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Abstract The present work reports facile synthesis of CuFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles via co-precipitation method and formulation of its nanohybrids with polythiophene (PTh). The structural and morphological properties were investigated using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectra (SEM-EDS) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The band gap was found to decrease with increase in the loading of PTh and was found to be 2.52 eV for 1-PTh/CuFe 2 O 4 , 2.15 eV for 3-PTh/CuFe 2 O 4 and 1.89 eV for 5-PTh/CuFe 2 O 4 . The nanohybrids were utilized as photocatalysts for visible light induced degradation of diphenyl urea. Diphenyl urea showed 65% degradation using 150 mg catalyst within 120 min. Polyethylene (PE) was also degraded using these nanohybrids under visible light as well as microwave irradiation to compare its catalytic efficiency under both conditions. Almost 50% of PE was degraded under microwave and 22% under visible light irradiation using 5-PTh/CuFe 2 O 4 . The degraded diphenyl urea fragments were analyzed using LCMS and a tentative mechanism of degradation was proposed. 

The present work reports the synthesis of water-dispersible polypyrrole (WD-PPy) and polythiophene (WD-PTh) copolymers in different weight ratios and their characterization using experimental and theoretical techniques. The copolymers were spectroscopically characterized using experimental 13 C-NMR, FTIR, and UV-visible studies, and theoretical FTIR and UV-visible studies. The theoretical frequency and UV-visible data were computed using Gaussian 09 software with the functional DFT/B3LYP method and 6-31G(d) basis set. For the first time, biophysical interaction studies were carried out using bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) for these polymers which are not yet reported in the literature. The results showed strong binding of the co-oligomers with BSA/HSA which could be utilized in designing potent inhibitors and biosensors. 

Various reports have been published based on covalently attaching biomolecules to polyaniline (PANI). The functional groups connected to the surface of polymeric units determine the immobilization method as well as the method of detection. The present mini-review aims at covering recent advances in the field of protein binding and detection using PANI. Several proteins have been attached to the polymer using different immobilization techniques. The application of PANI in protein detection has also been discussed along with the future scope of these materials in diagnosis and detection.