Successful removal of fluoride from aqueous environment using Al(OH)3@AC: column studies and breakthrough curve modeling.

In this study, we discuss the removal of fluoride from water through column adsorption methods using Al(OH)3@AC as a functional granular activated carbon. The height of the bed, fluoride concentration, and flow rate are the experimental factors used to obtain the breakthrough curves. As the flow rate increased, the breakthrough and saturation times decreased. The analysis of simplified column models, such as the Adams-Bohart, Thomas, and Yoon-Nelson models, revealed that the Clark model best described the adsorption process when fitting the experimental data. The obtained breakthrough curves agreed with the corresponding experimental data. The highest capacity for adsorption obtained during the column procedure was found to be 41.84 mg g-1 with a bed height of 3 cm, an initial fluoride concentration of 10 mg L-1 and a flow rate of 7.5 mL min-1.

Silver nanoparticle embedded copper oxide as an efficient core-shell for the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and antibacterial activity improvement.

A facile and eco-friendly method was developed to prepare a microporous CuO@Ag0 core-shell with high catalytic and antibacterial activities. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed a preponderance of nearly spherical 50 nm particles with slight structure compaction. Comparison of the hysteresis loops confirmed the structure compaction after AgNP incorporation, and a significant decrease of the specific surface area from 55.31 m2 g-1 for CuO to 8.03 m2 g-1 for CuO@Ag0 was noticed. A kinetic study of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction into 4-aminophenol (4-AP) with sodium borohydride revealed a first order reaction that produces total conversion in less than 18 minutes. CuO@Ag0 also exhibited appreciable antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The antibacterial effects were found to strongly depend on the size, contact surface, morphology and chemical composition of the catalyst particles. The addition of Ag0-NPs produced more reactive oxygen species in the bacteria medium. These results open promising prospects for its potential applications as a low cost catalyst in wastewater treatment and antibacterial agent in cosmetics.

Synthesis and properties of ZnO-HMD@ZnO-Fe/Cu core-shell as advanced material for hydrogen storage.

In this paper, a new synthetic strategy towards functionalized ZnO-HMD@ZnO-Fe/Cu core-shell using sol-gel process modified by chemical grafting of hexamethylenediamine (HMD) on the core and in-situ dispersion of Cu0/Fe0 as metallic nanoparticles (M-NPs) on the shell. The as-prepared core-shell materials were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry, diffuse reflectance and FT-IR spectrophotometery, photoluminescence, and complexes impedance spectroscopy measurements. The XRD patterns agreed with that of the ZnO typical wurtzite structure, indicating good crystallinity of ZnO-HMD@ZnO-Fe/Cu, with the presence of Fe0 and Cu0 phases. Hexamethylenediamine grafting and M-NPs insertion were highly activated and enhanced the core and shell interface by the physiochemical interaction. After functionalization, luminescence intensities and electrical properties of both core and core-shell nanoparticles are improved, indicating the effects of the surface groups on the charge transfer of ZnO-HMD@ZnO-Fe/Cu. The hydrogen capacity retention was depended strongly on the composition and structure of the obtained core-shell. Iron/Copper-loaded ZnO-HMD@ZnO materials exhibited the highest capacity for hydrogen storage. The excellent stability and performance of the ZnO-HMD@ZnO-Fe/Cu core-shell make it an efficient candidate for hydrogen storage.