Interfacial solar steam generation is emerging as a promising technique for efficient desalination. Although increasing efforts have been made, challenges exist achieving balance among plethora of performance indicators—for example, rapid evaporation, durability, low-cost deployment, and salt rejection. Here, we demonstrate that carbonized manure can convert 98% sunlight into heat, the strong c...

In this contribution we report a synthetic strategy for the encapsulation of functional biomolecules within MOF-based microcapsules. We employ an agarose hydrogel droplet Pickering-stabilised by UiO-66 and magnetite nanoparticles as a template around which to deposit a hierarchically structured ZIF-8 shell. The resulting microcapsules are robust, highly microporous and readily attracted to a ma...

The managerial difficulties encountered by an Association of Recyclable Materials Collectors to organize and ensure the perpetuation of his work gave rise to this research. In order to overcome the difficulties encountered with regard to accounting, organizational and ergonomic work, we used a methodology capable of providing a greater interaction between researchers and collectors, facilitatin...

A novel and green approach for efficient and rapid synthesis of biologically active polyhydroquinoline derivatives via unsymmetric Hantzsch reaction using nanorods Vanadatesulfuric acid (VSA NRs) as a new and recyclable catalyst under solvent-free conditions was reported. The catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, XRF and TEM analysis. The present method offers several advantages such as sim...

We present our ongoing research into the use of foveal vision systems for industrial and other applications, in particular for the automatic sorting of recyclable garbage. After analyzing the constraints inherent in the problem we present a control architecture for the system, and discuss how a combination of sensor geometry and task constraints can lead to simple and fast, yet powerful, soluti...

Two triethoxysilyl-functionalized N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have been synthesized and used to prepare the corresponding second-generation ruthenium olefin metathesis catalysts. These complexes were then grafted onto silica gel, and the resulting materials were efficient heterogeneous catalysts for a number of metathesis reactions. The solid-supported catalysts were shown to be recyclable o...