Ce-radical Scavenger-Based Perfluorosulfonic Acid Aquivion Membrane for Pressurised PEM Electrolysers.

A Ce-radical scavenger-based perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) Aquivion membrane (C98 05S-RSP) was developed and assessed for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyser applications. The membrane, produced by Solvay Specialty Polymers, had an equivalent weight (EW) of 980 g/eq and a thickness of 50 μm to reduce ohmic losses at a high current density. The electrochemical properties and gas crossover through the membrane were evaluated upon the formation of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) in a range of temperatures between 30 and 90 °C and at various differential pressures (ambient, 10 and 20 bars).

Geopolymers and Functionalization Strategies for the Development of Sustainable Materials in Construction Industry and Cultural Heritage Applications: A Review.

In the last decades, new synthetic hybrid materials, with an inorganic and organic nature, have been developed to promote their application as protective coatings and/or structural consolidants for several substrates in the construction industry and cultural heritage field. In this context, the scientific community paid attention to geopolymers and their new hybrid functional derivatives to design and develop innovative and sustainable composites with better chemical resistance, durability and mechanical characteristics. This review offers an overview of the latest progress in geopolymer-based hybrid nanofunctional materials and their use to treat and restore cultural heritage, as well as their employment in the building and architectural engineering field.

Development of Antibacterial and Antifouling Innovative and Eco-Sustainable Sol-Gel Based Materials: From Marine Areas Protection to Healthcare Applications.

Bacterial colonization of surfaces is the leading cause of deterioration and contaminations. Fouling and bacterial settlement led to damaged coatings, allowing microorganisms to fracture and reach the inner section. Therefore, effective treatment of surface damaged material is helpful to detach bio-settlement from the surface and prevent deterioration.

Synthesis, Chemical-Physical Characterization, and Biomedical Applications of Functional Gold Nanoparticles: A Review.

Relevant properties of gold nanoparticles, such as stability and biocompatibility, together with their peculiar optical and electronic behavior, make them excellent candidates for medical and biological applications. This review describes the different approaches to the synthesis, surface modification, and characterization of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) related to increasing their stability and available features useful for employment as drug delivery systems or in hyperthermia and photothermal therapy. The synthetic methods reported span from the well-known Turkevich synthesis, reduction with NaBH with or without citrate, seeding growth, ascorbic acid-based, green synthesis, and Brust-Schiffrin methods.

Nanostructured Surface Finishing and Coatings: Functional Properties and Applications.

This review presents current literature on different nanocomposite coatings and surface finishing for textiles, and in particular this study has focused on smart materials, drug-delivery systems, industrial, antifouling and nano/ultrafiltration membrane coatings. Each of these nanostructured coatings shows interesting properties for different fields of application. In this review, particular attention is paid to the synthesis and the consequent physico-chemical characteristics of each coating and, therefore, to the different parameters that influence the substrate deposition process.

Removal of As(III) from Biological Fluids: Mono- versus Dithiolic Ligands.

Arsenic is one of the inorganic pollutants typically found in natural waters, and its toxic effects on the human body are currently of great concern. For this reason, the search for detoxifying agents that can be used in a so-called "chelation therapy" is of primary importance. However, to the aim of finding the thermodynamic behavior of efficient chelating agents, extensive speciation studies, capable of reproducing physiological conditions in terms of pH, temperature, and ionic strength, are in order.

Interaction between As(III) and Simple Thioacids in Water: An Experimental and ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Investigation.

Albeit arsenic compounds are ubiquitous in aqueous solutions, the speciation of such a pollutant in natural water mainly depends on its binding capabilities with specific molecules. The features of most of the interactions of arsenic complexes can be established in solution, but the data related to the stability of the formed species, essentially depending on the concentration of the ligands, are elusive. For this reason, here, we report on a series of investigations where diverse approaches are combined together in order to characterize the behavior of As(III) species in aqueous solutions where simple chelating agents, such as thiolactic and thiomalic acids, are solvated.

Study of Al interaction with AMP, ADP and ATP in aqueous solution.

The interaction of Al and nucleotide ligands, namely adenosine-5'-monophosphate, (AMP), adenosine-5'-diphosphate, (ADP), adenosine-5'-triphosphate, (ATP), has been studied in aqueous solution at T = 298.15 K and I = 0.15 mol L in NaCl (only for Al-ATP system at I = 0.

Thermodynamic and spectroscopic study of Al interaction with glycine, l-cysteine and tranexamic acid in aqueous solution.

In this paper a thermodynamic and spectroscopic study on the interaction between Al and glycine (Gly), l-cysteine (Cys), tranexamic acid (Tranex) is reported. Speciation models have been obtained by processing potentiometric titration data to determine stability constants of the species formed in aqueous solution at T=298.15K, 0.

Sequestration of Aluminium(III) by different natural and synthetic organic and inorganic ligands in aqueous solution.

The speciation of Al in aqueous solutions containing organic and inorganic ligands important from a biological (citrate (Cit), gluconate (Gluc), lactate (Lac), silicate (HSiO), carbonate (CO), fluoride (F)) and industrial (Gantrez; polymethyl-vinyl-ether-co-maleic acids; GTZ S95 and GTZ AN169) point of view is reported. The stability constants of Al/L complexes (L = ligand with z charge) were determined by potentiometry at T = 298.15 K and 0.