Research group publishes six new papers

Professor Siddharth Patwardhan's Green Nanomaterials Research Group has recently had a staggering six new papers published.

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I am really thrilled that we have these 6 papers published in January! It’s a reflection of the group members’ dedication and strengths. It is also a positive from the lockdown.”

Professor Siddharth Patwardhan

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering 

These exciting new papers are about batteries, clean water and air, green synthesis mechanisms and one on academic progression.

Enabling scale-up of mesoporous silicon for lithium-ion batteries: a systematic study of a thermal moderator, RSC Adv. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA09000J

By identifying the critical controlling factors, this manuscript provides the first report enabling scale-up of mesoporous silicon, which is non-trivial due to the large excess heat produced.

Mimicking Biosintering: The Identification of Highly Condensed Surfaces in Bioinspired Silica Materials, Langmuirhttps://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03261

The polyfunctionality and catalytic activity of additives in the bioinspired silica leads to significant association between the additives and fully condensed (Q4) Si, and higher hydrothermal stability, thus contrasting previous studies on monofunctional surfactants.

Unified mechanism for all amine-assisted silica syntheses, Mol. Syst. Des. Enghttps://doi.org/10.1039/D0ME00131G. Also featuring on the cover.

We present ‘joined-up’ thinking for the first time, covering several families of porous silicas; the mechanistic insights gained can help design structurally complex materials.

Green Nanosilicas for monoaromatic hydrocarbons removal from air, Siliconhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00924-1  

Green Nanosilicas as VOC adsorbents show high performance arising from unique physical properties, which can be easily tailored. Their preparation leads to a substantial reduction in secondary pollution.

Removing dyes from polluted water using bioinspired silica, Siliconhttps://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00851-1 

Bioinspired silica shows the highest capacity to remove textile dye from water, with excellent kinetics, stability and reuse potential - a sustainable, efficient and low-cost sorbent.

Plate Spinning: A Beginner’s Guide for Academicshttps://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.13516478

This document is intended as a frame of reference and a quick-start guide for new appointees in Science and Engineering to make sense and success of their first five years following appointment.

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