Vanadium oxide-based nanomaterials have been showing great promise as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Among these, nanostructured V2O5 shows a high discharge capacity due to its layer structure and thermodynamically stable form. This work reports the synthesis of V$_2$O$_5$ nanoparticles via a simple low temperature hydrothermal method using ammonium vanadate and quinol. The reduced size of V$_2$O$_5$ has resulted in the blue shift of the absorption spectrum. The material has been examined as a cathode material to study lithium intercalation/deintercalation. It shows aninitial discharge capacity of 310 mAh g$^{−1}$ at a current density of 0.1 mA g$^{−1}$ at 1.5–4 V and retains a specific discharge capacity of 184 mAh g$^{−1}$ even after 58 cycles. The present study manifests how the nanostructured size V$_2$O$_5$ could be applied as a high-energy cathode material for LIBs.

Water pollution has increased swiftly, especially the dyes from industries that have disturbed aquatic eco-system. Photocatalytic degradation (PCD) is one of the attractive methods to eliminate dyes from industrial effluents. Zirconium phosphate (ZP) nanoparticles were synthesized by combustion method using zirconyl nitrate and phosphorous pentoxide as precursors. The obtained ZP was characterized by powder X-ray diffractogram, Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area. PCD was carried out using methylene blue as a model pollutant in aqueous medium in the presence of UV light irradiation with different concentrations of dye, catalyst and pH. Higher degradation efficiency was observed in basic medium. ZP is employed as a catalyst to form nitrides from aldehydes using different solvents with different aldehydes.