Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica
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Hydrophobic and water resistant fish leather: a fully sustainable combination of discarded biomass and by-products of the food industry
Get PDFThe food industry produces a large amount of food byproducts that, when appropriately valorized, can become a renewable source of sustainable materials. The valorization of these byproducts requires a new set of green technologies. For example, fish farming, one of the fastest growing sectors, uses only 30% to 40% of the fish as food, with the remaining 60% to 70% being a byproduct. One example of valorization of fish byproducts is the upcycling of fish skin into leather. This new fish leather has interesting properties, in part due to its microstructure, but also has new shortcomings like the high hydrophilicity and water absorption. To mitigate these issues, a water protecting coating was developed using only two other food byproducts: epoxidized soybean oil and the fatty acid trimer Pripol. These two building blocks were deposited on leather and then crosslinked to create a strong network that made leather hydrophobic, with a water contact angle >120° without the need for fluorine or silicone chemistry or the use of nanoparticles. The coating was applied via dip-coating and was cured at low temperature as required by fish leather without the need for initiators, catalysts, which are mostly toxic, or UV light. The same strategy could also be applied to cotton, showing that its application is not limited only to leather. The coating showed good adhesion to the substrate and excellent water resistance, making the leather and the cotton hydrophobic and substantially reducing the water absorption, without changing the breathability, flexibility and microstructure of the substrate. This work demonstrates how high performing materials can be created within a green chemistry and circular economy framework, with results that can be relevant for other textile materials, contributing to the effort for developing sustainable alternatives for providing hydrophobicity
Towards a novel bi-functional bioresorbable micro-structured optical fiber for theranostic applications
Get PDFCalcium phosphate glasses offer an exclusive combination of optical, bioresorbable, and enhanced thermo-mechanical properties, making them an attractive material for fabricating resorbable biomedical devices. In the present study, we report the in vitro dissolution test of a multimode (MM) phosphate fiber and a hollow fiber in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. The power transmission change with the MM fiber's invitro dissolution is also presented. Then, using the same respective glass compositions of the MM fiber and hollow fiber, we report the realization of a novel bi-functional micro structured optical fiber with a MM core for light delivery and a microfluidic channel for drug delivery. The multistage fabrication process involves the techniques of extrusion, rod -in-tube, and stack-and-draw. The core was tested for light guidance and the channel for liquid delivery. The proposed approach illustrates the vast potentiality of phosphate glass based micro -structured fibers that could be used as a theranostic device to be implanted at specific areas inside the body without needing an explant procedure
Intervista a Arthur Frank e Benedetto Terracini (a cura di E. Ferrara) - convegno "Amianto e Mesotelioma: tutti innocenti? Roma, 13 maggio 2022
Get PDFGiustizia o ingiustizia? era il titolo di un convegno organizzato a Roma nel settembre 2016 dalle associazioni delle vittime di amianto in Italia. Le motivazioni che avevano spinto a indire quell’evento sono purtroppo ancora valide: nel nostro paese quasi tutti i procedimenti penali per casi di patologie professionali o decessi dovuti a esposizione all’amianto continuano a concludersi con assoluzioni, per la pretesa impossibilità di individuare i soggetti a garanzia responsabili dell’esposizione professionale o ambientale che ha causato l’insorgenza della malattia. Come sia possibile che questo continui ad accadere è stato argomento di dibattito anche durante il più recente convegno Amianto e Mesotelioma: tutti innocenti? Aspetti biologici ed epidemiologici dell’esposizione ad amianto e conseguenze giuridiche tenutosi a Roma in una Sala Capitolare del Senato il 13 maggio 2022, promosso dalla senatrice Tatjana Rojc in collaborazione con AIEA, AFEVA, AICA, ARASIS, Federazione Nazionale Pro Natura, Gruppo Aiuto Mesotelioma, ISDE, Legambiente, Medicina Democratica ed Epidemiologia & Prevenzione. Gli amianti sono noti e utilizzati da migliaia di anni anche se il loro impiego industriale risale solo agli ultimi 150 anni
A case study for quantitative 3D optical characterization of machined technical surface of a cylindrical master roughness
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Energy Tariff Policies for Renewable Energy Development: Comparison between Selected European Countries and Sri Lanka
No full textThis article is written within the European Project “THREE-Lanka” which has the aim of modernizing the higher education related to Renewable Energy (RE) in Sri Lanka. The paper presents the outcomes of analysing various incentive schemes to stimulate RE development. In Europe, there was substantial growth in RE installation through generous incentives in the first years. Then, to regulate this growth, in recent years, the auction system has been introduced to improve the competition among companies that install RE plants. In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, the main energy tariff policies focus on the spread of PhotoVoltaics (PV) through contributions based on the electricity fed into the grid. This paper provides an updated view of the evolution of the energy tariff policies in the relevant European countries with respect to Sri Lanka, covering some recent policy developments. Within the Sri Lankan framework, four case studies involving residential, commercial, and industrial users are outlined to suggest better mechanisms (in the case of not adequate current incentive tariff) for supporting the deployment of grid-connected PV systems in a wide power range. Such knowledge transfer in the THREE-Lanka project will demonstrate the enormous potential RE capacity in a developing country, still depending on fossil fuels but willing to follow the path towards sustainability
Reticular chemistry for the rational design of mechanically robust mesoporous merged-net metal-organic frameworks
No full textAccess to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with enhanced mechanical stability is key to their successful deployment in practical applications. However, the high porosity of the material often affects mechanical stability. In this article, to achieve highly porous MOFs with enhanced mechanical stability, we explored the merged-net approach where two relatively fragile frameworks were merged into a robust MOF structure. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach by computationally evaluating mechanical properties of sph-MOFs with varying lengths of linkers. Prominently, we pinpoint the significance of triangular rigidity on the robustness of large-pore MOFs and, subsequently, designed and synthesized a rare earth (RE)-based RE-sph-MOF-5 by the reticulation of hexanuclear RE clusters, tritopic linkers, and unprecedentedly large planar hexatopic linkers containing 19 phenyl rings. The mechanical properties of sph-MOFs were characterized and quantified using amplitude-frequency modulation (AM-FM) bimodal atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses. Markedly, the mesoporous RE-sph-MOF-5 expresses high mechanical stability despite its large mesoporous cavities
Strain‐Driven Bidirectional Spin Orientation Control in Epitaxial High Entropy Oxide Films
No full textHigh entropy oxides (HEOs), based on the incorporation of multiple-principal cations into the crystal lattice, offer the possibility to explore previously inaccessible oxide compositions and unconventional properties. Here it is demonstrated that despite the chemical complexity of HEOs external stimuli, such as epitaxial strain, can selectively stabilize certain magneto-electronic states. Epitaxial (Co0.2Cr0.2Fe0.2Mn0.2Ni0.2)3O4-HEO thin films are grown in three different strain states: tensile, compressive, and relaxed. A unique coexistence of rocksalt and spinel-HEO phases, which are fully coherent with no detectable chemical segregation, is revealed by transmission electron microscopy. This dual-phase coexistence appears as a universal phenomenon in (Co0.2Cr0.2Fe0.2Mn0.2Ni0.2)3O4 epitaxial films. Prominent changes in the magnetic anisotropy and domain structure highlight the strain-induced bidirectional control of magnetic properties in HEOs. When the films are relaxed, their magnetization behavior is isotropic, similar to that of bulk materials. However, under tensile strain, the hardness of the out-of-plane (OOP) axis increases significantly. On the other hand, compressive straining results in an easy OOP magnetization and a maze-like magnetic domain structure, indicating the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Generally, this study emphasizes the adaptability of the high entropy design strategy, which, when combined with coherent strain engineering, opens additional prospects for fine-tuning properties in oxides
