Influence of thermal and thermoelectric treatments on structure and electric properties of B2O3–Li2O–Nb2O5 glasses

A transparent glass with the composition 60B₂O₃–30Li₂O–10Nb₂O₅ (mol%) was prepared by the melt quenching technique. The glass was heat-treated with and without the application of an external electric field. The as-prepared sample was heat-treated (HT) at 450, 500 and 550 °C and thermoelectric treated (TET) at 500 °C. The following electric fields were used: 50 kV/m and 100 kV/m. Differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman, dc and ac conductivity, as a function of temperature, were used to investigate the glass and glass-ceramics properties. LiNbO₃ crystals were detected, by XRD, in the 500 °C HT, 550 °C HT and 500 °C TET samples. The presence of an external electric field, during the heat-treatment process, improves the formation of LiNbO₃ nanocrystals at lower temperatures. However, in the 550 °C HT and in the TET samples, Li₂B₄O₇ was also detected. The value of the σ_dc decreases with the rise of the applied field, during the heat-treatment. This behavior can indicate an increase in the fraction of the LiNbO₃ crystallites present in these glass samples. The dc and ac conduction processes show dependence on the number of the ions inserted in the glass as network modifiers.The Raman analysis suggests that the niobium ions are, probably, inserted in the glass matrix as network formers.These results reflect the decisive effect of temperature and electric field applied during the thermoelectric treatment in the structure and electric properties of glass-ceramics.     

Crystallization of KNbO3 in a B2O3 glass network

The ferroelectric material potassium niobate (KNbO₃) has a large number of exceptional electronic and optical properties with important technological applications. Due to the high preparation difficulties and costs of the single crystals, a considerable interest in the preparation of glass-ceramics with the KNbO₃ crystal phase exists. In this work we present the preparation of a glass, with the composition 40B₂O₃–40K₂O–20Nb₂O₅ (% mole), through the melt-quenching method and glass-ceramics obtained by controlled heat-treatments. The samples structure was analyzed using X-ray power diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. KNbO₃ crystals were detected in the glass sample treated at 500 °C. For treatments at temperatures above 500 °C, other niobium-based crystal phases are present. The behavior of the heat-treatment temperature parameter, in the glass and glass ceramic structure, is discussed.     

Biomass Novel Adsorbents for Phenol and Mercury Removal

This paper reports the use of activated carbons made from novel agriculture and industrial wastes, namely sunflower, vine shoots, and coffee endocarp, to remove two high-priority contaminants: phenol and mercury species (under different forms) from aqueous solutions. The activated carbons were used as prepared and also modified with nitric acid and triethylenediamine in order to explore additional adsorption mechanisms. The results showed an interesting potential of the materials to be used for water decontamination as indicated by the mercury uptake up to 1104 mg/g for Hg²⁺, 771 mg/g for [HgCl₄]²⁻, 966 mg/g for HgCl₂ and the maximum phenol adsorption capacity of 190 mg/g. The modification with triethylenediamine led to a significant increase in the phenol and mercury adsorption reaching an increment of 85% for phenol and 250% for Hg²⁺.