Abstract:Safe and clean water is of pivotal importance to all living species and the ecosystem on earth. However, the accelerating economy and industrialization of mankind generate water pollutants with much larger quantity and higher complexity than ever before, challenging the efficacy of traditional water treatment technologies. The flourishing researches on nanomaterials and nanotechnologies in the past decade have generated new understandings on many fundamental processes and brought revolutionary upgrades to vari… Show more
“…Engineered TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) are successfully used in many industrial sectors, rather than bulk material [1,2]. They are present in daily-use products from food industry and pharmaceuticals [3,4], beauty and personal care products [5], in paints [6], fertilizers [7], plant protection products [8], food packaging [9], etc.…”
Biosolids (Bs) for use in agriculture are an important way for introducing and transferring TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) to plants and food chain. Roots of Pisum sativum L. plants grown in Bs-amended soils spiked with TiO2 800 mg/kg as rutile NPs, anatase NPs, mixture of both NPs and submicron particles (SMPs) were investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), synchrotron radiation based micro X-ray Fluorescence and micro X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (µXRF/µXANES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). TEM analysis showed damages in cells ultrastructure of all treated samples, although a more evident effect was observed with single anatase or rutile NPs treatments. Micro-XRF and TEM evidenced the presence of nano and SMPs mainly in the cortex cells near the rhizodermis. Micro-XRF/micro-XANES analysis revealed anatase, rutile, and ilmenite as the main TiO2 polymorphs in the original soil and Bs, and the preferential anatase uptake by the roots. For all treatments Ti concentration in the roots increased by 38–56%, however plants translocation factor (TF) increased mostly with NPs treatment (261–315%) and less with SMPs (about 85%), with respect to control. In addition, all samples showed a limited transfer of TiO2 to the shoots (very low TF value). These findings evidenced a potential toxicity of TiO2 NPs present in Bs and accumulating in soil, suggesting the necessity of appropriate regulations for the occurrence of NPs in Bs used in agriculture.
“…Engineered TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) are successfully used in many industrial sectors, rather than bulk material [1,2]. They are present in daily-use products from food industry and pharmaceuticals [3,4], beauty and personal care products [5], in paints [6], fertilizers [7], plant protection products [8], food packaging [9], etc.…”
Biosolids (Bs) for use in agriculture are an important way for introducing and transferring TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) to plants and food chain. Roots of Pisum sativum L. plants grown in Bs-amended soils spiked with TiO2 800 mg/kg as rutile NPs, anatase NPs, mixture of both NPs and submicron particles (SMPs) were investigated by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), synchrotron radiation based micro X-ray Fluorescence and micro X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (µXRF/µXANES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). TEM analysis showed damages in cells ultrastructure of all treated samples, although a more evident effect was observed with single anatase or rutile NPs treatments. Micro-XRF and TEM evidenced the presence of nano and SMPs mainly in the cortex cells near the rhizodermis. Micro-XRF/micro-XANES analysis revealed anatase, rutile, and ilmenite as the main TiO2 polymorphs in the original soil and Bs, and the preferential anatase uptake by the roots. For all treatments Ti concentration in the roots increased by 38–56%, however plants translocation factor (TF) increased mostly with NPs treatment (261–315%) and less with SMPs (about 85%), with respect to control. In addition, all samples showed a limited transfer of TiO2 to the shoots (very low TF value). These findings evidenced a potential toxicity of TiO2 NPs present in Bs and accumulating in soil, suggesting the necessity of appropriate regulations for the occurrence of NPs in Bs used in agriculture.
“…For these reasons, the preparation of different nanocomposites has been gaining much attention to the researchers. Qian et al briefly review the nanocomposite used in water treatment [189]. Figure 16 presents the nanoconfinement mediated water treatment by nanocomposite.…”
Section: Nanocomposite In Water Treatmentmentioning
Water comprises an integral component of human life and its accessibility is essential for all life in the entire planet. Due to climate changes and other manmade activities, the world is facing shortage of drinking water. There are a number of pollutants present in the water such as gases, chemicals and heavy metals. Therefore, it is imperative to decontaminate water for a healthy planet. There are numerous problems and challenges of wastewater treatment. For better ecological and health issues some measures are required to take in advance to avert possible evil or to secure good results. Metal-based nanomaterials have found exceptional use in the decontamination purpose due to their nature which arises from nanosize, such as better adsorption and catalytic activity. Metal-based nanomaterials can productively remove different contaminants from water and they have been effectively applied in decontamination of water. Due to having larger surface area and having ability to work at low concentration these metal-based nanomaterials are very efficient in wastewater treatment. Nanoengineered nanoparticles impart a promising and effective treatment method to wastewater and thus can be adapted simply. Modern techniques for treatment of wastewater must be cost-effective and accessible for commercial use. In this chapter, we outline the role of metal-based nanoparticles and nanocomposites applied in water decontamination. Moreover, we discuss the advantages, disadvantages, shortcomings and future prospects associated with these nanomaterials.
“…Specific molecular recognition by inorganic materials is a central concept 1,2 in nanodrug delivery 3 and nanotoxic response, 4 as well as for studies of penetrative and adhesive properties of adsorbing molecules. 5 In all these cases the functional design of the application strongly depends on the chemical affinities between the adhering biomolecules and the inorganic material surfaces. 4,6,7 In particular, nano-structured metal oxides play a fundamental role in this context due to their high concentration of surface reactive sites and their photo-catalytic power.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…8,20 The structure of this solid-liquid interface, including its protonation state, regulates the adhesion of molecules and it is thus fundamental for understanding the adsorption mechanism. 5,8,21 Finally, it should also be pointed out that, not least for long peptides, the configurational entropy and the specific amino acid sequence can play a fundamental role for the adsorption. 22,23 Our ability to resolve these details concerning the adsorption process strongly depends on the availability of reliable experimental measurements as well as modelling results.…”
The adhesion of amino acids and small organic molecules on TiO2 nanoparticles is fundamental for bio-nano functionalization of peptides and proteins. The adsorption free energy is the main physical quantity that regulates the adsorption process. Its evaluation is particularly challenging both experimentally, due to the weak interfacial signal in aqueous environments, and by atomistic simulations, due to the complexity of the physical phenomena occurring at the solid-water interface (polarization and charge transfer effects). We report here an accurate experimental-computational study of hydrated TiO2 nanoparticles interacting with Glycine where we obtain quantitative agreement of the measured adsorption free energy. Ab-initio simulations are performed within the Tight Binding Density Functional Theory in combination with enhanced free energy sampling techniques. The experiments adopt a new and efficient set-up for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements based on screen-printed gold electrodes. The measured adsorption free energy is about -30 kJ/mol (both from experiment and calculation), with preferential interaction of the charged NH3 group which strongly adsorbs on the TiO2 bridging oxygens. The perfect agreement between computation and experiment opens the doors to an extended exploration of the bio-nano interaction for different materials and molecules.
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