0000000000846545
AUTHOR
Janis ŠVirksts
A Study on Acidification and Intercalation of Illite Clay Minerals and their Potential Use as a Filler in SPEEK Composite Membranes
The acidification and intercalation of illite containing clays were studied for potential use as fillers for sulphonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) composite membrane preparation and future proton exchange membrane fuel cells application. The acidification and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) intercalation of illite clays have been studied by powder X-ray diffractometry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and thermogravimetric analysis. SPEEK composite membranes were made with 1, 3 and 5% purified, acidified, DMSO intercalated clay fillers. SPEEK/clay composite membranes were characterized by proton conductivity, water uptake, and mechanical strength.
Traversing Phase Fields towards Nanosized Beta Tricalcium Phosphate
The difficulty of beta tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) crystallization in aqueous media opens the question whether β-TCP can be produced using an alternative pathway. Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is metastable in an aqueous environment and prefers a more stable apatite phase. Others have transformed a crystallized calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (Ca-def HAp) into β-TCP, but automatic transformation from ACP to Ca-def HAp followed by transformation to β-TCP has not been addressed. This work shows the formation of Ca-def HAp after different aging times of ACP and the subsequent transition to β-TCP. An amorphous phase with a Ca/P ratio of 1.5 was synthesized, rinsed, filtered and excess flu…