White TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used for cancer photodynamic therapy based on their ultraviolet light-triggered properties. To date, biomedical applications using white TiO2 NPs have been limited, since ultraviolet light is a well-known mutagen and shallow penetration. This work is the first report about hydrogenated black TiO2 (H-TiO2 ) NPs with near infrared absorption explored as photothermal agent for cancer photothermal therapy to circumvent the obstacle of ultraviolet light excitation. Here, it is shown that photothermal effect of H-TiO2 NPs can be attributed to their dramatically enhanced nonradiative recombination. After polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating, H-TiO2 -PEG NPs exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency of 40.8%, and stable size distribution in serum solution. The toxicity and cancer therapy effect of H-TiO2 -PEG NPs are relative systemically evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The findings herein demonstrate that infrared-irradiated H-TiO2 -PEG NPs exhibit low toxicity, high efficiency as a photothermal agent for cancer therapy, and are promising for further biomedical applications.

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Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermodynamic modelling have been used to obtain Friedel's salt profiles for saturated mortar cylinders exposed to a 2.8 M NaCl solution. Comparison of the measured Friedel's salt profiles with the total chloride profiles indicates that only a minor part of the chloride ions is bound in Friedel's in the studied Portland cement (P) and limestone blended (L) cement. The chloride binding capacity with respect to the formation of Friedel's salt by consumption of monocarbonate is reached for the P and L mortars, where only a fraction of about 20 % of the amount of C3A is found to contribute to formation of Friedel's salt. Higher amounts of Friedel's salt are formed in the metakaolin containing mortars. However, the limited chloride ingress depths prevent quantification of the potential full chloride binding capacity of Friedel's salt in these mortars.The measured amounts of Friedel's salt by TGA and the portlandite profiles show that the maximum amount of Friedel's salt is found in the region with limited leaching of calcium, which is in good agreement with the predicted Friedel's salt profiles.

Blended cements, where Portland cement clinker is partially replaced by supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), provide the most feasible route for reducing carbon dioxide emissions associated with concrete production. However, lowering the clinker content can lead to an increasing risk of neutralisation of the concrete pore solution and potential reinforcement corrosion due to carbonation. carbonation of concrete with SCMs differs from carbonation of concrete solely based on Portland cement (PC). This is a consequence of the differences in the hydrate phase assemblage and pore solution chemistry, as well as the pore structure and transport properties, when varying the binder composition, age and curing conditions of the concretes. The carbonation mechanism and kinetics also depend on the saturation degree of the concrete and CO2 partial pressure which in turn depends on exposure conditions (e.g. relative humidity, volume, and duration of water in contact with the concrete surface and temperature conditions). This in turn influence the microstructural changes identified upon carbonation. This literature review, prepared by members of RILEM technical committee 281-CCC carbonation of concrete with supplementary cementitious materials, working groups 1 and 2, elucidates the effect of numerous SCM characteristics, exposure environments and curing conditions on the carbonation mechanism, kinetics and structural alterations in cementitious systems containing SCMs.