Aluminum’s exceptional properties, such as its high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance, and low neutron absorption cross-section, make it an ideal material for diverse nuclear industry applications, including aluminum plating for the building envelope of nuclear power plants. However, plating aluminum presents challenges due to its high reactivity with oxygen and moisture, thus, complicating the process in the absence of controlled environments. Plating under an inert atmosphere is often used as an alternative. However, maintaining an inert atmosphere can be expensive and presents an economic challenge. To address these challenges, an innovative approach is introduced by using deep eutectic solvents (DES) as a substitute for traditional aqueous electrolytes due to the high solubility of metal salts, and wide electrochemical window. In addition, DESs offer the benefits of low toxicity, low flammability, and environmentally friendly, which makes DESs candidates for industrial-scale applications. In this study, we employed an AlCl3-Urea DES as the electrolyte and investigated its potential for producing aluminum coatings on copper substrates under controlled conditions, for example, current density, deposition duration, and temperature. A decane protective layer, non-polar molecular, has been used to shield the AlCl3-Urea electrolyte from the air during the electrodeposition process. The electrodeposition was successful after being left in the air for two weeks. This study presents a promising and innovative approach to optimizing aluminum electrodeposition using deep eutectic solvents, with potential applications in various areas of the nuclear industry, including fuel cladding, waste encapsulation, and radiation shielding.

To enhance the efficacy of Abeliophyllum distichum leaves, extracts were prepared using different solvents for hydrolytic enzyme-treated Abeliophyllum distichum leaves. Physicochemical quality and antioxidant activity were measured. Soluble solids, reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, flavonoids, and polyphenols contents showed the lowest values in the control without enzyme treatment. However, they showed high contents in ethanol extract. In the case of enzyme treatment, their values were higher than those of the control. In particular, verbascoside content increased about 220 times more than that of the control group when treated with enzymes and extracted with 50% ethanol. pH was lowered upon enzymatic treatment. Regarding DPPH radical scavenging activity, for enzyme-free, 25% ethanol extract showed the highest activity among extracts with different solvents. For cellulase and pectinase-treated leaves, water extract showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity among extracts with different solvents. For leaves treated with enzyme combination, 50% ethanol extract showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity among extracts with different solvents. Regarding ABTS radical scavenging activity, it was generally higher in the 50% ethanol extract than in the water extract and 25% ethanol extract. In particular, verbascoside content was increased when the extract was prepared by co-treatment with enzymes and 50% ethanol.

Decontamination of spent nuclear fuel from decommissioned nuclear reactors is crucial to reduce the volume of intermediate-level waste. Fuel cladding hulls are one of the important parts due to high radioactivity. Their decontamination could possibly enable reclassification as low-level waste. Fuel cladding hulls used in research reactors and being developed for conventional light water reactors are Al-Mg and Fe-Cr-Al alloys, respectively. Therefore, the recovery of these component metals after decontamination is necessary to reduce the volume of highly radioactive waste. Electrochemical approach is often chosen due to its simplicity and effectiveness. Non-aqueous solvents, such as molten salts (MSs) and ionic liquids (ILs), are preferred to aqueous solvents due to the absence of hydrogen evolution. However, MSs and ILs are limited by high temperature and high synthesis cost, along with toxicity issues. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are synthesized from a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and donor (HBD) and exhibit outstanding metal salt solubility, wide electrochemical window, good biocompatibility, and economic production process. These characteristics make DES an attractive candidate solvent for economic, green, and efficient electrodeposition compared with aqueous solvents such acids or nonaqueous solvents such as MSs or ILs. In this research, the feasibility of electrodeposition of Al-Mg and Fe-Cr-Al alloys in ChCl:EG, the most common DES synthesized from choline chloride (ChCl) and ethylene glycol (EG), will be tested. A standard three-electrode electrochemical cell with an Au plated working electrode and Al wires for counter and reference electrodes is utilized. Two electrolyte solutions (Al-Mg and Fe-Cr-Al) are prepared by dissolving 100 mM of each anhydrous metal chloride salts (AlCl3, MgCl2, CrCl3, and FeCl2) in ChCl:EG. Cyclic voltammogram (CV) is measured at 5, 10, 15, and 20 mV·s−1 to observe the redox reactions occurring in the solutions. Electrodeposition of each alloy is performed via chronoamperometry at observed reduction potentials from CV measurements. The deposited surfaces and cross-sections are examined by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) to analyze the surface morphology, cross-section composition, and thickness. Authors anticipate that the presence of different metals will greatly affect the possibility of electrodeposition. It is expected that although all metals are distributed throughout the surface, the morphology, in terms of particle size and shape, would differ depending on metals. Different metals will be deposited by layers of an approximate thickness of a few μm each. This research will illustrate a potential for recovery and electrodeposition of other precious radioactive metals from DES.

복령 발달단계인 균사체(mycelium), 균핵(sclerotium) 및 자실체(fruiting body)에 대한 열수(hot-water), 70% 주정(70% EtOH) 및 70% 메탄올(70% MeOH) 용매별 생리활성 성분과 발달단계별 건조시료의 베타글루칸 및 아미노산 성분함량을 분석하였다. 그 결과, 발달단계별 시료 중에서 균사체의 DPPH 라디컬 소거능, 철 환원 항산화능, 환원력, 아질산염 소거능 및 총 폴리페놀 함량이 균핵과 자실체와 비교하여 유의적 차이를 보이며 높은 것으로 나타났다. 추출용매별 결과, 균사체의 경우 열수추출물(hotwater) 에서 DPPH 라디컬 소거능, 철 환원 항산화능 및 총 폴리페놀 함량이 높았으며, 균핵은 70% 주정추출물 (70% EtOH)에서 철 환원 항산화능 및 총 폴리페놀 함량이, 열수추출물(hot-water)에서 DPPH 라디컬 소거능, 환원력 및 아질산염 소거능이 높았으며, 자실체는 열수추출물(hot-water)에서 DPPH 라디컬 소거능, 환원력, 아질산 염소거능 및 총 폴리페놀 함량이 다른 용매추출물에 비하여 높게 나타났다. 균사체, 균핵 및 자실체 건조시료 중의 베타글루칸 함량은 균핵에서 균사체와 자실체에 비하여 월등히 높은 함량치를 나타냈다. 총 아미노산 및 총 필수아미노산 함량은 자실체와 균사체에서 균핵과 비교하여 월등히 높았으며, 그 중 알기닌(Arg)과 페닐알라닌(Phe) 이 높게 검출되었다.

비결정성 영역에서의 유동단위의 고찰을 위하여 유동 파라메타와 결정크기로부터 폴리아미드 섬유고분자 물질의 자체확산, 홀 부피, 유동 열역학 파라메타 등을 계산하였다. 폴리아미드 섬유의 응력 완화 실험은 용매기를 부착한 인장 시험기를 사용하여 여러 온도의 공기, 증류수, 산, 염기 용액에서 실행하였다. REM 모델의 이론적인 응력완화식에 응력완화 실험 결과를 적용하여 여러 가지 유동 파라메타를 계산하였다. 이들 시료의 유동 파라메타는 완화 스펙트럼, 자체확산, 점도 및 유동 활성화 에너지와 직접적인 연관을 갖는 것으로 규명되었다.

The purpose of this study was to examine biological activities, including total contents of polyphenol, antioxidant activities, inhibitory activities of tyrosinase, and protective effect against oxidative stress in the HepG2 cells of ethanol extracts from wheat sprout. The antioxidant activity of extracts was determined by ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities. Ethanol extracts were tested using different ethanol concentrations (0%, 30%, 50%, 80% and 95%, respectively). The highest amount of total polyphenol was extracted by 50% and 80% ethanol which was 26.3 and 26.8 mg gallic acid equivalents/g sample, respectively. High levels of ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activity were found in 50% ethanol (26.7 and 15.0 mg TEAC/g sample, respectively) and 80% (24.3 and 16.1 mg TEAC/g sample, respectively) ethanol extracts. Also, 50% and 80% ethanol extracts indicated higher inhibitory activities of tyrosinase compared with other extracts. In the cell-based assay, pre-treatment of the HepG2 cells with wheat sprout extracts prevented the cell damage induced by TBHP (tert-butyl hydroperoxide). The results of this study indicate that wheat sprout has significantly higher diverse biological activities and apparently has significant health benefits.

We analyzed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of petroleum-based laundry solvents in closed systems by static headspace analysis and investigated the emission characteristics of odorous compounds emitted from organic solvents in the small-scale dry cleaning process. The compounds containing eight to eleven carbon atoms were analyzed to account for 96.92% of the total peak area in a GC-MS chromatogram. It was found that the compounds with ten carbon atoms showed the largest proportion. In the small-scale dry cleaning process (3 kg of laundry and 40 min of drying time), a total of 36 VOCs was quantified, and the odor contribution of these compounds was evaluated. The sum of the odor quotient (SOQ) was analyzed up to 151±163 in the first 12 min of operation. The main odor-causing compounds were acrolein, ethylbenzene, hexane, acetone, and decane, and their odor contributions were 32.28%, 13.47%, 10.52%, 10.20%, and 8.08%, respectively.