Single step eco-efficient mild chemical process for the total valorisation of rice husk: a focus on the inorganics as a cement additive.

The rice husk biomass remaining from the industrial processing of rice constitutes approximately 25 wt% of the edible rice produced, and its disposal is challenging due to its high silica content. Here, we describe the optimization of a single step innovative chemical process for the conversion of rice husk-based biomass into useable products which tackles all fractions of the input biomass. The chemical process consists of a single step hydrothermal low temperature treatment of rice husk biomass leading to three easy-to-recover fractions.

Microplastics originated from Plasmix-based materials caused biochemical and behavioral adverse effects on Daphnia magna.

The implementation of advanced recycling techniques represents a key strategy for mitigating the mismanagement and the environmental impact of plastic waste. A limited array of plastic polymers can be efficiently recycled, while a notable portion of plastic waste remains unrecyclable. In Italy, this residual, heterogeneous fraction is referred to as Plasmix.

Polystyrene Brush Evolution by Grafting to Reaction on Deglazed and Not-Deglazed Silicon Substrates.

Two model substrates for the grafting to reaction are considered: not-deglazed silicon, whose surface is coated by a thin oxide layer with reactive silanol groups on its surface; and deglazed silicon, where the oxide layer is removed by treatment with hydrofluoric acid. The reactive polymers are hydroxy-terminated polystyrenes with molecular weights ranging from 3.9 to 13.

Altitudinal variation of microplastic abundance in lakeshore sediments from Italian lakes.

Microplastic (MP) contamination represents an issue of global concern for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, but only in recent years, the study of MPs has been focused on freshwaters. Several monitoring surveys have detected the presence of a wide array of MPs differing in size, shape, and polymer composition in rivers and lakes worldwide. Because of their role of sink for plastic particles, the abundance of MPs was investigated in waters, and deep and shoreline sediments from diverse lakes, confirming the ubiquity of this contamination.

Exposure to Microplastics Made of Plasmix-Based Materials at Low Amounts Did Not Induce Adverse Effects on the Earthworm .

The implementation of recycling techniques represents a potential solution to the plastic pollution issue. To date, only a limited number of plastic polymers can be efficiently recycled. In the Italian plastic waste stream, the residual, non-homogeneous fraction is called 'Plasmix' and is intended for low-value uses.

Essential Oil in Beta-Cyclodextrin for Solid-State Pharmaceutical Applications.

Antimicrobial resistance related to the misuse of antibiotics is a well-known current topic. Their excessive use in several fields has led to enormous selective pressure on pathogenic and commensal bacteria, driving the evolution of antimicrobial resistance genes with severe impacts on human health. Among all the possible strategies, a viable one could be the development of medical features that employ essential oils (EOs), complex natural mixtures extracted from different plant organs, rich in organic compounds showing, among others, antiseptic properties.

Extracts from Cabbage Leaves: Preliminary Results towards a "Universal" Highly-Performant Antibacterial and Antifungal Natural Mixture.

As dramatically experienced in the recent world pandemic, viral, bacterial, fungal pathogens constitute very serious concerns in the global context of human health. Regarding this issue, the World Health Organization has promoted research studies that aim to develop new strategies using natural products. Although they are often competitive with synthetic pharmaceuticales in clinical performance, they lack their critical drawbacks, i.

Microplastic contamination of supraglacial debris differs among glaciers with different anthropic pressures.

Microplastic (MP) contamination is ubiquitous and widespread in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including remote areas. However, information on the presence and distribution of MPs in high-mountain ecosystems, including glaciers, is still limited. The present study aimed at investigating presence, spatial distribution, and patterns of contamination of MPs on three glaciers of the Ortles-Cevedale massif (Central Alps, Northern Italy) with different anthropic pressures, i.

The hidden cost of following currents: Microplastic ingestion in a planktivorous seabird.

Microplastics are increasingly pervasive pollutants, particularly abundant in the neuston where they drift with currents. We assessed dietary microplastic ingestion in the Mediterranean storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis), a small pelagic seabird that forages on plankton and inhabit the Mediterranean sea, one of the most polluted seas worldwide. We collected spontaneous regurgitates from 30 chick-rearing individuals and used GPS tracking data from 7 additional individuals to locate foraging areas.

Analytical Characterization of the Intercalation of Neutral Molecules into Saponite.

Organo-modified layered materials characterization poses challenges due to their complexity and how other aspects such as contamination, preparation methods and degree of intercalation influence the properties of these materials. Consequently, a deep understanding of their interlayer organization is of utmost importance to optimize their applications. These materials can in fact improve the stability of photoactive molecules through intercalation, avoiding the quenching of their emission at the solid state, to facilitate their use in sensors or other devices.

Quantification of molecular weight discrimination in reactions from ultrathin polymer films by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

In the present study, a reliable and robust method was developed to quantify the molecular weight discrimination that can occur in reactions indirect MALDI-TOF quantification of the molecular weights of grafted chains by comparing the characteristics of the polymeric material before the grafting reaction with those of the unreacted material recovered after grafting. Two polystyrene samples with different molecular weights and narrow molecular weight distributions were employed to prepare model blends that were grafted to silicon wafers and an analytical method was developed and validated to assess and quantify the modification of the molecular weight distribution that takes place during the process. Particular attention was paid to the standardization of the sample treatment and to find the best data collection and calibration methodologies in order to have statistically significant data even in the presence of a very scarce amount of the sample.

Low-Cost Biobased Coatings for AM60 Magnesium Alloys for Food Contact and Harsh Environment Applications.

Low-cost, environmentally friendly and easily applicable coating for Mg alloys, able to resist in real world conditions, are studied. Coatings already used for other metals (aluminum, steel) and never tested on Mg alloy for its different surface and reactivity were deposited on AM60 magnesium alloys to facilitate their technological applications, also in presence of chemically aggressive conditions. A biobased PA11 powder coating was compared to synthetic silicon-based and polyester coatings, producing lab scale samples, probed by drop deposition tests and dipping in increasingly aggressive, salty, basic and acid solutions, at RT and at higher temperatures.

Microplastic Contamination in Snow from Western Italian Alps.

Recent studies have documented the presence of microplastics (MPs) in remote areas, including soils or sediments collected in mountain and glacier environments, but information on their presence in snow is scant. The present study aimed at exploring the presence of MPs in residual snow collected in four locations of the Aosta Valley (Western Italian Alps), with different accessibility and human presence. Overall, the µ-FTIR analyses confirmed the presence of 18 MPs in snow, 7 (39%) items were fibres, while 11 (61%) were fragments.

Effect of Trapped Solvent on the Interface between PS--PMMA Thin Films and P(S--MMA) Brush Layers.

The orientation of block copolymer (BCP) features in thin films can be obtained by spin-coating a BCP solution on a substrate surface functionalized by a polymer brush layer of the appropriate random copolymer (RCP). Although this approach is well established, little work reporting the amount and distribution of residual solvent in the polymer film after the spin-coating process is available. Moreover, no information can be found on the effect of trapped solvent on the interface between the BCP film and RCP brush.

Effect of shell structure of Ti-immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography core-shell magnetic particles for phosphopeptide enrichment.

Magnetic materials in sample preparation for shotgun phosphoproteomics offer several advantages over conventional systems, as the enrichment can be achieved directly in solution, but they still suffer from some drawbacks, due to limited stability and selectivity, which is supposed to be affected by the hydrophilicity of the polymeric supports used for cation immobilization. The paper describes the development of an improved magnetic material with increased stability, thanks to a two-step covering of the magnetic core, for the enrichment of phosphopeptides in biological samples. Four materials were prepared featuring a polymeric shell with tunable hydrophilicity, obtained by "grafting from" polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate with 0-8.

New Hints on the Maya Blue Formation Process by PCA-Assisted In Situ XRPD/PDF and Optical Spectroscopy.

The exact recipe to prepare the ancient Maya Blue (MB), an incredibly resistant and brilliant pigment prepared from indigo (dye) and Palygorskite (clay), is lost to the ages. To unravel the key features of the MB formation process, several inorganic-dye couples were heated to 200 °C and cooled to RT, to investigate their reactivity and the diffusion and degree of sequestration of the dye into the inorganic host. In situ XRPD/PDF and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) data, along with TGA, provided a comprehensive overview on MB formation mechanism.

Relaxation Dynamics in Polyethylene Glycol/Modified Hydrotalcite Nanocomposites.

Polyethylene glycol-based nanocomposites containing an organo-modified hydrotalcite with loadings ranging from 0.5 to 5 wt.% were prepared by melt mixing performed just above the melting point of the polymer matrix.

Wine evolution during bottle aging, studied by H NMR spectroscopy and multivariate statistical analysis.

The study of wine evolution during bottle aging is an important aspect of wine quality. Ten different red wines (Vitis vinifera) from Piedmont region were analysed 3 months after bottling and after a further 48 month conservation in a climate controlled wine cellar kept at a constant/controlled temperature of 12 °C. Two white wines (Vitis vinifera) were included in this study for comparison purposes.

Control of Doping Level in Semiconductors via Self-Limited Grafting of Phosphorus End-Terminated Polymers.

An effective bottom-up technology for precisely controlling the amount of dopant atoms tethered on silicon substrates is presented. Polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) polymers with narrow molecular weight distribution and end-terminated with a P-containing moiety were synthesized with different molar mass. The polymers were spin coated and subsequently end-grafted onto nondeglazed silicon substrates.

New Ti-IMAC magnetic polymeric nanoparticles for phosphopeptide enrichment from complex real samples.

The work describes the preparation of a new magnetic phase for batch enrichment of phosphopeptides. The material exploits the advantages of magnetic solid phase extraction and couples them with the most employed approach for phosphopeptide enrichment, i.e.

Toward Lateral Length Standards at the Nanoscale Based on Diblock Copolymers.

The self-assembly (SA) of diblock copolymers (DBCs) based on phase separation into different morphologies of small and high-density features is widely investigated as a patterning and nanofabrication technique. The integration of conventional top-down approaches with the bottom-up SA of DBCs enables the possibility to address the gap in nanostructured lateral length standards for nanometrology, consequently supporting miniaturization processes in device fabrication. On this topic, we studied the pattern characteristic dimensions (i.

Effect of Entrapped Solvent on the Evolution of Lateral Order in Self-Assembled P(S-r-MMA)/PS-b-PMMA Systems with Different Thicknesses.

Block copolymers (BCPs) are emerging as a cost-effective nanofabrication tool to complement conventional optical lithography because they self-assemble in highly ordered polymeric templates with well-defined sub-20-nm periodic features. In this context, cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) BCPs are revealed as an interesting material of choice because the orientation of the nanostructures with respect to the underlying substrate can be effectively controlled by a poly(styrene-random-methyl methacrylate) random copolymer (RCP) brush layer grafted to the substrate prior to BCP deposition. In this work, we investigate the self-assembly process and lateral order evolution in RCP + BCP systems consisting of cylinder-forming PS-b-PMMA (67 kg mol, PS fraction of ∼70%) films with thicknesses of 30, 70, 100, and 130 nm deposited on RCP brush layers having thicknesses ranging from 2 to 20 nm.

Molecular Interactions of Human Plasminogen with Fibronectin-binding Protein B (FnBPB), a Fibrinogen/Fibronectin-binding Protein from Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal bacterium that has the ability to cause superficial and deep-seated infections. Like several other invasive pathogens, S. aureus can capture plasminogen from the human host where it can be converted to plasmin by host plasminogen activators or by endogenously expressed staphylokinase.