Room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have garnered considerable research attention owing to their excellent luminescence properties and potential application prospects in ...anti‐counterfeiting, information storage, and optoelectronics. However, several RTP systems are extremely sensitive to humidity, and consequently, the realization of long‐lived RTP in water remains a formidable challenge. Herein, a feasible and effective strategy is presented to achieve long‐lived polymeric RTP systems, even in an aqueous environment, through doping of synthesized polymeric phosphor PBHDB into a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. Compared to the precursor polymer PBN and organic molecule HDBP, a more rigid polymer microenvironment and electrostatic interaction are formed between the PMMA matrix and polymer PBHDB, which effectively reduce the nonradiative decay rate of triplet excitons and dramatically increase the phosphorescence intensity. Specifically, the phosphorescence lifetime of the PBHDB@PMMA film (1258.62 ms) is much longer than those of PBN@PMMA (674.20 ms) and HDBP@PMMA (1.06 ms). Most importantly, a bright‐green afterglow can be observed after soaking the PBHDB@PMMA film in water for more than a month. The excellent water resistance and reversible response properties endow these systems with promising potential for dynamic information encryption even in water.
A long‐lived polymeric room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) system is developed based on the electrostatic interaction acting between a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix and a polymer phosphor. The quaternization of the polymeric phosphors significantly enhances the RTP performance, and a bright‐green phosphorescence with a lifetime of 960 ms can be observed even after soaking in water for a month.
Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), represented by steroidal estrogens (estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estradiol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and xenoestrogens (bisphenol A (BPA) and ...nonylphenol (NP)), are pollutants with estrogenic activity at very low concentrations and are emerging as a major concern for water quality. They enter into aqueous environment mainly through discharge of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. The paper completely reviews recent studies on the occurrence of the six categories of EDCs in different aqueous environment, namely surface water, groundwater, drinking water, and wastewater in WWTPs all over the world. Furthermore, due to the high bioactivity, ubiquitous distribution, potential ecological effects, and persistence of the six categories of EDCs, the work summarizes current knowledge of their bacterial biodegradation, which is considered to be an efficient and promising method of removing EDCs. A wide range of bacteria isolated from various environments and affiliated to all kinds of genera with different degradation powers for EDCs are collected in this review in order to select specific strains adapting well to local conditions for bioremediation of freshwater, seawater, soil, sediment with low or high levels of EDCs. Finally, it emphasizes the need for further research and summarizes the future tasks that emerge from the data gathered here.
Microplastics (MPs) have recently attracted much attention due to their widespread distribution in the aquatic environment. Microplastics can act as a vector of heavy metals in the aquatic ...environment, causing a potential threat to aquatic organisms and human health. This review mainly summarized the occurrence of microplastics in the aquatic environment and their interaction with heavy metals. Then, we considered the adsorption mechanisms of MPs and heavy metals, and further critically discussed the effects of microplastics properties and environmental factors (e.g., pH, DOM, and salinity) on the adsorption of heavy metals. Finally, the potential risks of combined exposure of MPs and heavy metals to aquatic biota were briefly evaluated. This work aims to provide a theoretical summary of the interaction between MPs and heavy metals, and is expected to serve as a reference for the accurate assessment of their potential risks in future studies.
•Microplastics serve as vectors of heavy metals in the aquatic environment.•The possible mechanisms of heavy metal adsorption by microplastics are complex.•Microplastics properties and environmental factors affect heavy metal adsorption.•Co-exposure of microplastics and heavy metals may have different effects on aquatic biota.
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•New ReaxFF reactive force field was applied to simulate the tribochemical wear process at Si/SiO2 interface.•Wear of silicon atoms is due to the breaking of Si–O–Si bonds and ...Si–Si–O–Si bond chains on the Si substrate.•Interfacial bridge bonds play an important role during the tribochemical wear process.•Higher pressures applied to the silica phase can cause more Si atoms to be removed by forming more interfacial bridge bonds.•Water plays an opposing role in the wear process because of its both chemical and mechanical effects.
In this work, the atomic mechanism of tribochemical wear of silicon at the Si/SiO2 interface in aqueous environment was investigated using ReaxFF molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Two types of Si atom removal pathways were detected in the wear process. The first is caused by the destruction of stretched Si–O–Si bonds on the Si substrate surface and is assisted by the attachment of H atoms on the bridging oxygen atoms of the bonds. The other is caused by the rupture of Si–Si bonds in the stretched Si–Si–O–Si bond chains at the interface. Both pathways effectively remove Si atoms from the silicon surface via interfacial Si–O–Si bridge bonds. Our simulations also demonstrate that higher pressures applied to the silica phase can cause more Si atoms to be removed due to the formation of increased numbers of interfacial Si–O–Si bridge bonds. Besides, water plays a dual role in the wear mechanism, by oxidizing the Si substrate surface as well as by preventing the close contact of the surfaces. This work shows that the removal of Si atoms from the substrate is a result of both chemical reaction and mechanical effects and contributes to the understanding of tribochemical wear behavior in the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and Si chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process.
Microplastics (MPs) pollution has become a global environmental concern. MPs alone and in combination with pollutants can potentially cause significant harm to organisms and human beings. Weathering ...of MPs under various environmental stresses increases the uncertainty of their environmental fates. Compared with field surveys, laboratory simulation experiments are appropriate to simplify the research procedures and investigate the mechanisms. In this review, the effects of abrasion, solar radiation, chemical and thermal oxidation, microbial adhesion and colonization, and other environmental factors on the MPs and the relative laboratory simulation methods were summarized and discussed. Photo-oxidation and abrasion are the most appliable methods due to easy operation and adjustable weathering degree. Furthermore, the structural and components changes in weathering process and the applied characterization methods were generalized. In addition, one of important environmental behaviors, adsorption of the weathered MPs towards two typical pollutants was analyzed. Finally, three priorities for research were proposed. This paper conducts systematic summarized of the MPs weathering process and provides a reference for future studies to accurately determine the environmental risks of weathering MPs.
This review summarized the effect of environmental stresses on MPs in the marine environment and the relative laboratory simulation methods, and discussed the adsorption behaviors between weathered MPs and pollutants. Display omitted
•Photo-oxidation and abrasion are the most appliable microplastic weathering methods.•Weathering process change MPs’ adsorption performance and adsorption behavior.•Competitive/cooperative adsorption behavior of pollutants on MPs should be clarified.
Corrosion destroys more than three percent of the world’s gross domestic product. Therefore, the design of highly corrosion-resistant materials is urgently needed. By breaking the classical ...alloy-design philosophy, high-entropy alloys (HEAs) possess unique microstructures, which are solid solutions with random arrangements of multiple elements. The particular locally-disordered chemical environment is expected to lead to unique corrosion-resistant properties. In this review, the studies of the corrosion-resistant HEAs during the last decade are summarized. The corrosion-resistant properties of HEAs in various aqueous environments and the corrosion behavior of HEA coatings are presented. The effects of environments, alloying elements, and processing methods on the corrosion resistance are analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the possible directions of future work regarding the corrosion behavior of HEAs are suggested.
The frequent use of antibiotics allows them to enter aqueous environments via wastewater, and many types of antibiotics accumulate in the environment due to difficult degradation, causing a threat to ...environmental health. It is crucial to adopt effective technical means to remove antibiotics in aqueous environments. The Fenton reaction, as an effective organic pollution treatment technology, is particularly suitable for the treatment of antibiotics, and at present, it is one of the most promising advanced oxidation technologies. Specifically, rapid Fenton oxidation, which features high removal efficiency, thorough reactions, negligible secondary pollution, etc., has led to many studies on using the Fenton reaction to degrade antibiotics. This paper summarizes recent progress on the removal of antibiotics in aqueous environments by Fenton and Fenton-like reactions. First, the applications of various Fenton and Fenton-like oxidation technologies to the removal of antibiotics are summarized; then, the advantages and disadvantages of these technologies are further summarized. Compared with Fenton oxidation, Fenton-like oxidations exhibit milder reaction conditions, wider application ranges, great reduction in economic costs, and great improved cycle times, in addition to simple and easy recycling of the catalyst. Finally, based on the above analysis, we discuss the potential for the removal of antibiotics under different application scenarios. This review will enable the selection of a suitable Fenton system to treat antibiotics according to practical conditions and will also aid the development of more advanced Fenton technologies for removing antibiotics and other organic pollutants.
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•Fenton (like) reactions for removal of antibiotics from wastewater are summarized.•Comparison of the advantages/disadvantages of homogeneous/heterogeneous Fenton oxidation.•Heterogeneous Fenton reaction demonstrates the huge potential for antibiotics removal.
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•Honey is a rich source of reducing sugars – glucose and fructose.•Reducing sugars are the driving force in ARGET ATRP.•Efficient polymerization of water-soluble methacrylates in ...honey aqueous solution.•Polymerization of hydrophobic monomer in honey-containing miniemulsion provided linear and branched polymers.
Aqueous solutions of various types of honey as a source of reducing sugars – glucose and fructose, were used to accelerate or control activators regeneration by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP) in a homogeneous or heterogeneous environment. The aqueous or alcoholic-aqueous solution was applied for the polymerization of hydrophilic methacrylates i.e. 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), while the polymerization of a hydrophobic monomer – n-butyl acrylate (nBA) was conducted in miniemulsion under ion-pair and interfacial catalysis. The polymerization of DMAEMA in a honey solution accelerated the polymerization rate up to 30-fold with a significant improvement in the control over the structure of the product, namely, the polymers were characterized by narrow molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn = 1.33), and initiation efficiency up to 98 %. Controlled polymerization of nBA was conducted in a honey-contained miniemulsion. Honey-based miniemulsion was successfully checked for the synthesis of both linear and branched polymers. The use of chemical reducing agents found in commercially available food products for polymerization is an economic concept that eliminates the need for high purity laboratory reagents, moreover, food products are widely available and therefore much cheaper. The proposed concept has great potential for industrial applications.
Chitosan, chitooligosaccharides and their derivatives’ production and use in many fields may result in their release to the environment, possibly affecting aquatic organisms. Both an experimental and ...a computational approach were considered for evaluating the effects of these compounds on Lemna minor. Based on the determined EC50 values against L. minor, only D-glucosamine hydrochloride (EC50 = 11.55 mg/L) was considered as “slightly toxic” for aquatic environments, while all the other investigated compounds, having EC50 > 100 mg/L, were considered as “practically non-toxic”. The results obtained in the experimental approach were in good agreement with the predictions obtained using the admetSAR2.0 computational tool, revealing that the investigated compounds were not considered toxic for crustacean, fish and Tetrahymena pyriformis aquatic microorganisms. The ADMETLab2.0 computational tool predicted the values of IGC50 for Tetrahymena pyriformis and the LC50 for fathead minnow and Daphnia magna, with the lowest values of these parameters being revealed by totally acetylated chitooligosaccharides in correlation with their lowest solubility. The effects of the chitooligosaccharides and chitosan on L. minor decreased with increased molecular weight, increased with the degree of deacetylation and were reliant on acetylation patterns. Furthermore, the solubility mainly influenced the effects on the aqueous environment, with a higher solubility conducted to lower toxicity.
Pure water scarcity is an emerging, all-around problem that globally affects both the life quality and the world’s economy. Heterogeneous photocatalysis under solar irradiation is a promising ...technique for the organic pollutants (e.g., pesticides, drugs) removal from an aqueous environment. Furthermore, the drawbacks of commercially available photocatalysts can be successfully overcome by using innovative nanoparticles, such as ZrO2/Fe3O4. Four ZrO2/Fe3O4 nanopowders with a different mass ratio of ZrO2 and Fe3O4 were synthesized using the chemical co-precipitation method. XRD analysis showed the presence of magnetite and hematite Fe-oxide phases in all samples. The content of the magnetite phase increased with the addition of 19% ZrO2. The efficiency of the newly synthesized ZrO2/Fe3O4 nanoparticles was investigated in the rapid removal of selected pollutants under various experimental conditions. Nevertheless, the influence of the water matrix on photocatalytic degradation was also examined. The obtained data showed that using ZrO2/Fe3O4 nanosystems, an appropriate removal rate of the selected pesticides and pharmaceuticals can be reached after 120 min of solar irradiation. Further, the total organic carbon measurements proved the mineralization of the target emerging pollutants. ZrO2/Fe3O4 nanoparticles are economically feasible, as their removal from the suspension can be easily achieved using affordable, environmentally-friendly magnetic separation.
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