Alteration of Hordeum vulgare and Sinapis alba germination and early growth in response to airborne low-metallic automotive brake wear debris.

Road transportation significantly contributes to environmental pollution, both in terms of exhaust and non-exhaust (brake wear) emissions. As was proven, brake wear debris is released in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and compositions. Although studies confirming the possible adverse health and environmental impact of brake wear debris were published, there is no standardized methodology for their toxicity testing, and most studies focus only on one type of brake pad and/or one test.

Effects of Structure and Composition of Adsorbents on Competitive Adsorption of Gaseous Emissions: Experiment and Modeling.

Dangerous gases arising from combustion processes must be removed from the air simply and cheaply, e.g., by adsorption.

Effective and reproducible biosynthesis of nanogold-composite catalyst for paracetamol oxidation.

Pharmaceutical products are some of the most serious emergent pollutants in the environment, especially nowadays of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, nanogold-composite was prepared, and its catalytic activity for paracetamol degradation was investigated. Moreover, for the first time, recycled waste diatomite earth (WDE) from beer filtration was used for reproducible gold nanoparticle (Au NPs) preparation.

Effects of emulsion, dispersion, and blend electrospinning on hyaluronic acid nanofibers with incorporated antiseptics.

Nanofibrous materials are used in drug delivery as carriers of active ingredients. These can be incorporated into the materials with various electrospinning methods that differ mainly in the way spinning solutions are prepared. Each method affects primarily the encapsulation efficiency and distribution of active ingredients in the materials.

Antimicrobial nanofibrous mats with controllable drug release produced from hydrophobized hyaluronan.

Due to their large active surface, high loading efficiency, and tunable dissolution profiles, nanofibrous mats are often cited as promising drug carriers or antimicrobial membranes. Hyaluronic acid has outstanding biocompatibility, but it is hydrophilic. Nanofibrous structures made from hyaluronan dissolve immediately, making them unsuitable for controlled drug release and longer applications.

Preparation of highly wettable coatings on Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy for traumatological implants using micro-arc oxidation in an alkaline electrolyte.

Pulsed micro-arc oxidation (MAO) in a strongly alkaline electrolyte (pH > 13), consisting of NaSiO⋅9HO and NaOH, was used to form a thin porous oxide coating consisting of two layers differing in chemical and phase composition. The unique procedure, combining MAO and removal of the outer layer by blasting, enables to prepare a coating suitable for application in temporary traumatological implants. A bilayer formed in an alkaline electrolyte environment during the application of MAO enables the formation of a wear-resistant layer with silicon incorporated in the oxide phase.

Electrospinning of Fibrous Layers Containing an Antibacterial Chlorhexidine/Kaolinite Composite.

The aim of this study was to prepare self-supporting homogeneous nano/microfibrous layers with a content of the clay mineral kaolinite and kaolinite modified with the antibacterial agent chlorhexidine (CH). Fibers were made of hydrophobic polymers-polyurethane and polycaprolactone. Polymer suspensions for electrospinning contained 2, 5, and 8 wt % (relative to the total weight of the suspension) of kaolinite or CH/kaolinite and were electrospun using 4SPIN LAB.

Phytotoxicity of ZnO/kaolinite nanocomposite-is anchoring the right way to lower environmental risk?

The importance of studies on photoactive zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) increases with increasing environmental pollution. Since the ZnO NPs (and NPs in general) also pose an environmental risk, and since an understanding of the risk is still not sufficient, it is important to prevent their spread into the environment. Anchoring on phyllosilicate particles of micrometric size is considered to be a useful way to address this problem, however, so far mainly on the basis of leaching tests in pure water.

Ti and Zn Content in Moss Shoots After Exposure to TiO and ZnO Nanoparticles: Biomonitoring Possibilities.

To assess the uptake of nanoparticles by moss shoots and the possibility of biomonitoring the moss of nanoparticle pollution, two moss species frequently used in biomonitoring surveys [Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp. and Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.

Effects of binder choice in converter and blast furnace sludge briquette preparation: Environmental and practical implications.

Blast furnace and converter sludges are fine-grained waste materials characterized as dangerous waste with a negative impact on the environment. One way of recycling of such materials is briquetting followed by reuse of the material in the blast furnace. In the briquetting process, an important step is the choice of the binder suitable for manufacturing the briquettes with suitable mechanical properties.

Recycling of blast furnace sludge by briquetting with starch binder: Waste gas from thermal treatment utilizable as a fuel.

Steel plants generate significant amounts of wastes such as sludge, slag, and dust. Blast furnace sludge is a fine-grained waste characterized as hazardous and affecting the environment negatively. Briquetting is one of the possible ways of recycling of this waste while the formed briquettes serve as a feed material to the blast furnace.

Iron-based granules in body of bumblebees.

The paper deals with the presence of iron-based granules in body parts of bumblebees. Two groups of bumblebees were collected from their natural habitat, industrial landscape, and from a breeding station. Detection of the magnetic particles was performed by a vibratory magnetometer and their morphology and elemental composition was analysed by scanning electron microscopy with EDX microanalysis.

Antibacterial activity of kaolinite/nanoTiO2 composites in relation to irradiation time.

The paper addresses laboratory preparation and antibacterial activity testing of kaolinite/nanoTiO2 composite in respect of the daylight irradiation time. Kaolinite/nanoTiO2 composites with 20 and 40 wt% of TiO2 were laboratory prepared, dried at 105 °C and calcined at 600 °C. The calcination caused transformation of kaolinite to metakaolinite and origination of the metakaolinite/nanoTiO2 composite.

Modified clay minerals efficiency against chemical and biological warfare agents for civil human protection.

Sorption efficiencies of modified montmorillonite and vermiculite of their mono ionic Na and organic HDTMA and HDP forms were studied against chemical and biological warfare agents such as yperite and selected bacterial strains. Yperite interactions with modified clay minerals were observed through its capture in low-density polyethylene foil-modified clay composites by measuring yperite gas permeation with using chemical indication and gas chromatography methods. The antibacterial activities of synthetized organoclays were tested against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species in minimum inhibitory concentration tests.