Modification of Hydrotalcite Loading Tannic Acid with Organic Silane and Application in Anticorrosive Epoxy Coating.

Metal corrosion is a challenge for the world with heavy impacts on the economy. Study on the development of effectiveness anticorrosion additives is a promising strategery for the protection industry. This research focuses on the modification of hydrotalcite Mg-Al (HT) loading tannic acid (TA) with 3-(trimethoxy silyl) propyl methacrylate organo-silane (TMSPM) for applicating as an anti-corrosion additive for epoxy coating on the steel substrate. The suitable ratio of HT and modifiers was investigated and the suitable content of modified HT in epoxy matrix was found based on mechanical properties of the epoxy-based coating. The characteristics of modified HT were assessed through infrared (IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA), water contact angle (WCA), dynamic light scattering (DLS). Detailly, HT-TA3-S3 shows good stability in distilled water when HT/TA was modified with TMSPM which makes Zeta potential decreases significantly. Besides, SEM analysis presented HT-TA-S has a cylindrical shape about of 500 nm. Moreover, the crystallite size of HT/TA after being modified by TMSPM decreases sharply. All of these prove successfully synthesize HT loading TA with modified TMSPM. Water contact angle (WCA) decreases in case of loading TA and increases in case of modifying with TMSPM (WCA changed from HT (116.3°) to HT-TA (102.4°) and HT-TA-S (120.1°) which indicates the increased hydrophobicity of the sample. The obtained results showed HT/TA was modified successfully with TMSPM. The modification affected the size distribution and surface properties of HT nanoparticles while it did not impact on the crystal structure of HT. After incorporating modified HT/TA into the epoxy coating, the adhesion of coating to steel substrate was improved significantly. Consequently, the adhesion of epoxy/3 wt. % modified HT/TA coating was increased 3 times as compared to epoxy neat (from 0.76 MPa to 2.77 MPa). In addition, the relative hardness and gloss retention of epoxy/3 wt. % modified HT/TA coating reached the maximum values as compared to the others. Owing to salt spraying results, the epoxy/3 wt. % modified HT/TA exhibited an excellent anticorrosion ability for the steel substrate. All the above results show the potential of HT nanoparticles loading TA modified with TMSPM as anticorrosive additives for protective coatings on steel substrates.

Optimizing Green Synthesis of Hydrotalcite - Silver Nanoparticles using Syzygium Nervosum based Reducing Agent.

Hydrotalcite-silver (HT-Ag) nanoparticles have been involved in various daily crucial applications, such as antibacterial, photocatalytic, adsorption, etc. There are many approaches to synthesizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated on hydrotalcite (HT) surface and the most used approach is using a strong reducing agent. Thus, affordable but effective "green" reducing agents - Syzygium nervosum leaf extract, are taken into account in this work to solve several issues related to chemical reducing agents. This work aimed to assess the effect of Syzygium nervosum leaf extract as a reducing agent for green synthesis of AgNPs on HT through an optimizing process using response surface methodology (RSM) and the Box-Benken model. The optimal conditions for the synthesis of AgNPs on HT include a reaction time of 6.15 hours, a reaction temperature of 50 °C, and the ratio of diluted Syzygium nervosum leaf extract to reduce AgNO3 of 50.37 mL/mg. Under the optimal conditions, the yield of the reduction reaction reached 77.54 %, close to the theoretical value of 76.97 %. The optimization model was suitable for the experiment data. Besides, the morphology, density, and characteristics of AgNPs on the surface of HT layers have been determined by using Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), selected area diffraction, X-ray diffraction, Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Infrared (IR) spectroscopy, Fluorescence emission spectroscopy (FE), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) methods. The spherical AgNPs were synthesized successfully on the surface of HT with the average particle size of 13.0±1.1 nm. Interestingly, HT-Ag hybrid materials can inhibit strongly the growth of E. coli, S. aureus as well as two antibiotic resistance bacterial strains, P. stutzeri B27, and antibiotic resistance E. coli. Especially, the antibacterial activity quantification and durability of the HT-Ag hybrid materials were also tested. Overall, the HT-Ag hybrid materials are very promising for application in material science and biomedicine fields.

Quantitative Assessment of Trout Fish Spoilage with a Single Nanowire Gas Sensor in a Thermal Gradient.

The response of a single tin oxide nanowire was collected at different temperatures to create a virtual array of sensors working as a nano-electronic nose. The single nanowire, acting as a chemiresistor, was first tested with pure ammonia and then used to determine the freshness status of trout fish (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in a rapid and non-invasive way. The gas sensor reacts to total volatile basic nitrogen, detecting the freshness status of the fish samples in less than 30 s. The sensor response at different temperatures correlates well with the total viable count (TVC), demonstrating that it is a good (albeit indirect) way of measuring the bacterial population in the sample. The nano-electronic nose is not only able to classify the samples according to their degree of freshness but also to quantitatively estimate the concentration of microorganisms present. The system was tested with samples stored at different temperatures and classified them perfectly (100%), estimating their log(TVC) with an error lower than 5%.

Multi gas sensors using one nanomaterial, temperature gradient, and machine learning algorithms for discrimination of gases and their concentration.

In this work, four identical micro sensors on the same chip with noble metal decorated tin oxide nanowires as gas sensing material were located at different distances from an integrated heater to work at different temperatures. Their responses are combined in highly informative 4D points that can qualitatively (gas recognition) and quantitatively (concentration estimate) discriminate all the tested gases. Two identical chips were fabricated with tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires decorated with different metal nanoparticles: one decorated with Ag nanoparticles and one with Pt nanoparticles. Support Vector Machine was used as the "brain" of the sensing system. The results show that the systems using these multisensor chips were capable of achieving perfect classification (100%) and good estimation of the concentration of tested gases (errors in the range 8-28%). The Ag decorated sensors did not have a preferential gas, while Pt decorated sensors showed a lower error towards acetone, hydrogen and ammonia. Combination of the two sensor chips improved the overall estimation of gas concentrations, but the individual sensor chips were better for some specific target gases.

C2H5OH and NO2 sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures: correlation between crystal size, defect level and sensing performance.

ZnO nanostructures can be synthesized using different techniques for gas sensor applications, but different synthesis methods produce different morphologies, specific surface areas, crystal sizes, and physical properties, which consequently influence the gas-sensing properties of materials. Many parameters such as morphology, specific surface areas, crystal sizes, and defect level can influence the gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures. However, it is not clear which parameter dominates the gas-sensing performance. This study clarified the correlation between crystal size, defect level, and gas-sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures prepared from hydrozincite counterparts by means of field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectra. Results showed that the average crystal size of the ZnO nanoparticles increased with thermal decomposition temperatures from 500 °C to 700 °C. However, the sample treated at 600 °C, which has the lowest visible-to-ultraviolet band intensity ratio showed the highest response to ethanol and NO2. These results suggested that defect level but not size is the main parameter dominating the sensor performance. The gas sensing mechanism was also elucidated on the basis of the correlation among decomposition temperatures, crystal size, defect level, and gas sensitivity.