A brand new soil testing resolution that may extract a number of vitamins concurrently has been collectively developed by BARC Mumbai, GB Pant College of Agriculture, Pantnagar; and Indian Agricultural Analysis Institute, New Delhi, underneath a analysis venture supported by the Board of Analysis in Nuclear Sciences. The know-how has been patented and is anticipated to be helpful to farmers, soil testing labs and the fertilizer business.
The extractant relies on the understanding that crops take up vitamins not from the majority soil as an entire, however from the rapid zone round their roots — known as the rhizosphere. Nutrient availability relies upon extra on the chemical circumstances on this root zone than on total soil chemistry.
For the primary time, scientists have created a soil extractant that mimics this rhizospheric setting. It supplies extra correct estimates of the nutrient out there to crops — slightly than simply the nutrient within the soil.
The formulation makes use of natural acids with low molecular weight, together with a chelating agent (EDTA), and a buffering compound known as MES, adjusted to a pH of about 6. A non-ionic, water-soluble polymer is added to assist particles settle (flocculation). Care has been taken to make sure that none of those chemical substances intervene with the measurement of vitamins.
Researchers additionally discovered that the strategy may be prolonged to estimate soil nitrogen, particularly ammonium and nitrate types, when used alongside measurements of simply oxidisable natural carbon. The approach could additional be tailored to evaluate pollutant parts akin to nickel, cadmium, lead, chromium and arsenic.
Novel cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries
Researchers have developed a novel cathode materials that dramatically enhances the efficiency and stability of aqueous zinc-ion batteries.
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, which use water-based electrolytes, are hailed as secure, cost-effective and environmentally benign contenders for storing vitality from renewable sources like photo voltaic and wind. Zinc affords excessive theoretical capability, considerable reserves and is used immediately because the anode. Nevertheless, the event of high-capacity, long-lasting cathode supplies has been a key problem.
Researchers on the Centre for Nano and Delicate Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, have “synthesised sulphur vacancy-induced 1T-phase molybdenum disulphide (1T-MoS₂), a fabric that guarantees to make zinc batteries extra viable for largescale grid storage”, says a press launch.
The staff comprising Ganesh Mahendra, Dr Rahuldeb Roy and Dr Ashutosh Kumar Singh used a fastidiously managed hydrothermal methodology to provide sulphur poor 1T-MoS₂ nanoflakes.
This metallic-phase materials possesses a excessive floor space and enhanced conductivity, which facilitates quicker electrochemical reactions and higher cost storage.
The examine aimed to optimise the electrochemical potential window, the voltage vary inside which the battery operates stably. They recognized 0.2 to 1.3 volts as the best operational window.
The fabricated zinc-ion battery demonstrated cyclic stability, retaining 97.91 per cent of its preliminary capability after 500 steady charge-discharge cycles at a excessive present density. The machine exhibited a coulombic effectivity of 99.7 per cent, indicating extremely reversible zinc-ion insertion and extraction with minimal facet reactions.
Extra Like This
Revealed on February 23, 2026
