Manoj Kumar Pal

Microbial fuel cells possess a lot of potential as an alternative source of clean energy that generates bioelectricity and has multiple possibilities in the optimization process, being their capabilities in terms of the usage of a variety of waste substrates, microorganisms, and various configurations. The potential of MFCs can be rationalized with In this study, the potential of isolated fungi, M. pseudolusitanicus, was evaluated for the generation of bioelectricity and bioremediation of filter mud in a single-chambered membrane-less MFC. The experimental studies were conducted in batch mode for up to 25 days. The maximum power density and current density obtained were then calculated to be 47.3 ± 0.8 mW/m² and 310.9 ± 2 mA/m², respectively. The results demonstrate the efficacy of fungal-based MFCs for the bioremediation of filter mud, with a 67.17 ± 0.71% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (p < 0.05). These findings highlight the potential of fungal-MFCs as a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for waste treatment and bioenergy generation.

Hybrid plasmonic waveguide holds a great promise as a potential nanophotonic platform for variety of applications including biosensing which usually requires strong analyte-matter interaction. We propose a nanophotonic ring resonator based on slotted hybrid plasmonic waveguide as a platform to realize resonance enhanced sensing with strong light-analyte interaction on a subwavelength scale. The optical mode guided in the bus waveguide gets coupled to the slotted ring as hybrid plasmonic mode which enables efficient bio-sensing. The slotted hybrid plasmonic waveguide utilized in the ring provides larger propagation length over 2.5 mm with a subwavelength confinement at the wavelength of 1.55 μm. The slotted structure also exhibits broadband propagation of hybrid plasmonic mode where the propagation length remains around 1.2 mm over a wavelength range from 1.3 μm to 1.6 μm. A 29.6 nm shift in the transmission spectra of the engineered ring resonator is observed on changing the analyte refractive index to 1.3514 (polluted water) from 1.333 (pure water). The sensitivity for the detection of polluted water is reported to be 1609 nm/RIU, which is approximately four times more than dielectric slotted ring resonator and eight times more than the ring resonator with a ridge structure. The proposed engineered slotted waveguide structure may be helpful in realizing nanophotonic devices for a various applications, including bio-chemical sensing and large-scale photonic integration.

A nanophotonic structure with electric control based photocatalytic nanocomposite is proposed to realize label-free optical detection of foodborne pathogens. The photocatalytic response of Cu-ZnO/TiO ₂ (CZT) nanocomposite, in terms of the photocurrent, is utilized to detect E. coli in the surrounding media of Luria Bertani broth (LB) solution. An engineered nanophotonic structure based on an optical slot waveguide is presented to provide a two-fold benefit - enhanced light-matter interaction and flexibility to accommodate bio-sample. CZT nanocomposite is synthesised and prepared by a cost-effective sol-gel process, acting as an active layer in the structure, is responsible for the generation of photo-excited carriers which provide photocurrent on the application of a voltage. The fabricated structure with a synthesised nanocomposite slot waveguide exhibits a measured photocurrent of 22 μA with LB media, decreasing to a value of 13 μA in the presence of E. coli. The fabricated biosensor is capable of detecting E. coli bacteria concentrations of 5000 CFU/ml. Altogether a change in photocurrent of 9 μA is obtained with E. coli on applying a low voltage of 3.5 volts. The combination of photocatalytic nanocomposite with engineered optical waveguide carries great potential for applications in biochemical detection and in realizing other integrated photonic devices with slotted nanocomposites.

Aphids and beetles are known to be the most destructive house hold pests. The insecticides used against these pests are known to be toxic and harmful for plants, animals and human beings. Weeds are the unwanted plants that usually grow undesirably in a particular condition and hinder the growth of most of the crops. These undesired plants were reported to have several medicinal as well as insecticidal properties. Parthenium hysterophorus, Lantana camara and Alternanthera sessilis are the most common invasive species containing various phytocompounds that shows insecticidal properties. The literature finding suggests that targeting AChE protein of these pests would result in the excitation of their muscles and finally results in the death of these pests. In the present study homology modeling of the AChE of the studied pests was generated using SWISS-MODEL. Phytocompounds of P. hysterophorus, L. camara and A. sessilis was used as a ligand molecule. Molecular docking and ADMET analysis was also performed. Docking results showed that kaempferol exhibited least binding energy with the proteins of R. padi, A. pisum, M. persicae i.e. -102.38 kcal.mol, -98.64 kcal/mol, -92.4516 kcal/mol respectively. Phytocompounds of L. camara showed least binding energy when docked with AChE (L. decemlineata) and AChE (O. taurus) i.e. -98.6 and -87.4555 kcal/mol respectively. Docking and ADMET study suggest that Kaempferol, Stigmasterol and Lantadene can act as potential bio or green insecticides or pesticide,, although the toxicity level of the compounds may differ as per application.