This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the dielectric and physicochemical properties of the porous hydroxyapatite/cornstarch (HAp/Cs) composites in a new perspective. The porous composites have been characterized via SEM, FTIR, XRD and dielectric spectroscopy. The dielectric permittivity spectra were obtained in Ku-band (12.4-18.0 GHz) and it was correlated with the physicochemical properties of the porous HAp/Cs. Porous HAp/Cs composites exhibits low ε' and negative ε″, which influenced by the microstructural morphology, interaction between Hap and Cs, as well as crystalline features due to the various proportion of the HAp/Cs. The physicochemical effect of the composites results in the dielectric polarization and energy loss. This phenomenon indicates the presence of the three obvious relaxation responses in the ε' spectrum (13.2-14.0, 15.2-16.0, and 16.6-17.4 GHz) and the negative behaviours in the ε″ spectrum. The relationships between physicochemical and dielectric properties of the porous composite facilitate the development of the non-destructive microwave evaluation test for the porous composite.
Being abundant in many tropical part of the world, Dioscorea sp. as food is limited due to its toxicity. However polysaccharides derive from these tubers could be important for other applications. Here we developed a Highly Luminescent Carbon Nanodots (C-dots) via acid hydrolysis of Gadong starch (GS). The hydrolysis rate of GS increased from 49% to 86% within 7 days while the X-ray diffraction showed the native GS particle is a C-crystalline type. The GS particles were either round or oval with diameters ranging from 50-90 nm. Further acid dehydration and surface oxidation reduced the size of GS nanoparticles to 6-25 nm. The C-dots produced a fluorescent emission at wavelength 441 nm. Toxicity tests demonstrate that zebrafish embryo were able to tolerate the C-dots for 48 h after exposure. This study has successfully demonstrated a novel approach of converting GS into excellent fluorescent C-dot.
The purpose of this work is to remove Pb(II) from the aqueous solution using a type of hydrogel composite. A hydrogel composite consisting of waste linear low density polyethylene, acrylic acid, starch, and organo-montmorillonite was prepared through emulsion polymerization method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Solid carbon nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (CNMR)), silicon(-29) nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (Si NMR)), and X-ray diffraction spectroscope ((XRD) were applied to characterize the hydrogel composite. The hydrogel composite was then employed as an adsorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from the aqueous solution. The Pb(II)-loaded hydrogel composite was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)), scanning electron microscopy (SEM)), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ((XPS)). From XPS results, it was found that the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups of the hydrogel composite participated in the removal of Pb(II). Kinetic studies indicated that the adsorption of Pb(II) followed the pseudo-second-order equation. It was also found that the Langmuir model described the adsorption isotherm better than the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum removal capacity of the hydrogel composite for Pb(II) ions was 430mg/g. Thus, the waste linear low-density polyethylene-g-poly (acrylic acid)-co-starch/organo-montmorillonite hydrogel composite could be a promising Pb(II) adsorbent.
Carboxymethyl sago starch-acid hydrogel was prepared via irradiation technique to remove divalent metal ions (Pb, Cu and Cd) from their aqueous solution. The hydrogel was characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The removal of these metal ions was analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma-optic emission spectra (ICP-OES) to study the amount of metal uptake by the hydrogel. Parameters of study include effect of pH, amount of sample, contact time, initial concentration of metal solution and reaction temperature. FTIR spectroscopy shows the CMSS hydrogel absorption peaks at 1741cm(-1), 1605cm(-1) and 1430cm(-1) which indicates the substitution of carboxymethyl group of modified sago starch. The degradation temperature of CMSS hydrogel is higher compared to CMSS due to the crosslinking by electron beam radiation and formed a porous hydrogel. From the data obtained, about 93.5%, 88.4% and 85.5% of Pb, Cu and Cd ions has been respectively removed from their solution under optimum condition.