Plastic toys as a source of exposure to bisphenol-A and phthalates at childcare facilities.

Infants and toddlers are constantly exposed to toys at childcare facilities. Toys are made of a variety of plastics that often use endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates as their building blocks. The goal of this study was to assess the non-dietary exposure of infants and toddlers to BPA and phthalates via leaching.

Synthesis, Characterization of α-GaOOH Self-Assembly and Its Application in Removal of Perfluorinated Compounds.

This article discusses the hydrothermal synthesis of well-dispersed faceted α-GaOOH in the presence of sodium acetate by the self-assembly method. The synthesized α-GaOOH possesses a mixture of hexagonal and rectangular plates, cubic and diamond-like morphologies. The presence of ethanol as a co-solvent with water (1:1) facilitates scroll-like cylindrical morphology.

Are dopant-stabilized visible light-responsive photocatalysts efficient and stable?

Nitrogen and carbon codopants-stabilized hierarchical porous ZnS microspheres undergo an unexpected dynamic transformation into hollow microspheres when nitrogen and carbon are removed from the former. Thus, such a transformation is evidence for the unprecedented stability of non-metal doped visible light-responsive photocatalysts.

Reagents for ZnS hierarchical and non-hierarchical porous self-assembly.

Monodispersed highly ordered and homogeneous ZnS microsphere with precisely controlled hierarchical and non-hierarchical surface structure was successfully fabricated in water-ethanol mixed solvent and in water without using any catalysts or templates in a hydrothermal process. The microsphere formation has been facilitated by self-assembly followed by Ostwald ripening process. The products were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX).