Multicomponent heavy metals adsorption on functionalized swelling micas: Mechanistic insights and structural evolution

Heavy metal contamination is a critical environmental issue, often involving complex multicomponent systems. Swelling brittle micas, a family of designer sorbents, have demonstrated exceptional heavy metal removal capabilities, yet their behabior in competitive adsorption systems remains largely unexplored. This study systematically investigates the simultaneous uptake of Pb2*, Cd2*, and Hg2* on both as-synthesized brittle mica…

Voids and nanopores in nanocolumnar platinum thin films grown by magnetron sputtering and evaporation at oblique angles: A comparative analysis

Nanocolumnar thin films deposited at oblique angle (OA) by magnetron sputtering or evaporation often show common structural aspects when grown under equivalent geometrical conditions. This is the case of the column tilt angle as a function of the geometrical deposition arrangement, which coincides for some materials no matter the technique. This feature has usually been…

Direct observation of interface-dependent activity in NiO/CeO2 for effective low-temperature CO oxidation

In contemporary catalytic interface exploration, experimental studies often take a backseat to theoretical simulations, hindering the development of pristine catalytic interfaces. This research leverages monolayer dispersion theory to design an efficient CO oxidation catalyst through precise manipulation of non-precious metal NiO-CeO2 interfaces. Employing the pioneering XRD extrapolation method, we fabricated monolayer dispersed Ni-O-Ce and Ce-O-Ni…

Long-lasting low fluorinated stainless steel hierarchical surfaces for omniphobic, anti-fouling and anti-icing applications

Stainless steel (SS) alloys are prevalent in many industries, household appliances or other commodities, where a strict control of surface properties is required to tailor their interaction with the environment. In this work we report a new procedure of stainless steel surface processing that provides a multifunctional response including superhydrophobicity, omniphobicity, self-cleaning, anti-fouling and effective…

Synthesis of sol-gel pyrophyllite/TiO2 heterostructures: Effect of calcination temperature and methanol washing on photocatalytic activity

We successfully synthesized an efficient photoactive pyrophyllite/TiO2 heterostructures using a sol-gel route at ambient temperature. The samples were prepared by exfoliation of a pyrophyllite layered-type clay by TiO2. The prepared samples exhibited strong photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol. The heterostructure PTi750 (SBET = 16.58 m2/g) calcined at 750 °C, in which the mixed phases of anatase and rutile exist (52.2% anatase/10.7% rutile), showed the highest photocatalytic activity against commercial…