The 100 most-cited articles in RSC Advances, 2016

Polyurethanes (PUs) are a class of versatile materials with great potential for use in different applications, especially based on their structure–property relationships.

We introduce a new atomic population analysis method that performs exceptionally well across an extremely broad range of periodic and non-periodic material types.

In this review article, we describe a general introduction to GO, its synthesis, reduction and some selected frontier applications. Its low cost and potential for mass production make GO a promising building block for functional hybrid materials.

The reverse water gas shift reaction, its proposed mechanisms, currently used and proposed catalysts and an intensified version of the reaction are evaluated for their abilities to significantly reduced CO 2 atmospheric concentration.

Catalytic reforming of methane (CH 4 ) with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), known as dry reforming of methane (DRM), produces synthesis gas, which is a mixture of hydrogen (H 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO).

DDEC6 atomic population analysis gives excellent performance for small and large molecules, porous solids, dense solids, solid surfaces, organometallic complexes, nanoclusters, and magnetic materials.

Water soluble carbon quantum dots were synthesized from lemon peel waste and were used for Cr 6+ detection and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye.

Water pollution caused by heavy metal ions is becoming a serious threat to human and aquatic lives day by day.

Lithium-ion batteries, carbon anode, lithium plating, characterization techniques, sluggish intercalation kinetics.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) is a promising class of synthetic polymer biodegradable under a two-step metabolism consisting of an oxidation and hydrolysis.

The influence of silver nanoparticle morphology on their dissolution kinetics in ultrapure water as well as their biological effect on eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells was examined.

Our work shows that the thermal conductivity κ of MoS 2 is largest among the three materials (Fig. a and b) due to largest Debye temperature. WS 2 has stronger bonding (Fig. e) and lower anharmonicity (Fig. h), leading to a much larger κ compared to MoSe 2 .

This review highlights recent development in functionalization of CNTs and their applications.

Pictorial depiction of applications of metal nanoparticles in different fields enlightening surface plasmon resonance effect.

The low adsorption and reflectivity from infrared to ultraviolet rays account for the high transmittance of Ti 3 C 2 T 2 that has been experimentally observed, and it is predicted that Ti 2 CT 2 will have higher optical transmittance in this range.

The review paper discusses the surface modification and fabrication of electrospun nanofibers for wastewater treatment.

Advantages, drawbacks and trends in nanomaterials for enzyme immobilization.

A novel, green approach for the synthesis of highly fluorescent carbon dots with 28% quantum yield by utilizing onion waste as precursor and employing a simple autoclave is reported, and applied them as Fe 3+ sensor & multi-coloured imaging agents.

A comprehensive review on the synthesis of PANI nanocomposites and their applications as gas sensors and biosensors has been presented.

Graphene is an ultra-thin material, which has received broad interest in many areas of science and technology because of its unique physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties.

High energy density BaTiO 3 –Bi(Zn 2/3 Nb 1/3 )O 3 materials with concurrently high energy efficiency.

Lignocellulose biomass can be utilized in many sectors of industry such as energy, chemical, and transportation. However, pretreatment is needed to break down the intricate bonding before converting it into wanted product.

This study highlights the recent trends in the structural, textural and morphological variations of g-C 3 N 4 for visible-light-induced hydrogen evolution.

The formulation of new composite materials compatible with additive fabrication techniques is driving a revolution in the field of applied materials science.

A novel approach for the synthesis of environmentally benign bioactive α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles capable of enhancing thermal conductivity.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the latest applications of organophosphorus compounds (OPs) that exhibit biological activity.

Strategies to bridge the gap between magnetic nanoparticles for their nano bio applications.

We summarize the latest advances of non-enzymatic glucose detection using non-noble transition metal materials, highlighting their opportunities and challenges.

Alkaline electrolysis using a zero gap configuration combines the efficiency of PEM with the cost efficiency of alkaline.

We present a review on some recent studies on the syntheses, structures and properties of amine-functionalized MOFs, and highlight the benefits of amino functionality towards potential applications in CO 2 capture, membranes and catalysis.

A new process is optimized and presented for the recovery and regeneration of LiFePO 4 from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

In this feature article, we will make a general survey on the recent progresses of Mn 4+ doped red phosphors for warm white-light-emitting diodes.

This review describes the recent achievements in research and development of high-temperature proton-conducting materials, providing useful information for their eventual application in intermediate- and high-temperature electrochemical devices.

Herein we report on the synthesis and characterization of MXene–polyacrylamide (PAM) nanocomposite films. The as-prepared composites are flexible and the conductivity was increased significantly to 3.3 × 10 −2 S m −1 with only 6 wt% MXene loading.

Determining interactions of multi-component environmental mixtures towards accurate risk assessment.

Metal–metal oxide core–shell nanoparticles have received enormous research attention owing to their fascinating physicochemical properties and extensive applications. In this review we have discussed the challenges and recent advances in their synthesis and application.

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.

The photoluminescence stability of all-inorganic perovskite nanocrystals (CsPbBr 3 ) with different size is studied.

In recent years, tremendous advances have been made in biosensors based on nanoscale electrochemical immunosensors for use in the fields of agriculture, food safety, biomedicine, quality control, and environmental and industrial monitoring.

Catalytic reaction between PVA-capped AgNPs and hydrogen peroxide, and the corresponding LSPR optical absorbance spectra as a function of time.

In this work we report the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the aqueous leaf extract of Lonicera japonica .

Cobalt ferrite nanostructures have been established to be promising material for future aspects.

Heavy metal contamination is a global environmental issue as it poses a significant threat to public health, and exposure to metals above a certain threshold level can cause deleterious effects in all living organisms including microbes.

This article presents the effect of different calcination temperatures on the structural, morphological and capacitance of nickel phosphate (Ni 3 (PO 4 ) 2 ) as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications.

This review focus on recent achievements in vinyl sulfones synthesis and the mechanisms of the reactions are also discussed.

The increasing worldwide oil pollution intensifies the needs for new techniques of separation of oil from oily water.

Pesticide removal from wastewater is of significant general benefit to protect of humans from the effect of pollution.

This review outlines the recent progress on designing the surface and interface of cocatalysts to create highly efficient photocatalysts for water splitting and CO 2 reduction.

In this paper, CuO nanoparticles were synthetized via a sol–gel method and their corresponding gas sensor was achieved simultaneously.

The metallicity, high capacities, fast diffusion and low average intercalation potentials make Nb 2 C monolayer a promising LIBs/NLIBs anode.

This study is based on the usage of a composite of zinc sulfide nanoparticles with activated carbon (ZnS-NPs-AC) for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions.

A review of the fundamental principles that allow for the intelligent design and synthesis of non-precious metal nanostructured electrocatalysts for ADAFCs.

Gold and silver nanoparticles, with different sizes, have been synthesized using ascorbic acid which allows a versatile and simple post-functionalisation.

This review introduces briefly the use of LDH materials as adsorbents and catalysts for the decontamination of dyes wastewater.

Despite various spectacular therapeutic properties, curcumin has low bioavailability mainly due to its poor solubility in water.

Growth and characterization of potassium 3,5-dinitrobenzoate (KDNB) single crystals. The third order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties were investigated using Z -scan technique.

The adverse effect of Al 3+ ions on human health as well as the environment makes it desirable to develop sensitive and specific techniques for the detection of Al 3+ ions.

Self-consistent ab initio calculations with highly precise spin-polarised, density functional theory (DFT) have been performed for the first time, to study the structural stability, mechanical and magneto-electronic properties of cubic perovskite PbTaO 3 .

This review focuses on the recent development of TiO 2 as a catalyst in green organic synthesis including in hydrodeoxygenation, hydrogenation, esterification/transesterification, the water–gas shift reaction, and visible light-induced organic transformation.

Evaluation of five green solvents i.e. 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), cyclopentyl methyl ether (CPME), isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethyl acetate, for replacing of hexane in extraction of carotenoids from carrots.

Recently, organic metal halide perovskites have emerged as one of the most promising photoactive materials in the field of photovoltaics.

Biodiesel catalyzed by enzyme is affected by many factors. This review will critically discuss the three major components of enzymatic production of biodiesel and the methods used to improve the reaction.

We demonstrate a highly sensitive hybrid photodetector based on graphene–CsPbBr 3−x I x perovskite nanocrystals.

Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using hexagonal Er and Nd doped ZnO photocatalyst.

SnS thin films with different thicknesses have been deposited on glass substrates at a substrate temperature of 300 °C.

Measurements of the conductivity of hydrated individual pili of Geobacter sulfurreducens that were not subjected to chemical fixation revealed conductivity along cytochrome-free regions comparable to conducting organic polymer nanowires of similar diameter.

A new energy-storage ceramic system based on (1 − x )(Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 –BaTiO 3 )– x NaTaO 3 ((1 − x )(BNT–BT)– x NT) is reported in this study.

We present a scalable thermolysis and high temperature oxidation procedure for synthesizing monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles with saturation magnetization of up to 80 emu g −1 (412 kA m −1 ), 92% of bulk magnetite.

The inhibition of mild steel corrosion in 1 M HCl by three newly synthesized 2,4-diamino-5-(phenylthio)-5 H -chromeno[2,3- b ]pyridine-3-carbonitriles was studied using the weight loss method, electrochemical techniques, surface morphology studies and theoretical methods.

Polypyrrole nanotubes exhibit conductivity of tens S cm −1 which is one of the highest among the current conducting polymers.

The corrosion protection of N80 steel in 15% HCl using 2-(3-amino-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1 H -pyrazol-1-yl)( p -tolyl)methyl)malononitrile (PZ-1) and 2-((3-amino-5-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1 H -pyrazol-1-yl)(phenyl)methyl)malononitrile (PZ-2) has been investigated.

The continuous fast pyrolysis of pine wood sawdust has been studied in a conical spouted bed reactor (CSBR) followed by in-line steam reforming of the pyrolysis vapours in a fluidised bed reactor on a Ni commercial catalyst.

The extensive research in the field of chemical looping water splitting has enabled remarkable leaps towards a successful integration the technology into a future hydrogen infrastructure.

We investigated different molar concentrations of cobalt precursor intercalated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as possible electrode materials for supercapacitors.

Major developments in the area of blast mitigation using polyurea coatings as retrofit or existing structures are discussed.

This review provides a comprehensive account on the current research status regarding the toxicity of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) – a new nano material with profound potential in various advanced applications.

A series of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites with different Si/Al ratios were successfully prepared using a seed-deduced method and the addition of organosilicone reagents into the medial synthesis system.

Although a high-entropy alloy has exhibited promising mechanical properties, little attention has been given to the dynamics deformation mechanism during uniaxial tension, which limits its widespread and practical utility.

Hydraulic fracturing in methane-hydrate-bearing sand can generate laminar fractures and increase the effective permeability.

In this review, we update our previous presentation, underscoring the recent applications of isocyanides as privileged synthons in the synthesis of various heterocyclic compounds, especially focused on those synthesized via multicomponent reactions.

Large-area time-controlled N-doped graphene films were grown on a Cu foil using an ammonia-assisted atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (APCVD) technique.

Homogeneous ultrathin nanoflakes of MoS2 thin films have been successfully developed by simple and low cost room temperature chemical bath deposition (CBD) method which further applied as electrode material for high-performance supercapacitors. The surface morphological analysis revealed uniform growth of MoS2 nanoflakes on whole substrate surface. Structural analysis confirms the formation of rhombohedral crystal structure of MoS2. The electrochemical performances were tested by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge and electrochemical impedance techniques. Different electrolytes were tested in order to find suitable electrolyte for MoS2 thin films. In addition, the effect of electrolyte concentrations on supercapacitive properties of MoS2 thin film was investigated. Thus, MoS2 ultrathin nanoflakes electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical performances with maximum specific capacitance of 576 F g−1 at 5 mV s−1 and good cycling stability of 82% over 3000 cycles.

Recent progress in smart surfaces with responsive wettability upon external stimuli is reviewed and some of the barriers and potentially promising breakthroughs in this field are also briefly discussed.

NiS 2 /ZnS hollow spherical nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized via a facile MOF-derived self-sacrificing route, which exhibit high capacitance as promising electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors.

The d-band centers for eleven metals and their pairwise bimetals for two different structures (1% metal doped- or overlayer-covered metal surfaces) are statistically predicted using machine learning methods from readily available values as descriptors for the target metals.

Fluorescent inorganic nanoparticles are immerging novel materials that can be adopted for a large number of optical bioassays and chemical sensing probes.

A Au/g-C 3 N 4 /NiFe 2 O 4 nanocomposite was successfully prepared and characterized, and it exhibited a significant visible-light-driven photoactivity for hydrogen production.

Compositionally tunable photoluminescence from environment friendly tin based inorganic perovskites covering the visible to near-infrared regions of electromagnetic spectrum.

The experimental corrosion inhibition properties were supported by detailed theoretical studies that revealed the dependence of protection efficiency on proton affinity.

Starch is a biopolymer of plant origin which is cheap, abundant and has many applications in food and non-food industries.

MoS 2 ultrathin nanosheets display excellent adsorption ability towards methylene blue, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 146.43 mg g −1 in 300 seconds. Moreover, the adsorbent can be resued by washing with deionized water.

In this work, metal organic framework (MIL-68(Al)), was synthesized by a simple, fast and low-cost process for simultaneous removal of methylene blue and Rhodamine B, regarded to be toxic and even carcinogenic, from aqueous solution.

NH 2 –POSS functionalized nanosized boron nitride fillers were performed to fabricate thermally conductive bismaleimide/diallylbisphenol A (BMI/DABA) nanocomposites combining excellent dielectric properties and outstanding thermal stabilities.

Niobium and aluminum co-doped TiO 2 ceramics, i.e. , (Nb 0.5 Al 0.5 ) x Ti 1−x O 2 ( x = 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, abbreviated as NAT100 x ) were synthesized via a solid-state reaction route.

A peak in 3D-fluorescence spectra of proteins, often assigned to backbone emission, is shown to be due to aromatic residues.

Hexagonal boron nitride micro particles functionalized by γ-MPS, were used to fabricate PI/BN composites. The thermal conductivity of the composites with 40 wt% m-BN content was increased to 0.748 W m −1 K −1 , 4.5 times higher than that of the pure PI.

A hexagonal COF has been designed via Schiff-base condensation reaction between 1,3,5-tris-(4-aminophenyl)triazine and 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol. It showed excellent sensing behavior towards nitroaromatic compounds through fluorescence quenching and excellent CO 2 uptake.

Co 3 O 4 nanosheets were synthesized by wet chemical technique at low-temperature in alkaline phase.

The nonlinear refractive index n 2 is an important parameter for the nonlinear optical properties of a medium. Especially for the anisotropic media, the nonlinear refractive index is closely related with the direction.

First-principles calculations indicate that a novel atomic hollow structure of graphyne and graphdiyne made up of sp- and sp 2 -hybridized carbon atoms reinforces not only the Na storage capacity but also the Na diffusion.