## 11 Nanotechnology for Sustainable Environment, Agriculture and Food Safety
### Theoretical Study of Variable Gas Adsorption by the Robust Metal-Organic Framework NKMOF-1-Ni  
[PERSON] \({}^{1}\) and [PERSON] \({}^{1,2}\)\({}^{1}\) Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physics, The University of Tampa, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606-1490, USA  
\({}^{2}\) Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33620-5250, USA  
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a promising class of porous crystalline materials that are synthesized from metal ions and organic ligands. The pores exhibited by these highly tunable frameworks provide compartments for small guest molecules of interest to be captured and sequestered in hopes of addressing various environmental issues. Implications of small molecule storage have practical usages that include gas adsorption and separation, drug delivery, and catalysis. The MOF NKMOF-1-Ni', synthesized by combining Cu\({}^{2+}\) and Ni\({}^{2+}\) metal ions and pyrazine-2,3-dithiolate ligands, was investigated through grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations to determine its efficacy in adsorbing different energy-related gases. These included CH\({}_{4}\), CO\({}_{2}\), C\({}_{2}\)H\({}_{2}\), C\({}_{2}\)H\({}_{4}\), CH\({}_{3}\)CCH, H\({}_{2}\)CCCH\({}_{2}\), and C\({}_{3}\)H\({}_{6}\). Simulations of the adsorption of all seven gases were performed in the material at temperatures of 298 and 195 K and pressures up to 1 atm. The theoretical uptake at 298 K/1 atm, maximum adsorption capacity, and isosteric heat of adsorption (\(Q_{\text{st}}\)) for all gases in the MOF were obtained from the GCMC simulations. Computational modeling of the MOF-adsorbate interaction also revealed the locations of the binding sites for the different gases within the framework. Examination of the relative affinities that the MOF displayed toward each gas provided insights into the potential of using this material for adsorbing and separating particular guest molecules to solve certain environmental problems. Future investigations can be done to modify the structure of selected MOFs to induce a greater degree of adsorption for specific gases. Comparative Study of Antimicrobial Efficacy of Nano-Zinc Oxide and Bulk-Zinc Oxide on Pseudomonas syringe  
[PERSON] \({}^{\text{a,b}}\), [PERSON] \({}^{\text{b}}\) and [PERSON] \({}^{\text{a,b,c,d}}\)  
\({}^{\text{a}}\) Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32827, USA  
\({}^{\text{b}}\) NanoScience Technology Center, Orlando, FL 32826, USA  
\({}^{\text{c}}\) Department of Chemistry  
\({}^{\text{d}}\) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA  
Huanglongbing (HLB) also called Citrus greening disease, is a disease caused by _Candidatus liberibecter asiaticus_ which is transmitted to plant by Asian citrus psyllid. HLB is responsible for devastating economic losses to the citrus industry in the United States and worldwide. Zinkicide is a micronutrient-based biocide that was designed and developed to treat citrus greening. Zinkicide is a Zinc Oxide based nanomaterial (Nano-ZnO) which exhibit systemic antimicrobial activities. Ultra-small size (\(<\)5 nm) is a key quality of Zinkicide for the treatment of HLB infected plants. In this study, a comparison of an equal concentration of Zinc in Zinkicide, rotovaped Zinkicide (R-Zinkicide), and bulk Zinc Oxide (bulk-ZnO) was completed to investigate the antimicrobial activities including membrane damage capabilities of those materials on _Pseudomonas syringe. P. syringe_ is a Gram-negative plant pathogen that serve as a common model system for bacteria pathogenesis. The antimicrobial activities were investigated using three standard techniques. Minimal inhibitory concentration assay (MIC) was used to determine the lowest concentration of material that inhibits bacterial growth. Alamar Blue assay was then used to determine the growth inhibition percentage of each material.