efficiency of ca. 2% (fill factor of 15%), with additional ability to act as an electrically-rechargeable electrochemical capacitor of voltage efficiency ∼85% and power efficiency ∼80%, and with estimated maximum energy density of ∼1 W h kg⁻¹ at a power density of ∼1 kW kg⁻¹.