scholarly journals Soil Pollution Characteristics and Microbial Responses in a Vertical Profile with Long-Term Tannery Sludge Contamination in Hebei, China

Author(s):  
Xiangke Kong ◽  
Chunhui Li ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Guoxin Huang ◽  
Zhitao Li ◽  
...  

An investigation was made into the effects of tannery sludge on soil chemical properties and microbial communities in a typical soil profile with long-term tannery sludge contamination, North China. The results showed that trivalent chromium (Cr(III)), ammonium, organic nitrogen, salinity and sulfide were the predominant contaminants in tannery sludge. Although the tannery sludge contained high chromium (Cr, 3,0970 mg/kg), the proportion of mobile Cr forms (exchangeable plus carbonate-bound fraction) only accounted for 1.32%. The X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results further demonstrated that the Cr existed in a stable state of oxides and iron oxides. The alkaline loam soil had a significant retardation effect on the migration of salinity, ammonium, Cr(III) and sulfide, and the accumulation of these contaminants occurred in soils (0–40 cm). A good correlation (R2 = 0.959) was observed between total organic carbon (TOC) and Cr(III) in the soil profile, indicating that the dissolved organic matter from sludge leachate promoted the vertical mobility of Cr(III) via forming Cr(III)-organic complexes. The halotolerant bacteria (Halomonas and Tepidimicrobium) and organic degrading bacteria (Flavobacteriaceae, Tepidimicrobium and Balneola) became the dominant microflora in the soil profile. High contents of salinity, Cr and nitrogen were the main environmental factors affecting the abundance of indigenous microorganisms in soils.

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
RB Hacker

Species responses to grazing and environmental factors were studied in an arid halophytic shrubland community in Western Australia. The grazing responses of major shrub species were defined by using reciprocal averaging ordination of botanical data, interpreted in conjunction with a similar ordination of soil chemical properties and measures of soil erosion derived from large-scale aerial photographs. An apparent small-scale interaction between grazing and soil salinity was also defined. Long-term grazing pressure is apparently reduced on localised areas of high salinity. Environmental factors affecting species distribution are complex and appear to include soil salinity, soil cationic balance, geomorphological variation and the influence of cryptogamic crusts on seedling establishment.


Catalysts ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Yang Dang ◽  
Yu Cheng ◽  
Yukun Zhou ◽  
Yifei Huang ◽  
Kaige Wang

The treatment of organic dye contaminants in wastewaters has now becoming more imperative. Fenton-like degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solution was investigated by using a nanostructure that a layer of CuCl2 nanoflake film grown on the top surface of nanoporus anodic alumina substrate (nano-PAA-CuCl2) as catalyst. The new nano-PAA-CuCl2 composite was fabricated with self-assembly approach, that is, a network porous structure film composed of CuCl2 nanoflake grown on the upper surface of nanoporous anodic alumina substrate, and the physical and chemical properties are characterized systematically with the X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The experimental results showed that the nano-PAA-CuCl2 catalyst presented excellent properties for the degradation of two typical organic pollutants such as MB and MO, which were almost completely degraded with 8 × 10−4mol/L nano-PAA-CuCl2 catalyst after 46 min and 60 min at reaction conditions of H2O2 18 mM and 23 mM, respectively. The effects of different reaction parameters such as initial pH, H2O2 concentration, catalyst morphology and temperature were attentively studied. And more, the stability and reusability of nano-PAA-CuCl2 were examined. Finally, the mechanism of MB and MO degradation by the nano-PAA-CuCl2/H2O2 system was proposed, based on the experimental data of the BCA and the temperature-programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and theoretical analysis, the reaction kinetics belonged to the pseudo-first-order equation. This new nanoporous composite material and preparation technology, as well as its application in Fenton-like reaction, provide an effective alternative method with practical application significance for wastewater treatment.


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Rouxhet ◽  
N. Mozes

The thermodynamic approach of adhesion and DLVO theory are complementary to predict initial bacterial adhesion; the interplay between short- and long-range forces, respectively, may be due to surface roughness. Due to the influence of electrical double layer interactions, adhesion can be promoted by treatments leading to modification of the cell or support surface properties. Adhesion is influenced by cell-cell interactions, by the cpresence of polymer molecules on the surface and by the composition of the medium. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy can be applied to determine the elemental composition of the surface of microorganisms; some information on the chemical functions can also be obtained. The surface composition is related to physico-chemical properties which play a determining role in adhesion and flocculation, in particular the hydrophobicity and the zeta potential.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binbin Zhang ◽  
Weichen Xu ◽  
Qingjun Zhu ◽  
Shuai Yuan ◽  
Yantao Li

The massive and long-term service of 5083 aluminum alloy (AA5083) is restricted by several shortcomings in marine and industrial environments, such as proneness to localized corrosion attack, surface contamination, etc. Herein, we report a facile and cost-effective strategy to transform intrinsic hydrophilicity into water-repellent superhydrophobicity, combining fluorine-free chemisorption of a hydrophobic agent with etching texture. Dual-scale hierarchical structure, surface height relief and surface chemical elements were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), successively. Detailed investigations of the wetting property, self-cleaning effect, NaCl-particle self-propelling, corrosion and long-term behavior of the consequent superhydrophobic AA5083 surface were carried out, demonstrating extremely low adhesivity and outstanding water-repellent, self-cleaning and corrosion-resisting performance with long-term stability. We believe that the low cost, scalable and fluorine-free transforming of metallic surface wettability into waterproof superhydrophobicity is a possible strategy towards anti-contamination and marine anti-corrosion.


Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyojong Cho ◽  
Sungjun Kim

In this work, we emulate biological synaptic properties such as long-term plasticity (LTP) and short-term plasticity (STP) in an artificial synaptic device with a TiN/TiO2/WOx/Pt structure. The graded WOx layer with oxygen vacancies is confirmed via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The control TiN/WOx/Pt device shows filamentary switching with abrupt set and gradual reset processes in DC sweep mode. The TiN/WOx/Pt device is vulnerable to set stuck because of negative set behavior, as verified by both DC sweep and pulse modes. The TiN/WOx/Pt device has good retention and can mimic long-term memory (LTM), including potentiation and depression, given repeated pulses. On the other hand, TiN/TiO2/WOx/Pt devices show non-filamentary type switching that is suitable for fine conductance modulation. Potentiation and depression are demonstrated in the TiN/TiO2 (2 nm)/WOx/Pt device with moderate conductance decay by application of identical repeated pulses. Short-term memory (STM) is demonstrated by varying the interval time of pulse inputs for the TiN/TiO2 (6 nm)/WOx/Pt device with a quick decay in conductance.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (15) ◽  
pp. 4340
Author(s):  
Han-Wei Chang ◽  
Chia-Wei Su ◽  
Jia-Hao Tian ◽  
Yu-Chen Tsai

Zn-Co-S ball-in-ball hollow sphere (BHS) was successfully prepared by solvothermal sulfurization method. An efficient strategy to synthesize Zn-Co-S BHS consisted of multilevel structures by controlling the ionic exchange reaction was applied to obtain great performance electrode material. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a conductive agent were uniformly introduced with Zn-Co-S BHS to form Zn-Co-S BHS/CNTs and expedited the considerable electrocatalytic behavior toward glucose electro-oxidation in alkaline medium. In this study, characterization with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used for investigating the morphological and physical/chemical properties and further evaluating the feasibility of Zn-Co-S BHS/CNTs in non-enzymatic glucose sensing. Electrochemical methods (cyclic voltammetry (CV) and chronoamperometry (CA)) were performed to investigate the glucose sensing performance of Zn-Co-S BHS/CNTs. The synergistic effect of Faradaic redox couple species of Zn-Co-S BHS and unique conductive network of CNTs exhibited excellent electrochemical catalytic ability towards the glucose electro-oxidation, which revealed linear range from 5 to 100 μM with high sensitivity of 2734.4 μA mM−1 cm−2, excellent detection limit of 2.98 μM, and great selectivity in the presence of dopamine, uric acid, ascorbic acid, and fructose. Thus, Zn-Co-S BHS/CNTs would be expected to be a promising material for non-enzymatic glucose sensing.


Coatings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Kouomo Guelifack Yves Beaudelaire ◽  
Biaorong Zhuang ◽  
John Tosin Aladejana ◽  
Dehong Li ◽  
Xinjun Hou ◽  
...  

This study describes the application of aluminum sulfate Al2(SO4)3, boric acid H3BO3, phosphoric acid H3PO4 (Al–B–P) and amphiprotic surfactant material synthesis by the sol-gel process, which were adopted as novel precursors for wood modification. The efficacy of Al–B–P-treated wood was tested against Poria placenta and Coriolus versicolor. Untreated wood samples had higher mass losses (>40%) compared to the treated sample, which had the lowest wood mass losses (of 4%) against P. placenta and C. versicolor. To analyze the reaction mechanism of Al–B–P wood, the mechanical properties, chemical structure, crystallinity, thermal analysis, binding energy and wettability was examined by modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Scanning electron microscopy- energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) confirmed the wood colonization by fungi, and was used to identify the microstructures and morphologies changes that occurred in the cells during degradation by white and brown-rot fungi. At the same time, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to analyze the physical and chemical properties of the samples. Therefore, the study confirmed that Al–B–P and amphiprotic surfactant could replace the traditional wood preservative products, and have the potential to extend the service life of wood, particularly in soil contact and outdoor usage.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Alberto Monje ◽  
Raúl González-García ◽  
María Coronada Fernández-Calderón ◽  
Margarita Hierro-Oliva ◽  
María Luisa González-Martín ◽  
...  

The aim of the present study was to report the main topographical and chemical changes of a failing 18-year in function retrieved acid-etching implant in the micro- and nanoscales. A partially edentulous 45 year old rehabilitated with a dental implant at 18 years of age exhibited mobility. After careful examination, a 3.25 × 13-mm press-fit dental implant was retrieved. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis was carried out to study topographical changes of the retrieved implant compared with an unused implant with similar topographical characteristics. Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis was used to study the surface composition of the retrieved failing implant. Clear changes related to the dual dioxide layer are present as visible in ≥×500 magnification. In addition, it was found that, for the retrieved implant, the surface composition consisted mainly of Ti2p, O1s, C1s, and Al2p. Also, a meaningful decrease of N and C was noticed, whereas the peaks of Ti2p, Al2p, and O1s increased when analyzing deeper (up to ×2000s) in the sample. It was shown that the superficial surface of a retrieved press-fit dual acid-etched implant 18 years after placement is impaired. However, the causes and consequences for these changes cannot be determined.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document