Aqueous polyurethane dispersions based on castor oil and lignin sulphonate (LS) were successfully synthesized in homogenous solution with nanoscale PU-lignin particle sizes as small as 35 nm. The particles size was found to be LS independent, while the dispersion viscosity increases dramatically with increasing the LS content. The increase in viscosity with increasing LS content was explained based on the chemical structure of LS. The LS is a water-soluble material and chemically reacted with diisocyanate to become a part of the dispersion particle (i.e., the nanoparticles is in fact a mixture or copolymer of castor oil-based polyurethane and lignin dispersed in water). The affinity of the PU-LS nanoparticle towards water could be increased with increasing the content of LS. Therefore, the PU-LS nanoparticle can adsorb thick water layer with increasing the LS content. According to this  suggestion, the free water in the dispersion would significantly decrease and consequently the dispersion viscosity increases considerably. The cross-link density was also increased with increasing the LS content of the thin films obtained from dispersion cast. The PU-LS thin films obtained from dispersion cast showed an excellent shape-memory effect and the shape recovery was found to be strongly LS dependent. Furthermore, the supper critical CO₂ solution was used successfully to create three-dimensional porous structure of PU-LS with cell size depends on LS content. The temporary folded shape of PU-LS with 5 wt.% LS changed to its permanent shape (plane stripe) within just 17 s once the sample was immersed in a water bath at the programing temperature.

This work reports on the extraction and characterization of carbohydrates such as cellulose, cellulose nanofibres, hemicellulose, and lignin from agricultural waste, i.e. maize stalks and sugarcane bagasse. The chemical compounds were extracted by hot water extraction (HWE) followed by alkaline extraction with 10 wt.% of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Cellulose nanofibres (CNF) were isolated by mechanical grinding the cellulose fraction using a supermass colloider. The characteristics of the different fractionated components were investigated using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The removal of the hemicellulose, lignin and extractives were confirmed quantitatively by TAPPI standard methods. It was observed that the cellulose content and its crystallinity increased after treating maize stalks and sugarcane bagasse with hot water extraction and alkali treatment. The thermal stability of cellulose also improved after treatments.  Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) results confirmed that web-shaped CNF were successfully extracted from the cellulose obtained from sugarcane bagasse and maize stalks. The dimensions of the CNF ranged from 5 to 30 nm in width and a few microns in length. In future studies, the fractionated hemicellulose, lignin and (micro and nano) cellulose will be used as reinforcements in the development of biocomposite materials.

COVID-19 has intensified human suffering, undermined the economy, turned the lives of billions of people around the globe upside down, and significantly affected the health, economic, environmental, and social domains. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the ecological environment, the energy sector, society, and the economy and investigate the global preventive measures taken to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. This epidemic has caused severe demographic changes and unemployment, and economic activities have been shut down to save human lives. Transportation industries are most severely hit as global tourism has fallen to almost zero during these months. As a solution, financial institutes have introduced stimulus packages worth more than $6 trillion. However, restricted economic activities have also contributed to a cleaner environment. Here in this report, we have collected the literature based on the impacts of lockdown on (EEE); environment (such as; air pollution, water pollution, marine life, and wildlife, etc.), education (such as; positive drawbacks, and long-term effects) and economy (such as; GDP, street vendors, agriculture and food supply sector, and drug traffickers, etc.). Finally, we concluded our topic with affirmative and negative impacts of COVID-19 during the lockdown. To the best of our knowledge, this is a unique and one-of-its-kind review highlighting the essential impact of COVID-19 on the environment, education, and economy.