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Abstract: Bioremediation is an innovative and alternative technology to remove heavy metal pollutants from aqueous solution using biomass from various microorganisms like algae, fungi and bacteria. In this study biosorption of zinc onto live, dead and dried biomass of Fusarium spp. was investigated as a function of initial zinc(II) concentration, pH, temperature, agitation and inoculum volume. It was observed that dried, dead and live biomass efficiently removed zinc at 60min at an initial pH of 6.0±0.3. Temperature of 40°C was optimum at agitation speed of 150 or 200rpm. The initial metal concentration (10–320mgL−1) significantly influenced the biosorption of the fungi. Overall, biosorption was high with 30–60% by dried, live and dead biomass. In addition to this, the potential of Fusarium spp. to produce zinc nanocrystals was determined by transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, which showed that dead biomass was not significantly involved in production of zinc nanocrystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 3C-SiC nanocrystallites were epitaxially formed on a single crystalline Si surface covered by a 150nm thick SiO2 capping layer after low dose carbon implantation and subsequent high temperature annealing in CO atmosphere. Carbon implantation is used to introduce nucleation sites by forming silicon–carbon clusters at the SiO2/Si interface facilitating the growth of 3C-SiC nanocrystallites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The kinetics of crystallization of a soft magnetic amorphous Fe40Ni38B18Mo4 alloy was studied by TEM, EDX and resistivity methods. The kinetic parameters were measured from TEM studies and resistivity measurements. Nanocrystals of the fcc FeNi phase were found to crystallize by a primary crystallization mechanism followed by slow growth kinetics. The volume fraction measured by TEM matches well with that calculated from resistivity results and a TTT diagram was constructed. Quantitative measurements of the nucleation and growth rates as a function of temperature and time were performed. The nucleation rate was found to decrease with an increase in heat treatment time due to an increase in boron content in the amorphous matrix as the crystallization took place. The crystal growth was found to slow down considerably due to the presence of Mo. The crystal size was calculated according to the Michels model and compared to our experimental results. Molybdenum was found to dramatically alter the energetics of crystallization, the morphology of the crystals and particularly the kinetics of crystallization. These results offer a method of creating new families of nanostructured magnetic materials by suitable molybdenum addition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • A strategy for designing ductile metallic glass composites by forming nanocrystals in the high-entropy alloy particles during deformation was proposed. • The ex situ high-entropy alloy particle toughened Zr-based metallic glass composites were prepared by spark plasma sintering. • By adding CoCrFeNiAl high-entropy alloy particles, the Zr-based metallic glass composites exhibit enhanced strength-ductility synergy. • The toughening mechanisms were discussed in accordance with experiments and modeling. In this work, we prepared equiatomic AlCoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA)-particle-toughened, Zr-based metallic glass composites by spark plasma sintering. By adding HEA particles as the second phase, the strength and plasticity of the Zr-based metallic glass composites improved concomitantly. After fracture, high-density dislocations and nanocrystals were formed in the HEA particles due to local severe plastic deformation, which consumed massive strain energy to enable the resistance to crack formation. Substantial lattice distortion imparted a remarkable work-hardening capacity to the HEAs and enhanced crack-tip dislocation trapping, and thus led to an extreme refinement of the grain size. Finite-element analyses indicated that the strain hardening behavior of HEA particles reduced the magnitude of strain localization, promoted generation of multiple shear bands, and stabilized shear band propagation. We attribute the enhanced strength-ductility synergy in the current composites to high-density dislocations and nanocrystal formation in the HEA particles, and stable propagation of multiple shear bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]