Development of Sustainable Hydrophobic Coatings for Textiles Based on Nitrogen Deposition.

This study investigates the use of copper nitride ( Cu3N) thin films as a hydrophobic coating for acrylic textiles, offering a safer and more sustainable alternative to conventional fluorocarbon-based treatments. Copper nitride is a non-toxic, abundant, and cost-effective semiconductor material with tunable properties, yet its application in textiles remains largely unexplored. In this work, Cu3N coatings were deposited on acrylic fabric using reactive sputtering at room temperature, 50W of power and 3.5 Pa of working pressure, under two different gas atmospheres: pure nitrogen ( N2) and a nitrogen-argon ( N2 + Ar) mixture. Deposition times were varied at 60, 90, and 120 min to evaluate the influence of process duration on hydrophobic performance. Hydrophobicity was assessed by measuring the water contact angle on coated samples, both in their initial state and after mechanical stress tests including washing and folding. The results demonstrated strong hydrophobic behavior across all samples, with contact angles ranging from 96.30° to 113.68°. Notably, coatings deposited under N2 + Ar showed slightly enhanced performance and durability compared to those deposited under pure N₂. The entire process was conducted at room temperature and generated no chemical waste, highlighting its environmental advantages. These findings suggest that copper nitride coatings can effectively impart hydrophobicity to textiles without relying on harmful fluorinated compounds. The combination of performance, safety, and sustainability positions Cu3N as a promising candidate for future textile finishing technologies

Chemical Texturization Processes for Non-conventional Silicon Substrates for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cell Applications

The present work addresses the exhaustive study of the surfaces of multicrystalline silicon wafers after being subjected to a texturization process for silicon heterojunction solar cell applications. The investigations described include the effect that the time of isotropic etching based on combinations of hydrofluoric and nitric acids has on the reflectance, the morphology of the surfaces and the surface recombination through the evolution of the implicit open-circuit voltage. The influence of previous treatments and the elimination of porous silicon or silicon oxide formed on wafer surfaces as a consequence of these texturization processes are also addressed. Textured multicrystalline silicon wafer surfaces with a good uniformity and low weighted hemispherical reflectances (23–24%) have been achieved with short etching times. These texturization processes have also been tested on upgraded metallurgical silicon wafers, resulting in weighted hemispherical reflectance values around 23%, but at the cost of the appearance of important surface defects

A novel locus for autosomal dominant nonsyndromic hearing loss (DFNA44) maps to chromosome 3q28–29

En este artículo se describe un nuevo locus asociado a hipoacusia abordando la localización del mismo desde la genética clásica. La pérdida auditiva neurosensorial no sindrómica hereditaria (NSSHL) es un grupo de trastornos genéticamente muy heterogéneos. Las formas autosómicas dominantes representan hasta el 20 % de los casos. Hasta la fecha, se han identificado 39 loci mediante el análisis de ligamiento de familias afectadas que segregan formas de NSSHL en el modo autosómico dominante (DFNA). La investigación de una gran familia española NSSHL bilateral y progresiva de inicio postlingual con herencia autosómica dominante excluyó el ligamiento con los loci DFNA conocidos y, en un análisis de ligamiento a genoma completo posterior, el locus del trastorno se mapeó en la región 3q28-29. Se obtuvo una puntuación LOD máxima de dos puntos de 4,36 en θ=0 para el marcador D3S1601. El análisis de haplotipos situó el nuevo locus, DFNA44, dentro de un intervalo genético de 3 cM definido por los marcadores D3S1314 y D3S2418. El análisis de heterodúplex y la secuenciación del ADN de las regiones codificantes y los límites de los exones/intrones de dos genes (CLDN16 y FGF12) en este intervalo no revelaron mutaciones causantes de la enfermedad

Life Cycle Assessment and Soil Nitrogen Balance of different N fertilizers for top dressing rye as energy crop for electricity generation

Nitrogen fertilizers have been identified in energy crops LCAs as the main contributors to global warming, as well as to many other environmental impacts. The distinct production process and application emissions of nitrogen fertilizer types for top dressing produce different GHG savings when energy crops value chains are compared to fossil energy alternatives. In this study, three types of fertilizers (calcium ammonium nitrate, urea and ammonium sulphate) at N top dressing rates of 80 kg N/ha are used to grow rye for electricity generation under the conditions of the Continental Mediterranean climate of central-northern Spain. Complete LCAs for the whole value chain based on real data were performed in conjunction with soil nitrogen balances (SNBs) to assess the accomplishment of European Union (EU) GHG savings sustainability criteria, as well as the sustainability of fertilization practices for soil nitrogen stocks. The results obtained can provide interesting insights for policy making, since calcium ammonium nitrate, the most common fertilizer for rye crops, led to 66% GHG savings, as opposed to the 69% achieved when applying urea and 77% when ammonium sulphate was used. Nevertheless, the three fertilizers produced annual soil deficits greater than 50 kg N/ha. In order to ensure savings above 80%, as required by the EU sustainability criteria, and sustainable SNBs, additional optimization measures should be taken at key points of the value chain.This research has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and the Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Funds through the projects PSE ON Cultivos and INNPACTO DECOCEL. The APC was funded by ICAI—Comillas Pontifical University

Mechanical Properties of Dense Cordierite Discs Sintered by Solar Radiation Heating

Consolidation of cordierite disc specimens was undertaken under concentrated solar beam in a solar furnace at PSA (Plataforma Solar de Almería). Satisfactory extent of densification was achieved by the present solar-sintering experiment. The mechanical properties measured for the solar-sintered cordierite test pieces were; density ρ=2.45±0.02 g/cm3, Vickers microhardness HV=7.31±0.29 GPa, Young’s modulus E=97±5 GPa, shear modulus G=38±2 GPa, Poisson ratio ν=0.27±0.01, fracture toughness KIC=1.50±0.15 MPa·m1⁄2 and modulus of rupture evaluated by ring-on-ring test MORROR=57.8±13.7 MPa which were comparable to those of the counterparts sintered by conventional industrial gas urnace.EU-DGXII IMPROVING HUMAN POTENTIAL Project, contract Nº.HPRI-CT-2001-0016

Solar sintering of alumina ceramics: Microstructural development

Alumina powders were lab-synthesized and then sintered on a solar furnace (SF) in order to test the capability of these solar devices to produce dense ceramic bodies. The special configuration of the SF at Plataforma Solar de Almerı´a (PSA-CIEMAT) in Spain, allowed to perform several experiments using high temperatures (up to 1780 C), fast heating rates (50 and 100 C min 1) and different atmospheres (air, Ar and 95N2:5H2). For comparison, similar alumina samples were sintered in an electric furnace (EF) using standard conditions (5 C min 1 at 1600 C during 240 min in air). An exhaustive microstructural characterization by scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopies were performed on the sintered materials. Results for SF-samples showed a well-sintered alumina matrix of polyhedral grains even using shorter dwell times and higher heat-up rates than the conventional sintering. Obtained microstructures are in agreement with the presence of some impurities (mainly SiO2, CaO, ZrO2 and MgO) which are distributed at grain boundaries, triple points and matrix voids. For solar treatments, the variations of sintering parameters produced significant changes on matrix grain size, porosity and distribution of second phases. An important grain growth and density increase was observed after solar sintering on those tests performed at 1780 C and under N2:H2 sintering atmosphere. The gathered data point out once more the convenience of solar furnace as sintering reactors to obtain ceramic materials with improved grain sizes.Funded by CICYT through Project FTN2003-03855 and forms part of the European Fusion Technology Programm

APLICACIONES DE LOS SISTEMAS DE INFORMACIÓN GEOGRÁFICA (SIG) EN EL DESARROLLO DE LA ENERGÍA SOLAR: UNA REVISIÓN DEL ESTADO DEL ARTE

Presentación CIES2026MDP

Evolution of the THC conditions in the FEBEX in situ test after 18 years of experiment: Smectite crystallochemical modifications after interactions of the bentonite with a C-steel heater at 100 ??C

Fern??ndez, A.M., Kaufhold, S., S??nchez-Ledesma, D.M., Rey, J.J., Mel??n, A., Robredo, L.M., Fern??ndez, S., Labajo, M., Clavero, M.A., 2018. Evolution of the THC conditions in the FEBEX in situ test after 18 years of experiment: Smectite crystallochemical modifications after interactions of the bentonite with a C-steel heater at 100?????C. Applied Geochemistry 98, pp. 152-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2018.09.008. Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2018.09.008.Chemical and mineralogical investigations of the FEBEX repository demonstration experiment after 18 years confirmed those reactions which were identified in previous large scale tests: Fe-corrosion, Mg-accumulation, cation exchange, and mineral dissolution/precipitation. These reactions were mostly restricted to the bentonite-heater contact. However, other processes were detected. Fe oxidation of carbon-containing steel was dominated by oxic corrosion and hydrolysis possibly through a similar Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction, leading to the monitored generation of H2, CO2 and both reduced (alkanes, alkenes) and oxidized non-volatile (carboxylic acids) hydrocarbons, which are in partial equilibrium with CO2/carbonate under oxidation states highly reduced. Therefore, temperature, water, oxygen (due to no gas-tight conditions), and other oxidizing agents regulated the redox state and activities of all species involved in the bentonite barrier, being sulfates reduced to H2S and pyrite, Fe-oxides (hematite/goethite) to magnetite and siderite, and Fe(III)-bearing smectite to saponite and chlorite. These mineral phases were detected as main corrosion products. The dissolved Fe2+ ions generated by reduction of Fe-oxides diffused away forming surrounding greenish halos in the bentonite. Because air was not excluded, most of the corrosion was oxic but locally reducing conditions were established. Significant Mg accumulation was observed at the heater contact, which is related with the highest salinity values of the porewater (NaeMgeCaeCl water-type, 0.41M ionic strength), the presence of saponite (trioctahedral Mg-smectite), brucite and Fe-rich chlorite; and a modification in the dehydroxylation temperature of the dioctahedral smectite clay mineral particles, together with the precipitation of carbonates and an increase in Ca/ Mg at interlayer sites, Na being depleted. The mechanism for the structural clay mineral alteration seems to be Fe(III) structural reduction, rather than the C-steel heater/liner corrosion. Because Fe2+ cations are more stable in trans octahedral sites, rearrangements in crystal lattice seem to have formed cis-trans interstratifications favouring the migration of Mg to octahedral sites and the segregation of Mg2+ trioctahedral domains. Thus, both a solid-state transformation, producing high-charge/low charge layers similar to vermiculite ones; as well as dissolution-precipitation transformation, with the crystallization of a trioctahedral Mg-smectite (saponite), brucite and chlorite in localized zones of the bentonite barrier, seem to be inferred, depending probably on f(O2), temperature, the amount of structural Fe(II) and Mg concentration in the pore water. The observed clay mineral transformations induced changes in some of the physico-chemical properties of the bentonite, decreasing the total cation exchange capacity and BET surface area. However, these modifications were restricted to the bentonite at close contact with the heater. The rest of bentonite from the FEBEX in situ test maintained its performance as an engineered barrier

Combination of Models to Generate the First PAR Maps for Spain

This work addresses the development of a PAR model in the entire territory of mainland Spain. Thus, a specific model is developed for each location of the study field. The new PAR model consists of a combination of the estimates of two previous models that had unequal performances in different climates. In fact, one of them showed better results with Mediterranean climate, whereas the other obtained better results under oceanic climate. Interestingly, the new PAR model showed similar performance when validated at seven stations in mainland Spain with Mediterranean or oceanic climate. Furthermore, all validation slopes ranged from 0.99 to 1.00; the intercepts were less than 3.70 umol m-2 s-1; the R2 were greater than 0.988, while MBE was closer to zero percent than -0.39%; and RMSE were less than 6.21%. The estimates of the PAR model introduced in this work were then used to develop PAR maps over mainland Spain that represent daily PAR averages of each month and a full year at all locations in the study field

SOSTENIBILIDAD DEL PLAN ENERG??TICO ARGENTINO 2030 Resultados Preliminares

El presente trabajo busca estudiar la sostenibilidad del plan energ etico argentino hacia el a~no 2030 con m ultiples opciones. Para ello se desarrolla el concepto de sostenibilidad y sus componentes mas importantes. Al hablar de sostenibilidad se debe considerar el concepto a nivel mundial, con la cooperaci on colectiva de todas las Naciones. El no tomar acciones en los consumos energ eticos actuales podr a comprometer el bienestar de futuras generaciones alterando en forma notable el planeta tierra. Se aborda tambi en el concepto de modelos energ eticos y su importancia para poder guiar los planes energ eticos de una Naci on. En simultaneo se describe su estructura, analizando su conveniencia y exponiendo los aspectos de los modelos y el error que cometen