Sulfurized nano zero-valent iron prepared via different methods: Effect of stability and types of surface corrosion products on removal of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol.

Sulfurization improves the stability and activity of nano zero-valent iron (nZVI). The sulfurized nZVI (S-nZVI) were prepared with ball milling, vacuum chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and liquid-phase reduction techniques and the corresponding products were the mixture of FeS2 and nZVI (nZVI/FeS2), well-defined core-shell structure (FeSx@Fe) or seriously oxidized (S-nZVI(aq)), respectively. All these materials were applied to eliminate 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) from water. The removal of TCP was irrelevant with the structure of S-nZVI. Both nZVI/FeS2 and FeSx@Fe showed remarkable performance for the degradation of TCP. S-nZVI(aq) possessed poor mineralization efficiency to TCP due to its bad crystallinity degree and severe leaching of Fe ions, which retarded the affinity of TCP. Desorption and quenching experiments suggested that TCP removal by nZVI and S-nZVI was based on surface adsorption and subsequent direct reduction by Fe0, oxidation by in-situ produced ROS and polymerization on the surface of these materials. In the reaction process, the corrosion products of these materials transformed into crystalline Fe3O4 and α/ß-FeOOH, which enhanced the stability of nZVI and S-nZVI materials and was conductive to the electron transferring from Fe0 to TCP and strong affinity of TCP onto Fe or FeSx phases. All these were contributed to high performance of nZVI and sulfurized nZVI in removal and minerazilation of TCP in continuous recycle test.

Synthesis by solid route and physicochemical characterizations of blends of calcium orthophosphate powders and mesoporous silicon particles.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the synthesis of economic calcium phosphate powders from recycled oyster shells, using a ball milling method. The oyster shell powder and a calcium pyrophosphate powder were used as starting materials and ball milled, then heat treated at 1,050°C for 5 h to produce calcium phosphate powders through a solid-state reaction. Electrochemically synthesized mesoporous silicon microparticles were then added to the prepared phosphate powders by mechanical mixer. The final powders were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy to analyze their chemical composition and determine the most suitable process conditions. The biocompatibility of the produced powders was also tested in vitro using murine cells and the results showed good biocompatibility.

Environment-friendly, efficient process for mechanical recovery of waste lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Technology for recycling retired lithium batteries has become increasingly environment-friendly and efficient. In traditional recovery methods, pyrometallurgy or hydrometallurgy is often used as an auxiliary treatment method, which results in secondary pollution and increases the cost of harmless treatment. In this article, a new method for combined mechanical recycling of waste lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries is proposed to realize the classification and recycling of materials. Appearance inspections and performance tests were conducted on 1000 retired LFP batteries. After discharging and disassembling the defective batteries, the physical structure of the cathode binder was destroyed under ball-milling cycle stress, and the electrode material and metal foil were separated using ultrasonic cleaning technology. After treating the anode sheet with 100 W of ultrasonic power for 2 minutes, the anode material was completely stripped from the copper foil, and no cross-contamination between the copper foil and graphite was observed. After the cathode plate was ball-milled for 60 seconds with an abrasive particle size of 20 mm and then ultrasonically treated for 20 minutes with a power of 300 W, the stripping rate of the cathode material reached 99.0%, and the purities of the aluminium foil and LFP reached 100% and 98.1%, respectively.

A ball milling method for highly dispersed Ni atoms on g-C3N4 to boost CO2 photoreduction.

Atomically dispersed active sites can effectively enhance the catalytic activity, but the synthesis of highly dispersed single-atom active sites remains challenging. Herein, we report for the fabrication of single-atom Ni on g-C3N4 (CN) catalysts for photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) using a high-energy ball milling method. The uniformly loaded single-atomic Ni on the surface of the substrate suggests the improvement of synthetic methods. After optimizing the Ni loading, the photocatalyst containing 0.5 at% (0.32 wt%) single-atomic Ni (Ni/CN-0.5) exhibited the highest CO2 reduction performance (∼19.9 µmol·g-1·h-1) without any co-catalyst or sacrificial agent. As visualized by aberration-corrected high-angle annular darkfield scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC HAADF-STEM), the Ni atoms in the Ni/CN-0.5 photocatalyst are most uniformly dispersed for different loadings (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 at%). These results suggest that the uniformity of the single-atom active sites plays a decisive role rather than the loading amount in the highly enhanced performance. This work provides insight into the design of photocatalysts with highly dispersed single-atom catalytic active sites for enhancing activity.

Fabrication of Ultra-Fine-Grained W-TiC Alloys by a Simple Ball-Milling and Hydrogen Reduction Method.

In this paper, a simple method to fulfill the ideal microstructural design of particle reinforced tungsten (W) alloys with promising mechanical properties is presented. W-0.5 wt.% TiC powders with core-shell (TiC/W) structure are prepared by ball-milling and controlled hydrogen reduction processes. TEM observation demonstrates that the nano TiC particles are well coated by tungsten. The W-TiC powders are sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) under 1600 °C. The sintered microstructures are characterized by FESEM and TEM. It is found that the W-0.5TiC alloys obtain an ultra-fine-sized tungsten grain of approximately 0.7 µm. The TiC particles with the original nano sizes are uniformly distributed both in tungsten grain interiors and at tungsten grain boundaries with a high number density. No large agglomerates of TiC particles are detected in the microstructure. The average diameter of the TiC particles in the tungsten matrix is approximately 47.1 nm. The mechanical tests of W-0.5 TiC alloy show a significantly high microhardness and bending fracture strength of 785 Hv0.2 and 1132.7 MPa, respectively, which are higher than the values obtained in previous works. These results indicate that the methods used in our work are very promising to fabricate particle-dispersion-strengthened tungsten-based alloys with high performances.

A comparative study on the effect of nano-pearl powder ground with different dispersion media / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: To retain more biological activity of organic matter and materials, it is necessary to grind and refine the pearl powder by physical method. The ball grinding method can retain the organic matter in the pearl powder and its activity to the greatest extent. The nanomaterials prepared by ball milling in different dispersion media exhibit different effects. OBJECTIVE: To compare nano-pearl powder milled with distilled water and anhydrous ethanol. METHODS: Nano-pearl powder was prepared by grinding with anhydrous ethanol and water as dispersion medium respectively. The prepared nano-pearl powder was compared by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Kjeldahl method and by determining amino acid content in foods. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The nano-pearl powder prepared with anhydrous ethanol as dispersion medium was mainly round particles of different sizes (range, 30-50 nm), with the average grain size of 20 nm. The relative percentage of calcite calcium carbonate increased to 7%. The contents of protein and amino acid did not change obviously. (2) The nano-pearl powder prepared with distilled water as dispersion medium was mainly round particles of different sizes with the average grain size of 30 nm. There were irregular grain-like or block-like particles. The relative percentage of calcite calcium carbonate increased to 10%. The contents of protein and amino acid decreased. (3) These results showed that there was a significant difference in the particle size of the pearl powder ground with distilled water and anhydrous ethanol. The pearl powder prepared with anhydrous ethanol as the dispersion medium had a finer more uniform particle size.

FeP/C Composites as an Anode Material for K-Ion Batteries.

Owing to their natural abundance, the low potential, and the low cost of potassium, potassium-ion batteries are regarded as one of the alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. In this work, we successfully fabricated a FeP/C composite, a novel electrode material for PIBs, through a simple and productive high-energy ball-milling method. The electrode delivers a reversible capacity of 288.9 mA·h·g-1 (2nd) at a discharge rate of 50 mA g-1, which can meet the future energy storage requirements. Density functional theory calculations suggest a lower diffusion barrier energy of K+ than Na+, which allows faster K+ diffusion in FeP.

Preparation of Carboxylated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Loaded with Podophyllotoxin and Their Transdermal Penetration / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To study the preparation of carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes loaded with podophyllotoxin (PPT-CNTs-COOH) as well as the characteristics of the in vitro transdermal penetration. METHODS: PPT-CNTs-COOH was prepared by freezing milling method; IR, UV, XRD, and TGA were used to characterize the PPT-CNTs-COOH; HPLC method was used for determination of the content of podophyllotoxin loaded in the carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes; franze diffusion cells method was used to determine the drug transdermal penetration rate. RESULTS: The IR spectrum of PPT-CNTs-COOH showed the main absorption peaks of PPT and CNTs-COOH and the peaks changed obviously. Compared with free PPT, the UV absorption peaks of PPT-CNTs-COOH changed obviously. The PPT content in the CNTs-COOH gel was 58.0 μg·mg-1; the transdermal penetration rate of PPT gel was 7.08 μg·cm-2·h-1 and that of the PPT-CNTs-COOH gel was 3.03 μg·cm-2·h-1; the skin retention of PPT-CNTs-COOH gel was 3.04 μg·cm-2, far less than the 1.52 μg·cm-2 of PPT gel. Mild irritation developed within 24 h following removal of the PPT-CNTs-COOH gel, and disappears after 72 h. CONCLUSION: Podophyllotoxin can successfully be loaded into the carboxylated multi-wall carbon nanotubes by using the frozen ball milling method. The product has remarkable sustained release effect in vitro and high retention in skin, which is beneficial to transdermal delivery.