Hydrotherapy (Project Hydriades)

Natural resources are being used for the maintenance of health. According to the Law 3498/2006 of the Greek Parliament the natural health spas must be validated for their therapeutic properties. The Association of Municipalities and Communities of Health Springs of Greece signed a contract with the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in order to conduct the research programme: ‘Study for the documentation of the therapeutic properties of the thermomineral waters’. The main aim of the project is: (1) the study of biological and therapeutic parameters of the natural health sources, (2) the identification of the indications and contraindications of hydrotherapy. Aims parallel to the main ones have been also set

Heterogeneous Catalytic Ozonation of p-Chlorobenzoic Acid in Aqueous Solution by FeMnOOH and PET

The oxidation of p-chlorobenzoic acid (p-CBA), used as a typical-model refractory organic compound, in aqueous solutions during the heterogeneous catalytic ozonation treatment process by applying the hydrophilic tetravalent manganese feroxyhyte (TMFx), as well as modified hydrophobic TMFx and the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as solid (powdered) catalysts was examined in this study. TMFx was hydrophobically modified by using trichloromethylsilane (TriClMS) solutions in toluene at the concentration range 10–1000 mg/L. TMFx catalysts were characterized by the application of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as by Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and surface charge density determinations. TMFx catalyst, which was modified by 50 mg/L trichloromethylsilane (TriClMS) solution (TMFx-50), was found to present the higher adsorption capacity of studied organic compound (250 μg p-CBA/g) when compared with all the other investigated catalysts, which in turn resulted in the higher removal of p-CBA (>99%) by the subsequent application of ozonation, as compared to hydrophilic TMFx (96.5%) and to single ozonation (96%) applications. PET-catalyst concentration in the range 0.5–10 g/L led to almost total removal of p-CBA within 15 min of reaction/oxidation time at pH 7. Conclusively, the experimental results for both catalysts indicated that hydrophobicity and adsorption capacity are crucial steps for the process of heterogeneous catalytic ozonation of refractory organic compounds

Governing the morphology of Pt-Au heteronanocrystals with improved electrocatalytic performance

Platinum–gold heteronanostructures comprising either dimer (Pt–Au) or core–satellite (Pt@Au) configurations were synthesized by means of a seeded growth procedure using platinum nanodendrites as seeds. Careful control of the reduction kinetics of the gold precursor can be used to direct the nucleation and growth of gold nanoparticles on either one or multiple surface sites simultaneously, leading to the formation of either dimers or core–satellite nanoparticles, respectively, in high yields. Characterization by electron tomography and high resolution electron microscopy provided a better understanding of the actual three-dimensional particle morphology, as well as the Au–Pt interface, revealing quasi-epitaxial growth of Au on Pt. The prepared Pt–Au bimetallic nanostructures are highly efficient catalysts for ethanol oxidation in alkaline solution, showing accurate selectivity, high sensitivity, and improved efficiency by generating higher current densities than their monometallic counterparts