Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics

When they are in put in contact with carbonate minerals dangerous environmental pollutants such as Pb2+ and Cd2+ are taken up by the solid phase assemblage and can be removed from aqueous solutions.*

As carbonates can be found almost everywhere and are easily exploitable this makes them interesting materials for environmental remediation.*

However, magnesite ( MGS ) is well-known for the slow dissolution and growth kinetics at room temperature conditions in the so-called dolomite problem.*

In their article “Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics” Fulvio Di Lorenzo, Tobias Arnold and Sergey V. Churakov use in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) to investigate the growth of {10.4} magnesite surfaces in the absence and in the presence of Pb2+ as well as the effect of solution ageing.*

In their study the authors attempt to answer the question if and under which circumstances magnesium carbonate could be used in removing Pb from wastewater.*

The experimental results presented in above mentioned article have the object to discuss and evaluate the theoretical possibilities and the practical limitations that must be taken into account for the development of environmental remediation technologies based on magnesite.*

The experiments conducted in this study by  Fulvio Di Lorenzo et al. demonstrate that, although the thermodynamic conditions are encouraging, the transformation reaction between magnesite and cerrusite makes it improbably that it will play a crucial role in the development of remediation processes for PbII pollution.*

The authors of the study conclude that, although the thermodynamic conditions are encouraging, an environmental remediation process based on MGS as the substrate for a solvent-mediated transformation reaction is unlikely to play a crucial part in industrial applications due to the slow kinetics of MGS dissolution. However, the sluggish kinetics of MGS precipitation is favourable for Pb entrapment by the precipitation of carbonate from Mg2+ and Pb2+-bearing solutions, leading to a strong PbII enrichment in the solid phase even in far-from-equilibirum conditions.*

The in situ flow-through Atomic Force Microscopy was performed using Arrow-UHFAuD AFM probes in tapping mode.

Figure 8 from “Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics” by Fulvio Di Lorenzo et al:
 In situ observation of {10.4} surfaces of MGS in contact with acidic solution, pH 4 (HNO3). The images were acquired in tapping mode. The first row corresponds to height channels, while the second row reports the respective amplitude channels. (A) The dissolution at 25 °C is sluggish and it is not possible to detect any dissolution feature. (B) In the same conditions but at higher temperature (60 °C), dissolution features are observed on the {10.4} surfaces of MGS, despite the retrograde solubility. Yellow and blue lines of constant size are used to highlight the evolution of etch pits and step edges, respectively. This evidence demonstrates that the existence of kinetic barriers controls the dissolution of MGS at room temperature conditions. NanoWorld Arrow-UHFAuD AFM probes were used.
Figure 8 from “Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics” by Fulvio Di Lorenzo et al:
 In situ observation of {10.4} surfaces of MGS in contact with acidic solution, pH 4 (HNO3). The images were acquired in tapping mode. The first row corresponds to height channels, while the second row reports the respective amplitude channels. (A) The dissolution at 25 °C is sluggish and it is not possible to detect any dissolution feature. (B) In the same conditions but at higher temperature (60 °C), dissolution features are observed on the {10.4} surfaces of MGS, despite the retrograde solubility. Yellow and blue lines of constant size are used to highlight the evolution of etch pits and step edges, respectively. This evidence demonstrates that the existence of kinetic barriers controls the dissolution of MGS at room temperature conditions.

*Fulvio Di Lorenzo, Tobias Arnold, and Sergey V. Churakov
Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics
Minerals 2021, 11(4), 415
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/min11040415

Please follow this external link to read the full article: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/4/415

Open Access : The article “Pb2+ Uptake by Magnesite: The Competition between Thermodynamic Driving Force and Reaction Kinetics” by Fulvio Di Lorenzo, Tobias Arnold, and Sergey V. Churakov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation

Block copolymers, including multiblock copolymers of an amphiphilic nature, because of their ability to form various supramolecular structures are attracting a lot of research interest these days. The direct influence on the supramolecular organization of block copolymers is a way of controlling both the mechanical and physicochemical properties of polymer materials obtained on this basis. *

In the article “Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation” Ilsiya M. Davletbaeva, Ilgiz M. Dzhabbarov, Askhat M. Gumerov, Ilnaz I. Zaripov, Ruslan S. Davletbaev, Artem A. Atlaskin, Tatyana S. Sazanova and Ilya V. Vorotyntsev describe how they investigated Multiblock copolymers obtained based on PPEG, D4 (octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane ) and TDI ( 2,4-toluene diisocyanate ).*

The authors studied the realized polymers as membrane materials for the separation of gas mixtures containing CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 and went on to show that polymers with a cellular supramolecular structure exhibit lower permeability for CO2 in comparison with polymeric film materials whose supramolecular structure is constructed on the basis of the “core-shell” principle. *

It was shown in the above mentioned article that polymers are promising as silica-based membrane materials for the separation of gas mixtures containing CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2. *

As the polymer material investigated for this article is rather soft NanoWorld Pointprobe® FMR AFM probes with a typical force constant of around 2.8 N/m were used for the analysis by atomic force microscopy of the membrane surface.*

Figure 15 from Ilsiya M. Davletbaeva et al “Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation”:
AFM Images. (a): [PPEG]:[TDI] = 1:10; (b): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10; (c): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10 [ASiP] = 0.2 wt.%, (d): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10 [ASiP] = 0.4 wt.%.
NanoWorld Pointprobe® FMR AFM probes were used.
Figure 15 from Ilsiya M. Davletbaeva et al “Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation”:
AFM Images. (a): [PPEG]:[TDI] = 1:10; (b): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10; (c): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10 [ASiP] = 0.2 wt.%, (d): [PPEG]:[D4]:[TDI] = 1:15:10 [ASiP] = 0.4 wt.%.

*Ilsiya M. Davletbaeva, Ilgiz M. Dzhabbarov, Askhat M. Gumerov, Ilnaz I. Zaripov, Ruslan S. Davletbaev, Artem A. Atlaskin, Tatyana S. Sazanova, and Ilya V. Vorotyntsev
Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation
Membranes 2021, 11(2), 94
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020094

Please follow this external link to read the full article: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/11/2/94/htm#

Open Access : The article “Amphiphilic Poly(dimethylsiloxane-ethylene-propylene oxide)-polyisocyanurate Cross-Linked Block Copolymers in a Membrane Gas Separation” by Ilsiya M. Davletbaeva, Ilgiz M. Dzhabbarov, Askhat M. Gumerov, Ilnaz I. Zaripov, Ruslan S. Davletbaev, Artem A. Atlaskin, Tatyana S. Sazanova, and Ilya V. Vorotyntsev is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Multiswitchable photoacid–hydroxyflavylium–polyelectrolyte nano-assemblies

In the article “Multiswitchable photoacid–hydroxyflavylium–polyelectrolyte nano-assemblies” Alexander Zika and Franziska Gröhn describe the development of a novel reversible multi-switchable system consisting of a cationic polyelectrolyte, a hydroxyflavylium molecule (Flavy), and a photoacid.*

Ternary assemblies with sizes in the hundred-to-few hundred nanometers range in aqueous solution exhibit a multi-addressable size and shape.*

The concept exploits the unique property of the photoacid to form a more highly charged molecule and to switch the Flavy molecule in the same step when excited by light irradiation.*

Due to the network of possible reactions of Flavy, self-assembly can be accessed and triggered in a number of ways.*

While their study focused on the first proof of concept and the relation of molecular and nanoscale switching, a deeper understanding of the molecular binding effects may be considered in future studies.*

The type of the photoacid-based assembly presented in the article bears potential, for example, for delivery where the assembly property changes may provide a desirable transformable platform for tunable and smart transport.*

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) with NanoWorld Ultra-short Cantilevers USC-F0.3-k0.3 in tapping mode was used to investigate the structure.*

Figure 6 from “Multiswitchable photoacid–hydroxyflavylium–polyelectrolyte nano-assemblies” by Alexander Zika and Franziska Gröhn: Comparison of cycle I and cycle II in AFM.

*Alexander Zika and Franziska Gröhn
Multiswitchable photoacid–hydroxyflavylium–polyelectrolyte nano-assemblies
Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2021, 17, 166–185.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.17.17

Please follow this external link to read the full article: https://www.beilstein-journals.org/bjoc/articles/17/17

Open Access : The article “Multiswitchable photoacid–hydroxyflavylium–polyelectrolyte nano-assemblies” by Alexander Zika and Franziska Gröhn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.