Publications by authors named "Mario Berrettoni"

Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on assessing the health of plant meadows in the Tremiti Islands by examining chemical parameters and their responses to environmental factors.
  • It investigates the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and measures heavy metal concentrations in sediments, leaves, and seawater to evaluate pollution levels.
  • Results show that the ratio of dimethyl sulfoniopropionate (DMSP) to dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) indicates oxidative stress in the meadows, with findings suggesting greater degradation and metal content particularly on the southern side of the area.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many staple foods originate from durum wheat and its milling products; because of this, it is very important to know their characteristics. This study investigates elemental contents in these products and if differences exist because of organic farming. The concentrations of 28 elements in the whole seed and in milling products, that is, bran, semolina and flour, of durum wheat, were determined through ICP-OES.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A measurement campaign was conducted on San Domino Island, part of the Tremiti Islands archipelago, located in Foggia, Italy. The area is almost entirely covered by vegetation, dominated by the following main species: .This study focused on the BVOCs emitted by plants and the ground, employing a simple, economical, and efficient sampling and analysis method.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lead (Pb) accumulation in wheat grains depends on two aspects: i) Pb uptake by the roots and shoots, and ii) the translocation of organ Pb into the grain. However, the underlying mechanism of the uptake and transport of Pb in wheat remains unclear. This study explored this mechanism by establishing field leaf-cutting comparison treatments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wheat spikes could directly absorb lead (Pb) from atmospheric depositions. However, the mechanism by which the spikes contribute to Pb accumulation in the grain remains unclear. To investigate this mechanism, a field experiment was conducted using three comparative spikes shading treatments: 1) exposed to atmospheric deposition and light (CK), 2) non-exposed to atmospheric deposition and light (T1), and 3) non-exposed to atmospheric deposition but light-transmitting (T2).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of iron-hexacyanocobaltate (FeHCC) and its antibacterial properties. The nanoparticles were prepared by a facile co-precipitation technique. Crystal structure, particle morphology, and elemental composition were determined using X-ray Powder Diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Infrared Spectroscopy (IR).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A combined X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) methodology is here presented on a series of partially and fully reduced Au(III) samples. This allows monitoring the relative fraction of Au(III) and Au(0) in the studied samples, displaying a consistent and independent outcome. The strategy followed is based, for the first time, on two structural models that can be fitted simultaneously, and it evaluates the correlation among strongly correlated parameters such as coordination number and the Debye-Waller factor.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A charge transfer between Fe and Co in cobalt hexacyanoferrate has been observed for the first time by anatase doping. The charge transfer, which involves a spin transition at the Co site, is supported by high-resolution XANES spectra. EXAFS evidenced a consistent change (10%) of the Co-N first shell.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Electrochemically assisted deposition of an ormosil film at a potential where hydrogen ion is generated as the catalyst yields insulating films on electrodes. When the base electrode is modified with 20-nm poly(styrene sulfonate), PSS, beads bound to the surface with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and using (CH)SiOCH as the precursor, the resulting film of organically modified silica (ormosil) has cylindrical channels that reflect both the diameter of the PSS and the distribution of the APTES-PSS on the electrode. At an electrode modified by a 20-min immersion in 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The oxidation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTPP) yielded a passivating polymeric film at an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. Coating ITO with a nanoscale sol-gel film with a mesoporous structure was shown to change the pathway of the chemical reaction coupled to the electron transfer. The sol-gel film was deposited by an electrochemically assisted process, and the mesoporosity was imparted by including generation-4 poly(amidoamine) dendrimer in the precursor solution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vanadium pentoxide materials prepared through sol-gel processes act as excellent intercalation hosts for lithium as well as polyvalent cations. A chemometric approach has been applied to study the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) evolution during in situ scanning of the Cu(0.1)V(2)O(5) xerogel/Li ions battery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The structural parameters in selected cobalt and mixed cobalt/nickel hexacyanoferrates have been determined by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The presence of two or three metals in the sample requires the use of a highly efficient multiple edge analysis. The typical structure of mixed hexacyanoferrates coupled with a suitable data analysis program, GNXAS, allow us to determine structural parameters considering a very high number of experimental points.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The product obtained by the intercalation of hexacyanoferrate(III) inside a Ni, Al hydrotalcite-like compound (Htlc) has been characterized using XRD, FT-IR, Raman, and XAS spectroscopy. The intercalation was carried out by anionic exchange of the originally existing chloride ions. The combined use of those techniques gave more insight on the insertion chemistry of Htlcs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to investigate the local structure arrangements of submicrocrystalline lithium iron phosphate and its precursors. The former material, proven to be very promising as active cathode material in lithium metal and lithium-ion batteries, was synthesized through a new procedure that combines a simple sol-gel precipitation with a moderate temperature (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF