Mesoporous silica functionalized with phenylamino and gluconamide groups: synthesis, characterization and use for sorption of diclofenac

Synthesis of SBA-15 mesoporous organosilicas functionalized by phenylamino and gluconamide groups is reported. The organosilicas have been synthesized by co-condensation of proper monomers in the presence of Pluronic P123, and characterized by nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffractometry, elemental analysis, and FTIR spectroscopy to get detailed information about their porous structure, ordering and presence of introduced functional groups. The obtained materials were tested as sorbents of model pharmaceutical (diclofenac) to verify a potential application for removal of pharmaceutical: the observed static sorption capacities were ~50mg/g and ~130mg/g, for phenylamino- and gluconamidefunctionalized samples, respectively, while for pristine sample no adsorption was observed

Poultry Manure Derived Biochars – The Impact of Pyrolysis Temperature on Selected Properties and Potentials for Further Modifications

The overall goal of this work was to investigate the potential of poultry manure for thermal conversion into biochar and the impact of temperature on selected biochar properties. Biochar is a solid carbonized material that demonstrates a number of interesting properties such as high microporosity and surface area, presence of surface functional groups and micro and macroelements. Therefore, it can be applied as a sorbent to remove organic and inorganic substances from liquid and gaseous phases, as an amendment in composting and anaerobic fermentation, a component of fertilizers and soil improver or as a filler in production of biocomposites. The scope of this work included: collection and analysis of poultry manure samples from an organic poultry farm (a), laboratory pyrolysis of poultry manure in selected temperatures (400-700 °C) (b), the analysis of biochar properties (chemical composition, surface area, functional groups, etc.) produced at different temperatures (c) and discussion of potential applications for the produced poultry derived biochars (d). The efficiency of conversion of poultry manure to biochar was about 62% for 400 °C and about 55% for 700 °C. The obtained results demonstrated that biochars produced from poultry manure showed a complex chemical composition. The following elements were present: carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, potassium, calcium, iron. Surface area of the obtained biochars was very low (about 5 m2g−1). Gradual aromatization of the investigated biochar and the formation of wide range of oxygen functionalities were observed. In view to the obtained results poultry manure derived biochars due to chemical composition could be potentially applied as a component of fertilizers, soil improvers and composts. However, other applications such as removal of various contaminants, e.g., from wastewater or exhaust air would require additional modification through thermal and/or chemical treatment

Revealing importance of particles’ surface functionalization on the properties of magnetic alginate hydrogels

Iron/silica core-shell microparticles (IMPs) were functionalized by different functional groups including amine, glycidoxy, phenyl, and thiocyanate. Many of the IMPs modifications are reported for the first time. The resulting surface chemistry turned out to affect the properties of magnetic alginate hydrogels fabricated from sodium alginate and dispersed IMPs. Differences in magnetorheological properties of the obtained magnetic hydrogels can be at least partially attributed to the interactions between alginate and surface functionalities of IMPs. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to get detailed insight into those interactions in order to link them with the observed macroscopic properties of the obtained hydrogels. For example, amine groups on the IMPs surface resulted in well-formed hydrogels while the presence of thiocyanate or phenyl groups – in poorly formed ones. This observation can be used for tuning the properties of various carbohydrate-based hydrogels.Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) for supporting the research and his stay at the University of Granada in the frame of the Bekker programme fellowship no. PPN/BEK/2018/1/00235/U/00001FIS2017-85954-R (Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, MINECO, and Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI, Spain, cofunded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER, European Union

Bridged Polysilsesquioxanes as a Promising Class of Adsorbents. A Concise Review

Bridged polysilsesquioxanes (BPs) are an emerging group of organic-inorganic hybrid materials in which organic moieties are built into a siloxane matrix by hydrolytically stable covalent carbon-silicon bonds. The formation of these solids is kinetically controlled, i.e., all synthesis parameters that can influence the kinetics of the sol-gel process affect both physical and chemical properties of target materials. Structure-adsorption characteristics such as porosity, specific surface area, pore volume or surface composition are also easily modulated during sol-gel processing by a suitable choice of synthesis conditions. The possibility of tailoring the properties makes BPs potential candidates for adsorption applications – several works describing such attempts have appeared in the literature to date. In this paper, the synthesis strategy, creation of porosity and some examples of using BPs as adsorbents are briefly discussed

Nanoporous Silica-Based Materials for Sorption of Pharmaceuticals and Biomolecules

Our concern in this paper is to review four kinds of mesoporous silica materials which can be used as potential sorbents for pharmaceuticals. It is known that a continuous development of science, medicine and food industry has an effect on contamination of the natural environment. Moreover, many impurities, such as drugs, vitamins or proteins etc., which get into environment from urban and hospital wastes, can also influence on human organisms. Thus, there is a need to control an amount of those compounds, especially in the natural waters and wastewaters [1-4]. In this work, we present four types of silica materials which can be helpful in water purification by using adsorption process

An effective scaling frequency factor method (ESFF): review and local factors transferability problem

Scaling procedures are known to reproduce very accurate vibrational spectra provided that multiparameter scaling in conjunction with high-quality force fields is carried out. In contrast to purely theoretical approaches (variational and perturbational), they are applicable to large systems. In this work, a brief review of the scaling procedures is given. The emphasis is put on the recently proposed effective scaling frequency factor (ESFF) method [Chem. Phys. Lett., 446, 191, (2007), J. Mol. Spectr., 264, 66, (2010)] - the multiparameter frequency scaling method providing better scaled frequencies than the well-established scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) force field approach. In addition, the results of our calculations on the benzene-based related systems, i.e., benzene and most of its methyl derivatives, are presented. The calculations concern the middle- and low-frequency range of the vibrational spectra, where strong mixing of the local vibrations often takes place. The factors transferability problem is discussed

Факторы, определяющие решения насчет семейных туристских поездок по мнению молодежи средних школ

W artykule zaprezentowano wyniki badań nad czynnikami podejmowania decyzji o rodzinnym wyjeździe turystycznym, przeprowadzonych wśród młodzieży ponadgimnazjalnej w Polsce. Celem zrealizowanych badań było określenie motywów uczestnictwa w rodzinnych wyjazdach turystycznych przez młodzież, jak również określenie głównych decydentów w opinii uczniów, jak możliwości i skali ich wpływu na różne elementy takiego wyjazdu. Wyniki pokazują, że wpływ na decyzje odnośnie tego typu wyjazdów przez młodzież jest znaczący, jednak to głównie sami rodzice podejmują najważniejsze decyzje dotyczące organizacji samego wyjazdu. Coraz bardziej znaczącymi motywami tego typu wyjazdów są motywy eskapistyczne, które wypierają motywy czysto hedonistyczne, w dalszym ciągu ważna jest jednak u młodzieży otwartość na świat i nowe doświadczenia.The article presents results of research on motivations and family decision making in tourism, conducted in secondary schools in Poland. The purpose of completed research was to determine the motives of participation in family tourism trips by youth as well as to identify the key decision makers such as the possibility and scale of their impact on various elements of such a trip. The results show that the impact on decisions about this kind of migration by youth is significant; however, it is mainly the parents who make the most important decisions regarding organisation of the trip. Increasingly important motives of this kind of migration are escapist motives that displace the purely hedonistic motives; however, youth openness to the world and new experiences is still important.В статье представлены результаты исследований по факторам принятия решений насчет семейной туристской поездки, проведенных среди молоде жи средних школ в Польше. Целью осуществленных обследований являлось определение мотивов принятия участия молодежи в семейных туристских по- ездках, а также указание основных решающих факторов по мнению учащихся, таких как возможности и масштаб их влияния на разные элементы такой поездки. Результаты показывают, что влияние молодежи на решения о таких поездках значительно, хотя в основном родители сами принимают основные решения, касающиеся организации самой поездки. Все более значительными мотивами такого рода поездок являются эскейпистические мотивы, которые вытесняют чисто гедонистические мотивы; по-прежнему однако для молоде- жи важны открытость на мир и новый опыт

Synthesis and Characterization of Activated Carbons Obtained from Nutshells

Walnut and hazelnut shells were used to prepare activated carbons using potassium hydroxide as an activation agent. The obtained activated carbons presented a specific surface areas of 1661 and 1322 m2/g and pore total volumes of 0.80 and 0.65 cm3/g, respectively. Moreover, the obtained activated carbons presented high quantity of micropores in their structure and that is why they have a great potential for environmental applications and they could be an alternative to commercially available activated carbons from the viewpoint of adsorption capacity. This paper proves that walnut and hazelnut shells have got a large potential as precursors to obtaining activated carbons and they could be successfully converted into a well-developed porous materials by chemical activation