Arun Kumar

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Project Engineer at Nanyang Polytechnic

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) exhibit excellent opto-electronic properties along with fine-tunable structure and surface properties, which have made them versatile drug carriers. Here GQDs were prepared using carbon black as precursor through oxidation and ball-milling. The prepared GQDs were found to be nano-sized, oxidized, water-soluble and highl...

Incineration is the main technology used for the management of municipal solid waste, in parallel to various recycling programs. However, incineration should not be considered as the final step for waste management as the ash still needs to be treated and disposed properly. In this work, an innovative accelerated carbonation of incineration bottom...

In this study, we propose a unique use of silver–carbon dot nanohybrid ([email protected]) with an average size of 16 nm as a multi-mode sensor for the selective detection of Fe³⁺ and the construction of logic gates based on these unique detection properties. The Ag NPs exhibit colourimetric sensing and fluorescence quenching in response to Fe³⁺ in...

Sewage sludge bottom ash (SSBA) from the incineration plant used for the production of construction materials possibly possess heavy metals which might cause a negative impact on human health. Considering biosafety, we investigated the toxicity effects of 0.5-2 mm (aggregate substitute) and < 0.075 mm (cement substitute) in its solid and leachate f...

Biochar, produced as a by-product of pyrolysis/gasification of waste biomass, shows great potential to reduce the environment impact, address the climate change issue, and establish a circular economy model. Despite the promising outlook, the research on the benefits of biochar remains highly debated. This has been attributed to the heterogeneity o...

Sewage sludge bottom ash, which is the major fraction obtained from the incineration of sewage sludge was treated with various organic and inorganic acids for heavy metal removal, along with a comparative phosphate treatment for heavy metal fixation. Malonic acid, an organic acid, was found to remove heavy metals better as compared to nitric acid,...

Alkaline activated materials such as geopolymers and cementitious materials derived from pozzolanic reactions offer several advantages over the currently widely used Portland cement, especially in terms of environmental sustainability and physiochemical properties. However due to the need of an alkaline activator, such as NaOH or KOH, which result...

Pine pollen offers an all-natural multi-cavity structure with dual hollow air-sacs providing ample cargo capacity available for compound loading. However, the pollen exhibits reduced permeability due to the presence of a thin natural water-proofing layer of lipidic compounds. Herein, we explore the potential for compound loading within pine pollen...

The loading of multiple drugs into a single carrier is an effective advanced clinical therapeutic for various diseases. Here, by exploiting the architectural features of natural pine pollen from Pinus massoniana, the spatially controlled encapsulation of two types of molecules in distinct compartments of a single microparticulate carrier is demonst...

Pine pollen is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and has been consumed as a food product for thousands of years. Owing to wind pollination, its pollen grains are composed of a sporoplasmic central cavity along with two empty air sac compartments. While this architectural configuration is evolutionarily optimized for wind dispersal, such f...