Sustainable Materials and Technologies最新文献

Developing sustainable energy storage devices is challenging for the progress of energy storage applications. Here, nanotechnology represents a strategic route to reduce the amount of used critical materials, while continuing to take advantage of their properties, thanks to the high surface to volume ratio which characterizes nanostructures. WO₃ nanostructures represent a promising active material for energy storage applications, thanks to their wide capability of small positive ions (H⁺ and Li⁺) intercalation and their high stability in acidic conditions. The coupling between WO₃ nanorods and carbon black powder is studied to realize a highly efficient coin cell supercapacitor. The morphology of WO₃ nanorods and carbon black is investigated by using a scanning electron microscope, and the energy storage performances were evaluated by performing cycling voltammetry and galvanostatic charge and discharge analysis, thus obtaining promising specific capacitance results (79 and 70 F/g at 5 mV/s and 0.5 A/g respectively). Moreover, the stability of the obtained coin cell was investigated, thus getting good capacity retention over 250 charge-discharge cycles. Energy and power densities were also calculated, obtaining the highest energy density of 39 Wh/kg at a power density of 500 W/kg. The WO₃‑carbon black coin cells are used to power a red LED, so demonstrating the viability for practical applications.

The demand for eco-friendly and natural food packaging materials has sparked considerable interest in the research and development of sustainable active packaging materials. In this study, a chitosan-based film was developed using glycerol as a plasticiser, chitooligosaccharide (COS) as an additive, and gallic acid as a cross-linking agent. The physical, barrier, mechanical, morphological, thermal, and functional properties of fabricated films were measured. The bio-composite film showed significantly lower moisture content (from 24.28 to 17.01%), water solubility (from 41.56% to 31.03%), water vapour permeability (14.63 to 9.79 × 10⁻⁹ gm⁻¹s⁻¹Pa⁻¹), and light transmittance (from 63.67% to 21.71%) compared to neat chitosan film. Furthermore, the bio-composite film exhibited higher tensile strength (57.66 MPa) and elongation at break (88.76%), smooth microstructure, strong DPPH and ABTS radicals scavenging capacity, and good antimicrobial activity towards E. coli, L. innocua, and S. cerevisiae, and non-toxic to HaCaT cells indicating promising potential for use in sustainable active food packaging.

Climate change and carbon emissions attributed to anthropogenic activities is getting alarming dimensions. On the other hand, the overwhelming progress of industrialization and urbanization contributed to an explosion in the municipal solid waste (MSW), as one of the other global challenges. However, developing a cost-effective adsorbent with appealing textural properties for CO₂ capture is still one of the main challenges. Lately, carbon-based solid waste materials of biogenic origin have received a major interest to this end, owing to the renewability, availability and low-cost. Routinely, academic research mainly focuses on lab-scale development of activated carbons derived from waste materials. However, there is a significant gap concerning the industrial production of activated carbon from such materials. Accordingly, in this work, an industrial plant has been designed for producing activated carbon derived from digestate of MSWs in the industrial scale by presenting all scale-up details, engineering assumptions and process specifications. The results indicated that the plant has a potential to process 90,273 ton MSW annually, which consumes 1367.8 MWh net electricity and 20,134.4 GJ net heat, also produces 4788.10 ton CO₂ adsorbent, per year. The economic assessment specified that the plant capital cost is around $14.112 million with the net price of 0.61 $/kg for produced activated carbon. Further, the sensitivity analysis and parametric study determined that the sample level in the drum is the determinative parameter on the energy consumption and net price of adsorbent. Finally, Response Surface Methodology was employed to maximize the plant profitability concerning the designing factors.

Red dragon fruit (RDF, Hylocereus polyrhizus) is high in betacyanins content but is understudied for its antioxidant mechanisms in liver cells. The present study aimed to investigate the antioxidant mechanisms of the stabilised betacyanins in a novel RDF functional drink, Improved-FRDFD-dH₂O (produced from mild, sustainable approaches) using HepG2 cell line. Results revealed the betacyanins of Improved-FRDFD-dH₂O (12.5% and 25%, v/v) showed the highest direct scavenging effect on intracellular ROS from 75.39% to <31%. The antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT and GPx) activities in HepG2 cells were remarkably increased, with 12.5% and 25% Improved-FRDFD-dH₂O demonstrating the greatest enhancing effects. RT-qPCR proved the betacyanins of Improved-FRDFD-dH₂O possessed indirect antioxidant mechanisms, where the gene expressions associated with Nrf2-ARE pathway were upregulated by all the tested sample concentrations (highest fold: 6.82). Overall, the present findings highlighted the RDF's potential in functional product development with betacyanins as the prominent bioactive compound to provide direct and indirect antioxidative and hepatoprotective activities.

The layered double hydroxides (LDHs) emerged as a class of low-cost potential adsorbents for organic pollutant separation, whereas the deep study of organic dye separation regulated by LDH hollow morphology under ambient conditions is still lacking. To address this gap, ZIF-67, Bulk-CoNi-LDH, and HPS-CoNi-LDH materials of different morphology and porosity were synthesized and investigated in the dye separation process. Methyl orange (MO), congo-red (CR), methylene blue (MB), and rhodamine B (Rhb) dyes were selected as model dye pollutants. The spectroscopic and structural analysis reveals the HPS-CoNi-LDH exhibits less-aggregated 2D nanosheets, high BET surface area of 163.2 m²/g, large pore size of 12.29 nm, greater positive surface charges (27.5 mV), superior optical (2.18 eV), and charge-separation capabilities as compared to Bulk-CoNi-LDH, Which provides potential sites for adsorptive and photo-degradation for anionic dyes under natural sunlight. Therefore, it achieves a remarkable removal efficiency of 92.6% for methyl orange (15 ppm) with a superior kinetic rate of 3.0$\times$10⁻² min⁻¹ within 90 min, outperforming Bulk-CoNi-LDH and ZIF-67 having removal efficiency of 71.7% and 40.8%, and kinetic rate of 1.35$\times$10⁻² and 0.5$\times$10⁻² min⁻¹, respectively. Poor removal efficiency and kinetic by ZIF-67 was mainly due to its smaller pore size (1.16 nm) and surface-confined charges (6.13 mV). Additionally, HPS-CoNi-LDH exhibits superb selectivity (at a ppm level) and excellent recyclability under ambient conditions. The mechanism of photo-catalytic reaction is discussed. These results delineate the hollow morphological LDH structure could be a worthy candidate for selective wastewater treatment and useful for sustainable conditions, which points the way to other crucial anionic micropollutant remediation.

Energy consumption associated with the catalysts contributes partly to the high ohmic resistance arising from the low conductivity of the catalyst and poor charge transfer between nanoparticles, which has been difficult to study due to the complicated nanostructured framework of the catalysts. We constructed a novel heterostructure electrocatalyst (MoS₂/MoP@NC) composed of nanosized MoS₂/MoP heterostructures anchoring on hierarchical N-doped carbon for smoothing electron transfer in boosting hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). With the merits of large surface area, rapid charge transfer, and optimized electronic structure induced by charge transfer across the sufficient interface, the optimal MoS₂/MoP@NC (MoSP) catalyst shows a competitive overpotential of 140 (0.5 M H₂SO₄), 76 (1.0 M KOH), and 103 mV (0.5 M NaCl &1.0 M KOH) at 10 mA cm⁻², respectively. Raman experiment and Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the formation of Mo-S-Mo bonds between MoS₂ and MoP, which favor enhancing the Femi level to facilitate the electron transfer, therefore regulating the electronic structure for the optimization of adsorption energy of hydrogen intermediate. Based on the experimental results, we constructed an energy consumption model of catalysts, where energy consumption comes from three aspects. The heterostructure design decreases the energy consumption of the catalysts greatly compared to the single-phase Mo-based catalyst of MoS₂ (78.0%) and MoP (45.2%) in alkaline electrolytes.

MXene-based composites are relatively easy to prepare, inexpensive, and well-suited to the integration of guest materials, which are some of the interesting features that have made them some of the most technically requirable functional materials. In this paper, we presented examples of the synthesis of MXene composites along with examples of their excellent properties as photocatalysts. We also reviewed recent examples as well as the decomposition/removal mechanisms for an antibiotic derived from pharmaceuticals with the ultimate aim of demonstrating the roles they play during such procedures. This review systematically summarizes the performance of removing pollutants that cause constraints using MXene-based materials along with their mechanisms for oxidant activation. An important target is the target milestone of next-generation adsorbents and catalysts based on MXene-combining materials while taking certain considerations into account. One of the several factors for these is that the increase in the number of chemically active reaction sites is high because the specific surface area is increased. The high catalytic activities are directly related to the high amount of hydrogen produced due to superior optical properties. The present work aims to contribute to the design of a future promising catalyst by comprehensively summarizing and discussing the current state of antibiotics decomposition reactions based on the use of various kinds of MXene combined photocatalysts for the active characteristics of electrons. Finally, we propose existing problems and future research directions for pharmaceutical antibiotic-induced contaminants caused by MXene and MXene-based composites.

A large amount of waste eggshells raises environmental issues. This study uses eggshells as recycled calcium source to synthesize fly ash and eggshell geopolymer (FAEG). The effects of eggshell content, liquid-solid ratio, NaOH/Na₂SiO₃ ratio, and NaOH solution concentration on the strength of the FAEG were evaluated by unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test. The geopolymerization products and microstructure characteristics of the FAEG were analyzed by XRD, FTIR, TGA, and SEM test. The results show that eggshells acted as recycled calcium sources are capable of significantly enhancing the UCS of the FAEG. The optimal content of eggshells is 15%. The NaOH/Na₂SiO₃ ratio has a significant effect on the UCS of the FAEG, while the influence of liquid-solid ratio and NaOH concentration is slight. The optimal NaOH/Na₂SiO₃ ratio is 50:50 and the liquid-solid ratio is recommended to be 0.55. Eggshells take part in the geopolymerization by acting as a precipitating and seeding element in the reaction and favoring the generation of the geopolymeric gels in the FAEG.

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the sustainable development of nano-enabled multifunctional materials (NMMs) for metal additive manufacturing (MAM), based on the principles of the Safe and Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework. The work focuses on both environmental impacts and health risks potentially associated with these materials, offering a groundwork for a more complete SSbD assessment that includes socio-economic considerations.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) identified significant environmental advantages of using Titanium Nitride (TiN) and Chromium Nitride (CrN) in wire coating processes over Titanium Carbide (TiC), with a 77% reduction in environmental impacts. However, despite the emphasis on environmental aspects during materials selection, the primary environmental hotspot is the heat treatment stage used during the process to shape NMMs into pellets. Eco-toxicity assessments performed on both nano- and microparticles from the studied NMMs for MAM, identified specific thresholds to ensure over 80% cell viability, labelling MoCu and CCuCr as particularly cytotoxic. Additionally, a task-based risk assessment in laboratory environments, evaluating the potential release of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs), identified minimal inhalation exposure risk for workers due to effective control measures implemented.

Overall, by integrating findings on eco-toxicity, worker safety, and environmental hotspots in production processes, this study offers an approach for advancing sustainable practices during the production of NMMs for MAM in laboratory settings. These findings can be valuable for future research and development in the field, ensuring that sustainability and safety are integral to the advancement of nanotechnology.

Nowadays, electromagnetic wave radiation is one of the sources of environmental pollution, which seriously affects human health and and the environment. Fiber paper made from high-performance fibers has shown potential for use in the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding due to adapting different complex working environments. However, achieving lightweight, high-efficiency, and flexible electromagnetic shielding remains challenging. To address this issue, we design a lightweight polysulfonamide/polyurethane-CNTs@Ag (PSA/PU-CNTs@Ag) fiber paper with double-layered structure and high electromagnetic shielding efficiency (EMI SE) via vacuum-assisted filtration and heat treatment. The results show the content of Ag nanoparticles 0.3 g in PSA/PU-CNTs@Ag fiber paper, the resistance is less than 1 Ω, the electrical conductivity reaches 883.57 S/m. At the same time, the thickness of Ag film increases, the EMI SE value reaches 90.537 dB. The EMI SE value of PSA/PU-CNTs@Ag fiber paper after folding one thousand times has decreased, but still maintains 95% of the original shielding performance. Moreover, its EMI SE values still maintain above 60 dB in various extreme environments (hot 150 °C, cold −70 °C). In summary, this work shows PSA based EMI shielding materials own excellent overall performance and hold broad different working extreme environments.