Fluoride releasing in polymer blends of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(methyl methacrylate).

Polymethyl methacrylate is a polymer commonly used in clinical dentistry, including denture bases, occlusal splints and orthodontic retainers. To augment the polymethyl methacrylate-based dental appliances in counteracting dental caries, we designed a polymer blend film composed of polymethyl methacrylate and polyethylene oxide by solution casting and added sodium fluoride. Polyethylene oxide facilitated the dispersion of sodium fluoride, decreased the surface average roughness, and positively influenced the hydrophilicity of the films.

Catalyzing Desolvation at Cathode-Electrolyte Interface Enabling High-Performance Magnesium-Ion Batteries.

Magnesium ion batteries (MIBs) are expected to be the promising candidates in the post-lithium-ion era with high safety, low cost and almost dendrite-free nature. However, the sluggish diffusion kinetics and strong solvation capability of the strongly polarized Mg are seriously limiting the specific capacity and lifespan of MIBs. In this work, catalytic desolvation is introduced into MIBs for the first time by modifying vanadium pentoxide (VO) with molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MQDs), and it is demonstrated via density function theory (DFT) calculations that MQDs can effectively lower the desolvation energy barrier of Mg, and therefore catalyze the dissociation of Mg-1,2-Dimethoxyethane (Mg-DME) bonds and release free electrolyte cations, finally contributing to a fast diffusion kinetics within the cathode.

Calcium Phosphate Ceramics and Synergistic Bioactive Agents for Osteogenesis in Implant Dentistry.

Implant-supported dental prosthetics are widely used in dental practice. Sufficient peri-implant bone tissue is a crucial prerequisite for the long-term success of this treatment, as insufficient peri-implant bone volume hampers dental implant installation and negatively influences dental implant stability. However, due to tooth extraction, bone metabolism diseases, and trauma, bone defects in the jaw are common in patients, particularly in the elderly and those suffering from underlying conditions.

Biomimetic calcium phosphate coating on medical grade stainless steel improves surface properties and serves as a drug carrier for orthodontic applications.

Objective: Recently, stainless steel (SSL) miniscrew implants have been used in orthodontic clinics as temporary anchorage devices. Although they have excellent physical properties, their biocompatibility is relatively poor. Previously, our group developed a two-phase biomimetic calcium phosphate (BioCaP) coating that can significantly improve the biocompatibility of medical devices.

Crystalline Biomimetic Calcium Phosphate Coating on Mini-Pin Implants to Accelerate Osseointegration and Extend Drug Release Duration for an Orthodontic Application.

Miniscrew implants (MSIs) have been widely used as temporary anchorage devices in orthodontic clinics. However, one of their major limitations is the relatively high failure rate. We hypothesize that a biomimetic calcium phosphate (BioCaP) coating layer on mini-pin implants might be able to accelerate the osseointegration, and can be a carrier for biological agents.

Degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride in aqueous via combined dielectric barrier discharge plasma and Fe-Mn doped AC.

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma coupled with Fe-Mn doped AC (Fe-Mn/AC) was used to enhance the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) wastewater. Fe-Mn/AC catalysts with different Fe/Mn molar ratios were prepared by hydrothermal method, and the physical and chemical properties of the samples were explored by different characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM and XPS. The results showed that the combination of DBD with Fe-Mn/AC system had the highest effect, and the degradation efficiency of TCH could reach 98.

Study on the desulfurization performance of iron/ethanolamine/deep eutectic solvent system.

Deep eutectic solvent (DES) was applied as the solvent of iron/alcohol amine system, and the prepared iron/ethanolamine/DES system was found to be a good desulfurizer for HS removal. The absorbents were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The iron/ethanolamine/DES system showed a significantly enhanced desulfurization performance compared with DES solution of iron or alcohol amine separately.

Adsorption Mechanism of Hexavalent Chromium on Biochar: Kinetic, Thermodynamic, and Characterization Studies.

The adsorption mechanism of Cr on biochar prepared from corn stalks (raw carbon) was studied by extracting the organic components (OC) and inorganic components (IC). Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the properties of three kinds of carbon. Kinetic and thermodynamic experiments were performed.

Enhanced removal of hydrogen sulfide using novel nanofluid system composed of deep eutectic solvent and Cu nanoparticles.

The HS removal performances of four deep eutectic solvent (DES) based nanofluid (NF) systems were measured using dynamic absorption experiment. The Cu containing NF system is found to be an excellent absorbent for HS removal with a significantly enhanced desulfurization performance compared with DES original solution. Besides, the NF systems have relatively high regeneration performance.

Removing organic matters from reverse osmosis concentrate using advanced oxidation-biological activated carbon process combined with Fe/humus-reducing bacteria.

The high-concentration wastewater produced in the industrial reverse osmosis (RO) process contains a large amount of refractory organic matters, which will have serious impacts on the natural environment and human health. Among them, contaminants can be transformed by humus-reducing bacteria based on humus. In this study, O- assisted UV-Fenton method was applied as pretreatment.

Study on the Desulfurization and Regeneration Performance of Functional Deep Eutectic Solvents.

Four deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were synthesized, and 5-30% polyethylenimine (PEI) was added to make functional DESs (FDESs) for dynamic absorption experiments of hydrogen sulfide. The synthesized FDESs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance. The results demonstrated the successful synthesis of FDESs.

Enhanced removal of NO-N from water using Fe-Al modified biochar: behavior and mechanism.

To remove NO-N from water, coconut shell biochar (CSB) was modified by a solution of FeCl, a solution of AlCl and a mixture solution of FeCl and AlCl respectively. The obtained modified biochar with the best effect of NO-N adsorption was screened out to explore the adsorption behavior and mechanism of NO-N removal by batch experiments and kinetics and thermodynamics and correlated characterization. The results indicated that the mixture solution of FeCl- and AlCl- modified CSB (Fe-Al/CSB) showed the best adsorption performance for NO-N removal.

The influence of aging on the comparative terrestrial ecotoxicity potential of copper and zinc in soils.

Metal exposure to terrestrial organism is influenced by the reactivity of the solid-phase metal pool. Aging is one of the important factors that control the reactivity of the solid-phase metal pool in soil. In this study, the selected 13 soils were collected from different locations of China, representing different soil types.

Toxicity Assessment of Binary Metal Mixtures (Copper-Zinc) to Nitrification in Soilless Culture with the Extended Biotic Ligand Model.

Metals are always found in the environment as mixtures rather than as solitary elements. Only a limited number of studies have developed appropriate models that incorporate bioavailability to estimate the toxicity of heavy-metal mixtures. In the present study, we explored the applicability of two extended biotic ligand model (BLM) approaches-BLM-f and BLM-toxicity unit (TU)-to predict and interpret mixture toxicity with the assumption that interactions between metal ions obey the BLM theory.

Recovery of soil nitrification after long-term zinc exposure and its co-tolerance to Cu in different soils.

Soils sampled from different locations of China were used to manipulate soil microbial diversity and to assess the effect of the diversity of the soil nitrifying community on the recovery of the soil nitrification to metal stress (zinc). Ten treatments were either or not amended with ZnCl2. Subsequently, a spike-on-spike assay was set up to test for the tolerance of soil nitrification to zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu).