RESUMEN
Olive-like TiO2 (titanium dioxide), nanospheres compounds were synthesized. Polysaccharide (1-3 linked ß-D galactapyranose and 1.4-linked 3.6 anyhdro-α-L-galactopyranose and titanium isopropoxide (IV) was used as a precursor in its formation. The powder sample was evaluated by scanning tunneling microscope, X-ray diffraction pattern, power spectral density, fast Fourier transform, differential thermal analysis, continuous wavelet transform, and isotropy texture analysis. The results demonstrate that these nanospheres can successfully be synthesized in a solution using a polysaccharide network by means of the sol-gel method. The synthesized olive-like TiO2 nanospheres have diameters ranging from 50 nm to 500 nm. The synthesis parameters, such as temperature, time, and concentration of the polysaccharide, were controlled in solution.
RESUMEN
Although the dry ice method used to synthesize turbostratic carbon/graphene is little known and used, it has significant advantages over others, such as the following: it is low cost, simple, and a large quantity of material can be obtained using some inorganic and highly available acids (which can be reused). Despite the above advantages, the main reason for its incipient development is the resulting presence of magnesium oxide in the final product. In the present work, three different treatments were tested to remove this remnant using some acid chemical leaching processes, including hydrochloric acid, aqua regia, and piranha solution. Based on the experimental evidence, it was determined that using aqua regia and combining the leaching process with mechanical milling was the most efficient way of removing such a remnant, the residue being only 0.9 wt.%. This value is low compared to that obtained with the other acid leaching solutions and purification processes (2.8-29.6 wt.%). A mandatory high-energy mechanical milling stage was necessary during this treatment to expose and dissolve the highly insoluble oxide without secondary chemical reactions on the turbostratic carbon. High-energy mechanical milling is an effective route to exfoliate graphite, which allows the magnesium oxide to be more susceptible to acid treatment. A yield of turbostratic carbon/graphene of 1 wt.% was obtained from the metallic Mg. The obtained surface area was 504.8 m2g-1; this high value resulting from the intense exfoliation can potentiate the use of this material for a wide variety of applications.
RESUMEN
The effect of ZnO has already been studied for Portland cement, but the study of its impact on hybrid pastes is scarce. Thus, in this investigation, the influence of ZnO addition on hydration, compressive strength, microstructure, and structure of hybrid pastes is presented. The analyses were made by setting time tests, compressive strength tests, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis with differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results indicate that the setting time of the cements was delayed up to 39 min with additions of 3 wt% ZnO. Alternatively, the higher values of compressive strength were observed when 0.5 wt% ZnO was added to the cements for all curing days. In addition, no important differences in the microstructure of samples with different additions of ZnO were observed after 28 days of curing. It is expected that the use of ZnO contributes to the delay of the setting time and the increase of the compressive strength without negatively modifying the microstructure of hybrid pastes.
RESUMEN
Pelagic Sargassum is considered an ecological plague that is causing adverse economic impacts to the tourist and fishing industries in the Caribbean. However, its proliferation might be playing an important role to reduce global warming, as it removes a high content of CO2 from the atmosphere and transforms it into calcium carbonate, in its calcite phase, producing sediment after it dies. We quantified the amount of calcite in Sargassum samples collected from the Mexican Caribbean coast in 2019. Samples were divided into three parts: vesicles, thallus, and leaves. In each part, the amount of carbon, oxygen, and calcium was determined by means of X-ray energy dispersion to confirm the existence of a calcite crystalline phase. Imaging methodologies and IR spectroscopy complemented the structural studies. The thermogravimetric analysis determined that approximately 5% of the CO2 captured by the Sargassum was converted into calcite. Thus, by extrapolation, the Atlantic Sargasso Belt retained approximately 19.3 million tons of CO2 from 2011 to 2019.