Abdul Naeem

By Anita Ramli, Muhammad Farooq, Abdul Naeem, Saleem Khan, Muhammad Hummayun, Azhar Iqbal, Sohail Ahmed and Liaqat Ali Shah

Currently, the fossil fuel sources are the major contributors to the world's energy mix. However, these conventional energy sources are depleting very fast due to their finite nature and extensive uses. An addition to their finite nature, environmental problems related to their uses are getting progressively worse and worse, initiating challenging debates for scientific communities. Biodiesel, a renewable fuel, has shown promising prospects due to its strong socioeconomic benefits and motivations in most of the countries of the world. Bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts are strongly recommended for biodiesel production from different feedstocks to simplify the process. This review highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with the heterogeneous catalysts and some recommendations to design an efficient bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst for economical biodiesel production from waste cooking oil.

Part of the book: Frontiers in Bioenergy and Biofuels

By Syed Lal Badshah, Yahia Nasser Mabkhot, Nasir Ahmad, Shazia Syed and Abdul Naeem

Zika virus is an arbovirus that is spreading at an alarming state in the American continents and now in Asian countries. The Aedes mosquitoes are the vectors for the spread of this virus beside other ways of transmission. Currently, there are no vaccines or drugs available for its treatment. The Zika virus–related microcephaly cases are reported in fetuses of pregnant women who got this viral infection. However, the exact mechanism of Zika virus and microcephaly is still not established. Here we review Zika virus epidemiology, its unusual relationship with microcephaly in fetuses and current scientific research progress on it.

Part of the book: Current Topics in Zika

By Tooba Saeed, Abdul Naeem, Tahira Mahmood and Nazish Huma Khan

The nano-technologies and nano-materials draw incredible consideration in recent years. Nano-particles are the particles having size ranging from 1 to 100 nm. The nano-particles are usually categorized into different classes, and their classification is based on size, shape, material production, and dimension. They show superior properties, i.e., enhanced reactivity, high BET surface area, sensitiveness, and steadiness as compared to their bulk materials. In this chapter, different approaches of synthesizing nano-particles, including sol gel, chemical vapor deposition, and biosynthesis are talked over. In the treatment of wastewater, nano-particles offer a possibility for effective adsorption of contaminants organic as well as inorganic. This chapter presents an overview on nano-particles, their types, characteristics, synthetic approaches, and applications in the field of surface chemistry.

Part of the book: Engineered Nanomaterials

By Aqsa Farman, Syed Lal Badshah, Khalid Khan, Nasir Ahmad and Abdul Naeem

Ebola virus (EBV) is a deadly virus that has resulted in a number of deaths during its outbreaks in Africa in 2014–2016 and 2018–2019. This virus causes a hemorrhagic fever like other pathogenic viruses of the Filoviridae family with high mortality rate. The exact reservoir of the ebola virus is not known, but different mammal groups are the source from which it is transferred to the human population. The transmission among the human population is through body fluids of patients and also through aersol droplets in the air. The role of different glycoproteins in the budding formation has helped a lot in understanding the physiology of the ebola virus. Most of these viral glycoproteins synthesis and the replication enzymes offer a good inhibitory target for drug design against the ebola virus. Recently, different groups have claimed the development of a successful vaccine for the ebola virus. However, the availability of the vaccines to the poor population of Africa and other parts of the world is still not practical.

Part of the book: Some RNA Viruses

By Madeeha Aslam, Tahira Mahmood and Abdul Naeem

Organic-inorganic perovskite materials, due to the simultaneous possession of various properties like optical, electronic and magnetic beside with their structural tunability and good processability, has concerned the attention of researchers from the field of science and technology since long back. Recently, the emergence of efficient solar cells based on organic-inorganic perovskite absorbers promises to alter the fields of thin film, dye-sensitized and organic solar cells. Solution processed photovoltaics based on organic-inorganic perovskite absorbers CH3NH3PbI3 have attained efficiencies of over 25%. The increase in popularity and considerable enhancement in the efficiency of perovskites since their discovery in 2009 is determined by over 6000 publications in 2018. However, although there are broad development prospects for perovskite solar cells (PSCs), but the use of CH3NH3PbI3 results in lead toxicity and instability which limit their application. Therefore, the development of environmental-friendly, stable and efficient perovskite materials for future photovoltaic applications has long-term practical significance, which can eventually be commercialized.

Part of the book: Perovskite and Piezoelectric Materials

By Juma Sahar, Muhammad Farooq, Anita Ramli and Abdul Naeem

Pakistan’s energy is mainly dependent on the imported fossil fuels as the explored fossil fuels of the country are insufficient to meet the country’s current energy needs. Meanwhile, these fossil fuels have negative environmental consequences and are too expensive to electrify remote areas. To address the country’s serious energy shortages, Pakistan’s Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) has suggested to introduce energy mix to meet the increasing energy demand and fuel the economy. Renewable energy endorsing unique environmentally friendly nature, constant supply, wider availability and ease of integration into existing infrastructure. Biodiesel is considered the best and most easily accessible source of energy among all renewable energy resources. However, there is still substantial room for development of renewable energies in Pakistan. This literature review examines the availability of biomass resources in Pakistan and their potential for meeting the country’s rapidly growing energy demand, boosting Country economy and creates new employments in the near future.

Part of the book: Diesel Engines and Biodiesel Engines Technologies

By Tahira Mahmood, Saima Momin, Rahmat Ali, Abdul Naeem and Afsar Khan

Emerging contaminants (ECs) include both natural and man-made compounds that have recently been found to be present in wastewater and have a harmful effect on human health and aquatic environment. Several ECs such as pharmaceuticals, antibacterial, hormones, synthetic dyes, flame retardants are directly or indirectly discharged from hospitals, agricultural, industrial and other sources to the environment. Strategies have been developed to overcome the challenges faced by contaminated water treatment technologists. Advanced treatment technologies such as physical, chemical, and biological methods have been studied for ECs removal as well as for reduction of effluents levels in discharged water. Techniques such as membrane filtration, adsorption, coagulation-flocculation, solvent extraction, ion exchange, photodegradation, catalytic oxidation, electrochemical oxidation, ozonation and precipitation, etc., have been investigated. Based on past research, these techniques significantly remove one or more pollutants but are insufficient to remove most of the toxic contaminants efficiently from wastewater. Nanomaterial incorporated technologies may be a proficient approach for removing different contaminants from wastewater. These technologies are costly because of high-energy consumption during the treatment of wastewater for reuse on large scale. Consequently, comprehensive research for the improvement of wastewater treatment techniques is required to obtain complete and enhanced EC removal by wastewater treatment plants.

Part of the book: Wastewater Treatment

By Tahira Mahmood, Rahmat Ali, Abdul Naeem and Murtaza Syed

Microencapsulated phase change materials have been considered as potential candidates to overcome the global energy shortage, as these materials can provide a viable method for storing thermal energy and offering consistent energy management by controllable heat release in desirable environments. Microencapsulation technology offers a method for overcoming the trouble associated with the handling of solid–liquid phase change materials (PCMs) via encapsulating PCMs with thin or tiny shells which are known as ‘microcapsules’. Microcapsule shells not only keep PCMs isolated from the surrounding materials but also provide a stable structure and sufficient surface for PCMs to enhance heat transfer. Thus microencapsulation technology received remarkable attention from fundamental studies to industrial growth in recent years. In order to provide a reliable source of information on recent progress and development in microencapsulated PCMs, this chapter emphases on methods and techniques for the encapsulation of PCMs with a diversity of shell materials from traditional organic polymers to novel inorganic materials to pursue high encapsulation efficiency, excellent thermal energy-storage performance and long-term operation durability. The chapter also highlights the design of bi- and multi-functional PCM-based microcapsules by fabricating various functional shells in a multilayered structure to meet the growing demand for versatile applications.

Part of the book: Nanocomposite Materials for Biomedical and Energy Storage Applications