@article{TentschertJungnickelReichardtetal.2014, author = {Tentschert, Jutta and Jungnickel, Harald and Reichardt, Philipp and Leube, Peter and Kretzschmar, Bernd and Taubert, Andreas and Luch, A.}, title = {Identification of nano clay in composite polymers}, series = {Surface and interface analysis : an international journal devoted to the development and application of techniques for the analysis surfaces, interfaces and thin films}, volume = {46}, journal = {Surface and interface analysis : an international journal devoted to the development and application of techniques for the analysis surfaces, interfaces and thin films}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0142-2421}, doi = {10.1002/sia.5546}, pages = {334 -- 336}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Industrialized food production is in urgent search for alternative packaging materials, which can serve the requirements of a globalized world in terms of longer product shelf lives, reduced freight weight to decrease transport costs, and better barrier functionality to preserve its freshness. Polymer materials containing organically modified nano clay particles as additives are one example for a new generation of packaging materials with specific barrier functionality to actually hit the market. Clay types used for these applications are aluminosilicates, which belong to the mineral group of phyllosilicates. These consist of nano-scaled thin platelets, which are organically modified with quaternary ammonium compounds acting as spacers between the different clay layers, thereby increasing the hydrophobicity of the mineral additive. A variety of different organically modified clays are already available, and the use as additive for food packaging materials is one important application. To ensure valid risk assessments of emerging nano composite polymers used in the food packaging industry, exact analytical characterization of the organically modified clay within the polymer matrix is of paramount importance. Time-of-flight SIMS in combination with multivariate statistical analysis was used to differentiate modified clay reference materials from another. Time-of-flight SIMS spectra of a reference polymer plate, which contained one specific nano clay composite, were acquired. For each modified clay additive, a set of characteristic diagnostic ions could be identified, which then was used to successfully assign unknown clay additives to the corresponding reference material. Thus, the described methodology could be used to define and characterize nano clay within polymer matrices. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, language = {en} } @article{OmorogieBabalolaUnuabonahetal.2014, author = {Omorogie, Martins O. and Babalola, Jonathan Oyebamiji and Unuabonah, Emmanuel Iyayi and Gong, Jian R.}, title = {Hybrid materials from agro-waste and nanoparticles: implications on the kinetics of the adsorption of inorganic pollutants}, series = {Environmental technology}, volume = {35}, journal = {Environmental technology}, number = {5}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0959-3330}, doi = {10.1080/09593330.2013.839747}, pages = {611 -- 619}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This study is a first-hand report of the immobilization of Nauclea diderrichii seed waste biomass (ND) (an agro-waste) with eco-friendly mesoporous silica (MS) and graphene oxide-MS (GO+MS ) nanoparticles, producing two new hybrid materials namely: MND adsorbent for agro-waste modified with MS and GND adsorbent for agro-waste modified with GO+MS nanoparticles showed improved surface area, pore size and pore volume over those of the agro-waste. The abstractive potential of the new hybrid materials was explored for uptake of Cr(III) and Pb(II) ions. Analysis of experimental data from these new hybrid materials showed increased initial sorption rate of Cr(III) and Pb(II) ions uptake. The amounts of Cr(III) and Pb(II) ions adsorbed by MND and GND adsorbents were greater than those of ND. Modification of N. diderrichii seed waste significantly improved its rate of adsorption and diffusion coefficient for Cr(III) and Pb(II) more than its adsorption capacity. The rate of adsorption of the heavy metal ions was higher with GO+MS nanoparticles than for other adsorbents. Kinetic data were found to fit well the pseudo-second-order and the diffusion-chemisorption kinetic models suggesting that the adsorption of Cr(III) and Pb(II) onto these adsorbents is mainly through chemisorption mechanism. Analysis of kinetic data with the homogeneous particle diffusion kinetic model suggests that particle diffusion (diffusion of ions through the adsorbent) is the rate-limiting step for the adsorption process.}, language = {en} }