Browsing by Author "Swechha Anand"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Engineered Nanomaterials for Purification and Desalination of Palatable Water
(Wiley Blackwell, 2015) Vijay C. Verma; Swechha Anand; Mayank Gangwar; Santosh K. Singh
Despite more than two-thirds of the earth's surface being covered by water, people are facing inadequate access to potable water and are thus forced to use contaminated water from unhygienic sources. A major consequence of using contaminated water for preparing food or other daily uses is acute and chronic illness that is widespread especially in third-world countries. Apart from this, the scarcity of safe drinking water in many parts of the world and the increasing divide between availability and per capita utilization is creating a global problem. Since approximately 97% of water on the earth is saline, recycled water through desalination can help to cope with this problem. In this chapter, we look at the state-of-the art technologies driven with modern nanotechnology for water purification and desalination. The rapid development of nanoscience has enabled the implementation of promising processes for providing improved palatability and hygiene of drinking water. Recent technologies like ultra- and nanofiltration as well as reverse osmosis (RO) create new enthusiasm in the fields of water desalination and purification. Nanomaterials and nanotechnology-based solutions are now an integral part of the research to overcome the ever-growing problems in all aspects of science, and since many traditional approaches of water purification are based on molecule-level separation, it is reasonable to expect novel nano-engineered water treatment approaches. There are several new concepts for the desalination of nonpalatable water using engineered membranes/nanoparticles. Aquaporin nanocomposites, the combination of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with other metal oxides, and noble metal nanoparticles are some good examples in this field. Despite all these developments, there are still some limitations regarding scalability at an industrial scale. In this chapter, we analyze the recent developments in nanotechnology-based solutions for the purification of water to ensure safe drinking water for all. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Myconanosynthesis: Redefining the role of microbial endophytes
(Springer India, 2014) Santosh Kumar Singh; Amit Ranjan; Shriti Singh; Swechha Anand; Vijay Chandra Verma
In recent years, a surge of interest was observed in synthesizing nanoparticles and other highly structured nanomaterials using microbes. Plenty of reports in cited domain claims synthesis of nanomaterials with desired shape, size and architecture through fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes. More precisely, fungi are frequently reported for their pivotal potential in bioreduction of the aqueous metal ions into their respective nanomaterials. The sporadic reports of nanomaterial synthesis from fungi led to the development of 'myconanotechnology' as a new domain of nanotechnology. This newly emerging domain of nanotechnology attracts not only the microbiologist but also material chemists and technologists, because of safe, sustainable and non-toxic 'green chemistry' associated with it. There is possibility of getting a total control over shape and size in a microbial system more easily than chemical methods. So far, a number of fungal strains have been reported for this potential among which some most common are Aspergillus, Fusarium, Colletotrichum, Penicillium, Verticillium, etc. However, the exact mechanism of this mycoreduction is not known so far, but it is speculated that fungal enzymes and/or metabolites are usually responsible for reduction of metal ions into their respective nanoparticles. Although many soil and pathogenic fungi have been reported as nano-factories of desired metals, relatively few reports are available about the synthesis of nanomaterials using fungal endophytes. It's surprising since fungal endophytes occupying the unusual habitat have potential to survive under stress conditions and thus must have set of enzymes and metabolites not found in their wild-type counterparts. For this reason, fungal endophytes could be a better candidate for synthesizing nanomaterials. We, in this review, provide a brief review of recent account about endophyte-mediated synthesis of nanomaterials. © 2014 Springer India. All rights reserved.