Current Affairs for Prelims exam about Carbon Nanoflorets, Quasars and World Bank

Carbon Nanoflorets

Researchers from IIT Bombay have developed carbon nanoflorets capable of converting incident sunlight into heat with an efficiency of 87%.

These are like tiny marigold flowers made only of carbon, which are called as the material carbon nanoflorets.
The structure of the silicon particles – 50-1,200 nanometers in size—resembled spikes arranged around a sphere.

Researchers heated a special form of silicon dust called DFNS (for dendritic fibrous nano silica) in a furnace.

Once heated, she introduced acetylene gas into the chamber.

The white powder turned black, a sign that carbon had been deposited on the DFNS.

Then they collected the black powder and treated it with a strong chemical that dissolved the DFNS away, leaving carbon particles behind.

silicon dust called DFNS

They reported that these nanoflorets could absorb sunlight at many frequencies and convert it to heat with unprecedented efficiency.
The nanoflorets also didn’t easily dissipate the heat generated into the environment, making the material a good candidate for heat.
The nanoflorets converted the light energy they absorbed into thermal energy—a process called solar-thermal conversion—with a remarkable efficiency of 87%.

The carbon nanoflorets’ high efficiency comes from three properties.
- The nanoflorets absorb three frequencies in sunlight – infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet, while other common materials absorb only visible and ultraviolet light.
- Shape: As light falls on the material, the carbon cones ensure that very little is reflected back.
- Long-range disorder: Parts of the structure at some distance from each other possess different physical properties. As a result, heat waves in the material aren’t carried over long distances, reducing the amount of heat dissipated away.

The quasi-stellar radio sources (Quasars) were first discovered six decades ago.
These are very luminous objects in faraway galaxies that emit jets at radio frequencies.
They are located in supermassive black holes, which sit in the centre of galaxies.
These are formed by the energy emitted by materials spiralling around a black hole right before being sucked into it.
Most quasars are larger than our solar system. A quasar is approximately 1-kilo parsec in width.
When galaxies collide, it pushes the gas from the outer reaches of the galaxies to the centre.
As the supermassive black hole gorges on the gas, it releases ferocious fountains of energy in the form of radiation, leading to the quasar.

It is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low and middle-income/developing countries to pursue capital projects.
It was established along with the IMF at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference.
The WB Group Includes
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): It provides loans, credits and grants.
- International Development Association (IDA): It provides low or no-interest loans to low-income countries.
- International Finance Corporation (IFC): It provides investment, advice and asset management to private companies and governments.
- Multilateral Guarantee Agency (MIGA): It ensures lenders and investors against political risks such as war.
- International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID): It settles investment disputes between investors and countries.
India is not a member of ICSID.