Antifungal Activity of ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized from Extract for Construction Applications.

Fungal growth on construction materials in tropical climates can degrade aesthetics and manifestations on modern and historical sick buildings, affecting the health of their inhabitants. This study synthesized ZnO nanoparticles with enhanced antifungal properties using a precipitation method. Different concentrations (25%, 50%, and 100%) of aqueous extract were used with Zn(NO)·6HO as the precursor to evaluate their spectroscopic, morphological, textural, and antifungal properties.

Facile Synthesis of ZnO-CeO Heterojunction by Mixture Design and Its Application in Triclosan Degradation: Effect of Urea.

In this study, simplex centroid mixture design was employed to determine the effect of urea on ZnO-CeO. The heterojunction materials were synthesized using a solid-state combustion method, and the physicochemical properties were evaluated using X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activity was determined by a triclosan degradation reaction under UV irradiation.

Sugarcane Bagasse-, Orange Peel-Derived Adsorbent Materials: Thermal and Morphological Studies.

In this work, agro-industrial wastes such as sugarcane bagasse and orange peel were used for obtaining activated carbons through phosphoric acid activation in order to propose them as adsorbent materials during the production of carbon foam or filters for wastewater treatment applications. A two-step process was carry out to obtain activated carbons; the first step consisted of a simple physical activation at high temperature 400 °C to reach raw material decomposition; followed by acid activation at temperature of 500 °C. The effect of concentration of acid media (45, 65 and 85 wt.

Fabrication of Sputtered Ce/La, La/Ce Oxide Bilayers on AA6061 and AA7075 Aluminum Alloys for the Development of Corrosion Protective Coatings.

This work provides a comparative study on the corrosion protection efficiency of Ce, La films as well as Ce/La and La/Ce oxide bilayered coatings deposited onto AA7075 and AA6061 substrates by the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique. The coating thickness ranged approximately from 12 to 835 nm, which changed with the deposition parameters and substrate composition. The relationship between microstructure, roughness and electrochemical performance is examined.