Influence of the Deposition Parameters on the Properties of TiO Thin Films on Spherical Substrates.

Wastewater treatment targeting reuse may limit water scarcity. Photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation process that may be employed in the removal of traces of organic pollutants, where the material choice is important. Titanium dioxide (TiO) is a highly efficient photocatalyst with good aqueous stability.

Evaluation of Heat-Treated AISI 316 Stainless Steel in Solar Furnaces to Be Used as Possible Implant Material.

The appropriate selection of implant materials is very important for the long-term success of the implants. A modified composition of AISI 316 stainless steel was treated using solar energy in a vertical axis solar furnace and it was subjected to a hyper-hardening treatment at a 1050 °C austenitizing temperature with a rapid cooling in cold water followed by three variants of tempering (150, 250, and 350 °C). After the heat treatment, the samples were analyzed in terms of hardness, microstructure (performed by scanning electron microscopy), and corrosion resistance.

Tungsten oxide--fly ash oxide composites in adsorption and photocatalysis.

A novel composite based on tungsten oxide and fly ash was hydrothermally synthetized to be used as substrate in the advanced treatment of wastewaters with complex load resulted from the textile industry. The proposed treatment consists of one single step process combining photocatalysis and adsorption. The composite's crystalline structure was investigated by X-ray diffraction and FTIR, while atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to analyze the morphology.

Solar selective coatings based on nickel oxide obtained via spray pyrolysis.

The paper presents the optimization process for obtaining NiO thin layers on copper substrate for solar absorber coatings, using an inexpensive and up-scalable technique: spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD). Efficient selective coatings must present a high absorption coefficient of the incident solar irradiation, and low emission of heat. The solar selective coatings design involves tailoring the surface properties for superior optical properties.