Indrashil University

Pseudocapacitive nanostructured materials have emerged as versatile electrode candidates for supercapacitors owing to their large surface areas, tailored morphologies, engineered heterostructures, optimized pore distributions, and diverse composite architectures. These intrinsic attributes endow them with high power density and rapid charge-discharge capability, positioning them as crucial materials for next-generation energy storage devices. This review begins by tracing the origins, historical development, and fundamental principles of pseudocapacitive behavior, providing the foundation for understanding their electrochemical properties. This study then examine synthesis strategies aimed at enhancing electrochemical performance, focusing on rational design and advanced fabrication methods. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationships between composition, surface modification, structural morphology, and resulting electrochemical behavior, which collectively govern capacitance and energy density. The discussion addresses two broad classes: traditional materials such as transition-metal oxides (TMOs) and hydroxides and their composites, and emerging systems including MXenes, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and covalent-organic frameworks (COFs). The review concludes with an outlook on key challenges and future opportunities, highlighting the importance of scalable synthesis, structural engineering, stability, and sustainability. This article provides a critical perspective and roadmap for the development of advanced pseudocapacitive materials that bridge the performance gap between conventional supercapacitors and batteries.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural nanofiber with numerous desirable properties, including porosity, flexibility, high water capacity, biocompatibility, and high crystallinity. BC is appealing to researchers in materials science and engineering due to its potential applications in healthcare, biosensing, food, and bioremediation. However, high production costs and inconsistencies in strain production have hindered large-scale production and commercial applications. BC production optimization is required to boost industrial-scale productivity while reducing production time and expenses. This review covers BC biosynthesis and assembly, nutrient requirements, and structure and properties. Strategies for improved BC production, either through conventional or statistical optimization, have been discussed. Genetic approaches to modify BC-producing strains to increase BC yield have been explored. Various applications of BC in medical and environmental sectors have been compiled here for better understanding. The authors have investigated BC's significance in day-to-day life and how they can be useful to society.

Abstract Embryo implantation is early and complex stage of pregnancy begins when competent blastocyst makes a physiological attachment to receptive endometrium. Expression of numerous molecules are essential for initiation of pregnancy. leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is essential cytokines required for priming uterus to make it receptive for implantation. In mice, the ovarian estrogen regulated expression of LIF is absolutely required for implantation. Golden hamster showed ovarian estrogen independent process of embryo implantation. Hence, the regulation of LIF in uterus of golden hamster during early pregnancy is still ambiguous. In this study, we explored the possible regulation of LIF by uterine factor and their spatio-temporal localization and expression in the uterus of golden hamster during early pregnancy and pseudopregnancy. We further demonstrated their ability to activate prostaglandin synthesizing enzymes to achieve successful pregnancy. We used immunohistochemistry, quantitative and semiquantitative PCR to achieve the objectives. We observed the expression of LIF in all the day of early pregnancy and pseudopregnancy in the uterus of hamster. Their m-RNA was found to be upregulated around the day of implantation and decidualization. LIF showed high expression in D3 pseudopregnancy. LIF was found to be regulated by estrogen in ovariectomized uterus and significantly reduced expression of LIF was observed in letrozole treated uterine horn. Downregulated expression of prostaglandin synthesizing enzymes was observed in anti-LIF antibody treated uterus. Together, these findings highlights that uterine factor regulated LIF mediate their action via activating prostaglandin synthesizing enzymes to make uterus receptive for successful early pregnancy in hamster. Highlight Expression of LIF in uterus during pregnancy in golden hamster is independent from the presence of blastocyst LIF is regulated by estrogen in ovariectomized hamster Expression of LIF mRNA is downregulated in letrozole treated uterine horn in day 5 of pregnancy indicating the possibility of their regulation by uterine estrogen in golden hamster Prostaglandin synthesizing enzyme and LIF might be associated with the activation of inflammatory signals which are essential for successful establishment of early pregnancy in golden hamster.

BACKGROUND:Heat stress is one of the most important environmental constraints in sustainable agriculture that significantly affect seed germination, plant growth, and development. Rapid climatic change events in recent times have increased heat stress in plants thereby affecting global agricultural production. Hence, new technologies and approaches are required to enhance heat resilience in crops. The application and positive influence of both melatonin (MT) and silicon (Si) in alleviating heat stress are well known, their combined application effects on photosynthetic damage are unexplored. This is the first study to investigate the synergistic effect of MT and Si on chlorophyll metabolism and photosynthesis in muskmelon under heat stress. The present work explored the synergistic effects of exogenous MT (0.1 and 0.2 mol m-3) and Si (25 and 50 mol m-3) over photosynthetic performance in muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) plants under heat stress (35 °C and 40 °C). RESULTS:Our results demonstrated that MT + Si combined application had a better response over single treatment. At a temperature of 40 °C, the MT + Si combined treatment improved the photosynthetic rate by 119.4%, increased stomatal conductance by 48.5%, and also enhanced photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm) by 33.3%. Interestingly, total chlorophyll content was increased by 21.6%, while there was a significant reduction in stress-induced oxidative markers, such as H₂O₂, which was decreased by 69.6%, malondialdehyde by 64.1%, and proline by 80.4%. In contrast, antioxidant enzyme activities and gene expression levels were significantly downregulated under combined treatment, indicating effective reactive oxygen species scavenging and restored cellular homeostasis rather than stress-induced upregulation. CONCLUSION:This work signifies the role of MT and Si as potential sustainable alternatives for providing thermotolerance to heat-sensitive vegetable crops, including muskmelon. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.

Over the past four decades, fluorescence-based sensors have evolved into the most efficient methods for precise and reliable detection of small-molecule toxicants. Nitroaromatic compounds, have utmost significant concern due to their high toxicity, environmental persistence, and potential threat to human health and safety. Herein, we report the design, synthesis, and comprehensive characterization of a di-fluorescein-functionalized oxacalix[4] arene (DFOC), developed as a highly selective fluorescence "Turn-Off" sensor capable of sensitive and discriminating detection of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The probe demonstrates excellent photophysical stability and marked fluorescence quenching upon interaction with 4-NP. Spectrofluorometric titration confirms that the quenching is primarily governed by a photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process, which is aided by strong host-guest interactions, such as pi-pi stacking and hydrogen-bonding interactions between DFOC and the electron-deficient aromatic nitro group. Among a library of structurally analogous nitroaromatics, DFOC displays notable selectivity toward 4-NP, establishing its potential as a practical and efficient fluorescence-based platform for real-time detection of nitroaromatic compounds in environmental samples.