ZnO recovered from spent alkaline batteries as antimicrobial additive for waterborne paints.

Biocides are employed to prevent biodeterioration in waterborne paints. In the present study, we used zinc oxide nanoparticles (obtained from spent alkaline batteries) as biocide for indoor waterborne paint at 1.5% of the total solid content in paint.

Nucleant layer effect on nanocolumnar ZnO films grown by electrodeposition.

Different ZnO nanostructured films were electrochemically grown, using an aqueous solution based on ZnCl2, on three types of transparent conductive oxides grow on commercial ITO (In2O3:Sn)-covered glass substrates: (1) ZnO prepared by spin coating, (2) ZnO prepared by direct current magnetron sputtering, and (3) commercial ITO-covered glass substrates. Although thin, these primary oxide layers play an important role on the properties of the nanostructured films grown on top of them. Additionally, these primary oxide layers prevent direct hole combination when used in optoelectronic devices.

Doped nanostructured zinc oxide films grown by electrodeposition.

ZnO thin films doped with either In or Al are n-type oxide materials of interest for application in electronic devices and thin-film solar cells. In this work, the doped ZnO films were electrodeposited at 80 degrees C from an aqueous solution on polycrystalline conductive Indium Tin Oxide covered glass substrates. The incorporation of the dopants into the ZnO film has been verified by energy dispersive X-ray spectrum, X-Ray diffraction and optical transmission analysis.

Positron annihilation lifetimes in cucurbiturils: evidence of internal inclusion of gold in CB[7].

Positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) measurements are carried out to determine the cavity dimensions of hydrated and dehydrated cucurbiturils (CB[n]; n=5,6,7,8). In the case of hydrated samples, the dimensions of the cavity are unrelated to the number of glycoluril units of the CB, whereas for dehydrated samples the cavity dimensions measured by PAL follow the expected order, although the experimental values obtained by PAL are significantly smaller than the dimensions of each CB determined by crystallography. For a host-guest complex in which colloidal gold nanoparticles are assumed to be included inside CB[7], a significant reduction of the cavity size is measured.