Photocatalytic Degradation of Oxytetracycline Dihydrate from Aqueous Solution Using Nano ZnO and ZnO.xBaTiO3 (x = 3%, 18%, 33% and 48%)

Traditional wastewater mostly contains pharmaceutical ingredients. Therefore, the wastewater must be completely free from antibiotics before its release into the environment. In the present study, photocatalytic degradation was done to investigate the removal efficiency of Oxytetracycline Dihydrate (OTC) using ZnO, ZnO/3%BaTiO3 (3 BZ), ZnO/18%BaTiO3 (18 BZ), ZnO/ 33%BaTiO3 (33 BZ) and ZnO/48%BaTiO3 (48 BZ) under UV light. After the exposure time of 420 min, about 99.57% and 97.87% of OTC was degraded using ZnO and 3 BZ respectively. Further, increasing the amount of BaTiO3 in ZnO prolongs the degradation time. Therefore, faster efficiency was found using ZnO nanoparticles. The observed reaction rate constant using ZnO was 0.00933 min-1 which decreased to 0.00532 min-1 using 48 BZ, indicating the decrease of reaction rate for increasing the amount of BaTiO3. Hence, the use of ZnO photocatalyst is anticipated to be a promising technique for the photocatalytic degradation of contaminated wastewater with oxytetracycline antibiotics using UV light.

Chemical Durability, Structure Properties and Bioactivity of Glasses 48P<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>5</SUB>-30CaO-(22−x)Na<SUB>2</SUB>O-xTiO<SUB>2</SUB>(With 0 <x ≤ 3;mol%)

Phosphate glasses of composition 48P2O5-30CaO-(22−x)Na2O-xTiO2 (with 0 < x ≤ 3, mol%) were prepared by direct melting at 1080°C ± 20°C. The chemical durability of these glasses shows an improvement when the TiO2 content varies from 0 to 2 mol%. The measurements of differential thermal analysis and density, both, indicate the increase of the glass transition temperature and the density. The increase of Tg leads to an improvement of glass rigidity. X-ray diffraction analysis of the glasses annealed at 650°C for 48 h, indicates the appearance of a mixture of metaphosphate and pyrophosphate phases when the TiO2 content varies from 0 to 2 mol%, the last become majority when the TiO2 content rich 2 mol%. Nevertheless, when the TiO2 content exceeds 2 mol%, the analysis, both, by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction, reveals a radical change of structure with the formation of majorities isolated orthophosphate groups. SEM micrographs illustrated that the number of crystallites increased in the glass network when the TiO2 content increased at the expense of the Na2O content. An increase in the TiO2 content beyond 2 mol% led to the formation of a larger number of crystallites of different sizes, dominated by small crystallite sizes assigned to majority isolated short orthophosphate groups. This phenomenon led to a decrease in chemical durability and seems to be the main cause promoting the bioactivity of glasses. The results of the bioactivity, after a test in an SBF physiological solution within 15 days, shows, both, the formation of hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate layers, in addition to the layer Ca2P2O7, known by its bioactivity, in some samples. The results obtained on the glasses studied make them potential candidates for an application in tissue engineering.

Tuning the electrons at the LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 interface: From growth to beyond growth

Recently, the quasi-two-dimensional electron gas （q2DEG） confined at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 has attracted significant attention. In this paper, we briefly review experimental methods that have been used to tune the carrier density and mobility of this q2DEG. These methods can be classified into two categories： growth-related tuning （i.e. substrate, growth temperature, oxygen pressure, post-annealing, LaAlO3 thickness, stoichiometry, and capping layers） and post-growth tuning （i.e. electrostatic field gating, conductive atomic force microscopy and surface adsorbates）. Taken together, these methods enable the broad tuning of the electronic properties of this interface.

Preparation and characterization of Li_(4)Ti_(5)O_(12) synthesized using hydrogen titanate nanowire for hybrid super capacitor

The electrical characteristics of hybrid super capacitor were evaluated by synthesizing LTO(Li_(4)Ti_(5)O_(12))using TiO_(2) having a hydrogen titanate nanowire form.Preparation of the hydrogen titanate nanowire was implemented by using TiO_(2) having size of 60 nm and NaOH,and performing synthesis at 70℃for 6 h with a sonochemical method.LTO compound was synthesized at 150℃for 36 h and at 180℃for 36 h respectively by using the hydrogen titanate nanowire and LiOH·H2O as starting materials with a hydrothermal method.The final LTO compound was synthesized at 700℃for 6 h using a solid-state method.As a result of manufacturing the hybrid super capacitor using LTO synthesized at 180℃for 36 h with the hydrothermal method,a capacity of 198 mA·h/g has been achieved compared to a theoretical capacity of 172 mA·h/g of existing LTO,and thus,the capacity has been increased by about 13%.Further,such excellent cycle performance has ensured its possibility as a high-capacity capacitor.