No abstract

Emission rates and emission factors of particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determined in the emissions of three prevalent mosquito coil brands available in the market in India, under controlled conditions in an environmental chamber. The emission rates varied between the brands and ranged between 2.0 ± 1.9 to 27.1 ± 1.5 μg h(-1) for brand A, 3.4 ± 1.1 to 32.3 ± 1.2 μg h(-1) for brand B and 3.1 ± 1.0 to 72.2 ± 1.1 μg h(-1) for brand C for different compounds. Five and six ring PAHs were not detected, however four and three ring PAHs dominated. Three ring PAHs contributed 24 %, 42 % and 29 %, while four ring compounds contributed 53 %, 35 % and 61 % to total PAHs in the three brands. Carcinogenic PAH compounds were also present in the emissions, indicating the potential risks associated with the inhalation of coil smoke.

No abstract

The present work focuses on energy-neutral, bias-free, scalable galvanic synthesis of highly crystalline thin films of BiOI on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode (BiOI/FTO). Electrodes as developed were subjected to extensive characterization techniques viz. field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffractometer, ultraviolet−visible spectroscopy, and other electrochemical techniques to observe physio(electro)chemical correlation between galvanic deposition and electrodeposition. In the next step, these BiOI/FTO electrodes were utilized to develop 3D porous BiVO 4 /FTO electrodes (termed as g-BiVO 4 ) via a mild thermochemical process. The g-BiVO 4 /FTO electrode prepared this way exhibited exceptional photoelectrochemical performance for sulfite oxidation, achieving 1.2 mA cm −2 at a bias potential of 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) with the early photocurrent onset (0.21 V vs RHE), as comparable to electrodeposited BiVO 4 on a FTO electrode (e-BiVO 4 /FTO). We also fabricated Schottky barrier diode to shed light on the charge-transport mechanism of the g-BiVO 4 /FTO electrode. In order to improve water oxidation kinetics, we further photodeposited cobalt acetate (CoAc) on the g-BiVO 4 /FTO electrode. The CoAc-g-BiVO 4 /FTO electrode, on optimization, showed a photocurrent of 0.73 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V under the illumination of 20 mW cm −2 blue light-emitting diode with 36 h of sustained water catalytic performance. This demonstrates the importance of galvanic deposition process as an alternative to the high energy-demanding synthesis techniques such as electrodeposition, hydrothermal, and so forth.

No abstract