A comparative study of the thermal behaviour of phosphate washing sludge from Tunisia and Morocco

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The aim of the present work is to characterize the phosphate sludge from two different countries: Morocco and Tunisia, and to study the difference...     

Structure and luminescence properties of silver-doped NaY(PO3)4 crystal

Single crystals of NaY(PO₃)₄ and Ag_0.07Na_0.93Y(PO₃)₄ have been synthesized by flux method. These new compounds turned out to be isostructural to NaLn(PO₃)₄, with Ln=La, Nd, Gd and Er [monoclinic, P2₁/n, a=7.1615(2) Å, b=13.0077(1) Å, c=9.7032 (3) Å, β=90.55 (1)°, V=903.86(14) Å³ and Z=4]. The structure is based upon long polyphosphate chains running along the shortest unit-cell direction and made up of PO₄ tetrahedra sharing two corners, linked to yttrium and sodium polyhedra. Infrared and Raman spectra at room temperature confirms this atomic arrangement. The luminescence of silver ions was reported in metaphosphate of composition Ag_0.07Na_0.93Y(PO₃)₄. One luminescent centre was detected and assigned to single Ag⁺ ions.     

Innovative Formulations of Phosphate Glasses as Controlled-Release Fertilizers to Improve Tomato Crop Growth,Yield and Fruit Quality

Three phosphate glass compositions, VF1, VF2, and VF3, containing macro and micronutrients with different [K₂O/(CaO+MgO)] ratio, were formulated to be used as controlled release fertilizers for tomato crop, depending on their chemical durability in water and their propriety with respect to the standards of controlled-release fertilizers. This study investigated the influence of [K₂O/(CaO+MgO)] ratio variation on glass properties. For this, the elaborated glasses have undergone a chemical characterization using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, a thermal characterization using differential thermal analysis, a physicochemical characterization based on density and molar volume measurements, and a structural characterization using Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. In addition, the chemical durability was determined by measuring the percentage of weight loss and the pH. Results revealed that the glass structure and composition have the mean role in controlling the release of nutrients in water. By increasing [K₂O/(CaO+MgO)] ratio, the dissolution rates of the glasses increased due to the shrinking in the rate of crosslinking between phosphate chains, accompanied with a diminution in transition and crystallization temperatures, and an increase in the molar volume. An agronomic valorization of VF1 and VF2 glass fertilizers, which showed dissolution profiles adequate to the criteria of controlled-release fertilizers, was carried out to evaluate their efficiency on tomato crops. These glass fertilizers improved soil mineral content and tomato performances in comparison to the control and NPK treatments with the distinction of VF2. The results highlight the effectiveness of these smart fertilizers toward their potential large-scale application to improve crop production and quality for high nutritional value foods.     

Luminescent properties of the potassium zinc phosphates of composition K1−xTlxZn(PO3)3

Crystalline and glassy K_1−xTl_xZn(PO₃)₃ polyphosphates have been synthesized and characterized. UV–visible spectroscopy was systematically used in order to analyze the optical properties of Tl⁺ ions both in crystalline and glassy forms with the similar compositions. The investigated polyphosphates can be considered as a model system since the spectroscopic properties of Tl⁺ ions in the glasses could be deduced by comparison with those in crystals. From structural point of view, in the crystalline forms the thallium ions are six-fold coordinated in a dissymmetrical oxygenated sites. Three luminescences (α, A_X, A_T) have been then observed and were attributed to the isolated Tl⁺ ions. In the glassy forms, an additional luminescence (D) has been detected in the low-energy range and was assigned to the Tl⁺ pairs formation. The relationship between the Tl⁺ site symmetry and its optical properties is discussed in the context of the Fukuda's model.