When designing injectable scaffolds for biomedical applications, it is crucial to determine the conditions for the formation of unlimited structures, in particular the kinetics at constant temperature. Despite many studies, these conditions have not been characterized so far after injection, which is such an important application aspect. The aim of the research is to discuss the impact of the injection application on the polymer structure and to propose new criteria for assessing the potential of thermosensitive biopolymer sols, considering the flow under high shear rates during the administration.
Based on the analysis of the obtained results of rheological tests, it was shown that the flow through the needles causes a significant change in the elastic properties that define the polymer structure, with almost unchanged viscous properties. As a consequence, the parameters characterizing the polymer coil change, which, combined with the quantitatively proven fragmentation, indicates that injection application may affect the size of the coils that will not reach the critical size of the aggregating nucleus.
Finally, extended research procedures for the conscious design of injectable scaffolds are proposed as well as key rheological parameters to ensure thermoinduced aggregation preceded by shear during injection are provided.

The Ti-Zr and Ti-Zr/sol-gel were used as pretreatment layers before the electroless nickel coating on AM60B magnesium alloy. Scanning Electron Microscopy was employed to investigate the surface morphology of the pretreated layers and applied electroless coatings. Chemical analysis of the Ti-Zr layer, and nickel coatings was done using the Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. Moreover, the X-ray Diffraction and Atomic Force Microscopy methods were utilized to evaluate the microstructure and surface roughness of the electroless coatings, respectively. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy was employed to study the corrosion behavior of Ni-P coatings. The results show that Ti-Zr layer has structural cracks, and the sol-gel film was covered all cracks entirely. The cauliflower-like electroless nickel coating was applied on both mentioned pretreated layers. The cross-sectional images revealed the higher thickness for the electroless coating on Ti-Zr/sol-gel layer, probably due to a large number of Ni nucleation centers. The EIS results demonstrate that the electroless coating on Ti-Zr/sol-gel has high corrosion protection and microhardness value.

Describes how to obtain a soluble sodium silicate with a density of 1.40 g/cm3, 1.45 g/cm3, 1.50 g/cm3, and silica module M = 2.1 obtained from the silica- sodium glass with module M = 3.3 and M = 2.1. Residual (final) strength of molding samples made with these binders, were determined at temperatures corresponding to the characteristic temperatures of phase and temperature transitions of silica gel. Indicated the type of soluble sodium silicate capable of obtain the smallest value of the final strength of molding sand in the specified range of temperatures.

Titania dioxide (TiO₂) layers were synthesized via the acid-catalysed sol-gel route using titania (IV) ethoxide, and then annealed at temperatures varying in the range of 150–700 °C. The research concerned the effect of annealing temperature on the structure of TiO₂ layers, their surface morphology, and their optical properties. Further, X-ray diffractometry, and Raman spectroscopy were used to determine the structure of TiO₂ layers. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopy were used to study the surface morphology of TiO₂ layers. Transmittance, reflectance, absorption edge, and optical homogeneity were investigated by UV-VIS spectrophotometry, while the refractive index and thicknesses of TiO₂ layers were measured using a monochromatic ellipsometer. Chromatic dispersion characteristics of the complex refractive index were determined using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Structural studies have shown that the TiO₂ layers annealed at temperatures up to 300 °C are amorphous, while those annealed at temperatures exceeding 300 °C are polycrystalline containing only anatase nanocrystals with sizes increasing from 6 to 20 nm with the increase of the annealing temperature. Investigations on the surface morphology of TiO₂ layers have shown that the surface roughness increases with the increase in annealing temperature. Spectrophotometric investigations have shown that TiO₂ layers are homogeneous and the width of the indirect optical band gap varies with annealing temperature from 3.53 eV to 3.73 eV.

Worldwide commercial interest in the production of cerium doped yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG:Ce) phosphors is reflected in the widespread use of white light emitting devices. Despite of the fact that YAG:Ce is considered a “cool phosphor” it is the most important in white LED technology. This article reviews the developed techniques for producing phosphors with superior photoluminescence efficiency, including solid-state reaction, sol-gel and (co)precipitation methods. Also, by co-doping with rare earth elements, a red/blue shift is reached in the spectrum. The characteristics of YAG:Ce phosphors are investigated because the properties of the phosphors are strongly influenced by the synthesis routes and the sintering temperature treatment. After the phase analysis, morphology and emission studies of the phosphors there may be seen the conditions when the transition from the amorphous phase to the crystalline phase appears, when luminescent properties are influenced by the crystalline form, purity, average size of the particles, co-doping and so on.

A recent study found that an agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) method yielded two distinct major bands corresponding to the hepatic and bone ALP isoenzymes (ALP2 and ALP3, respectively) in bovine serum treated with protease and neuraminidase (PN-treatment), although there were concerns that the intestinal ALP isoenzyme (ALP5) often overlapped with ALP3 in human serum treated with neuraminidase. Because ALP5 was separated from ALP3 in bovine serum treated with protease alone (P-treatment), we used a modified method employing both P- and PN-treated bovine sera to measure the activities of the three ALP isoenzymes in 53 lactating Holstein cows: 24 primiparous and 29 multiparous. Upon electrophoresis, 51 of 53 samples (96.2%) subjected to P-treatment yielded a distinct fraction corresponding to ALP5, as did the control serum. All PN-treated sera yielded a definite ALP2 fraction. The ALP3 fraction was calculated as the remainder after excluding ALP2 and ALP5. The activities of total ALP (t-ALP) and ALP3 in primiparous cows were higher than those in multiparous cows (p < 0.001) at early-to-peak [10–110 days in milk (DIM)] and mid (111–220 DIM) lactation. In the multiparous cows, the ALP3 activity at late lactation (221−477 DIM) was significantly higher than that at early-to-peak lactation. Thus, the modified AGE method described here is able to discriminate three fractions of ALP isoenzymes in the sera of lactating cows. The AGE pattern of circulating ALP isoenzymes will contribute to the understanding of the physiological bone metabolism status in lactating cows.

This study investigated changes in serum levels of hepatic, bone, and intestinal alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzymes (ALP2, ALP3, and ALP5, respectively) in Holstein cows around parturition. Tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRAP5b) activity and calcium (Ca) concen- trations were also measured. We analyzed blood samples from 11 late-pregnant heifers (primipa- rous group) and 13 multiparous (2-4 lactations; multiparous group) cows at 3 weeks (18-24 days prepartum; -3 weeks), 2 weeks (17-11 days prepartum; -2 weeks), and 1 week (10-4 days prepar- tum; -1 weeks) before parturition; the day of calving (within 12 h post-calving; day 0); and 5 days postpartum (5 days). ALP3 activity was significantly higher in the primiparous group than in the multiparous group, whereas the activities decreased significantly in both groups after 5 days. ALP2 and ALP5 activities did not change, whereas ALP2 activity was significantly higher in the primiparous group than in the multiparous group. TRAP5b activity was significantly higher in the primiparous group than in the multiparous group and showed a transient significant increase at day 0. Ca concentration significantly decreased at day 0 in both groups; the Ca level at day 0 was significantly higher in the primiparous group than in the multiparous group. These data show that ALP3 activity in serum may indicate a change in osteoblastic bone forma- tion after calving, but further study is needed to determine the clinical application for measuring ALP isoenzymes in bovine medicine.

This study is devoted to synthesis and characterization of uranium dioxide microspheres (Ø < 100 µm) and pellets by application of powder-free process called the Complex Sol-Gel Process. The precursors of prepared sols were ascorbic acid solution with dissolved a freshly precipitated ammonium diuranate. The microspheres of uranyl-ascorbate gel were obtained using the ICHTJ Process. The pellets were formed by pressing and sintering of uranium dioxide powder. Studies allowed determining an optimal heat treatment of calcination, reduction and sintering processes at temperatures of 700°C, 900°C and 1300°C, respectively. The main parameters which play a key role in the process of synthesis method and features of the pellets and microspheres of uranium dioxide are described in this article.

In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films are deposited on glass substrate using the sol-gel spin coating technique. The effect of annealing temperature on structural properties was investigated. The ZnO sol-gel was produced from zinc acetate dehydrate as the starting material with iso-propanol alcohol as the stabilizer. The ratio was controlled, distilled water and diethanolamine as the solvent mixing on a magnetic stirrer for an hour under constant heat of 60°C. The ZnO thin film was deposited using the spin coating technique with the speed of 3000 rpm for 30 minutes before the sample undergoes pre-heat in the oven at the temperature of 100°C for 10 minutes. The sample was annealing in the furnace for an hour at 200°C, 350°C, and 500°C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms that hexagonal wurtzite structure with zincite and zinc acetate hydroxide hydrate composition. The thin films surface roughness was analyzed using an atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) for surface morphology observation.

The influence of microwave (MW) plasma on magnetization and morphology of sol-gel synthesized MnFe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles is investigated in this study. Manganese (II) nitrate hexahydrate, ferric (III) nitrate nanohydrate and citric acid were used to synthesize ferrite nanoparticles via a facile sol-gel route. These ferrite nanostructures were heat-treated at 700ºC and then given MW plasma treatment for 10 min. The pristine MnFe2O4 and plasma treated MnFe2O4 showed almost similar structural formation with a slight increase in crystallinity on plasma treatment. However, XRD peak intensity slightly increased after plasma treatment, reflecting better crystallinity of the nanostructures. The size of the particle increased from 35 nm to 39 nm on plasma treatment. It was challenging to deduce the surface morphology of the nanoparticles since both samples were composed of a mixture of big and small clusters. Clusters that had been treated with plasma were larger in size than pristine ones. The band gap energy of the pristine MnFe2O4 sample was about 5.92 eV, which increased to 6.01 eV after treatment with MW plasma. The saturation magnetization of MnFe2O4 sample was noted about 0.78 emu/g before plasma treatment and 0.68 emu/g after MW plasma treatment.

Crystal structure and phase composition of stainless steel substrates (AISI 304 type) was studied and it was found that they adopted the cubic symmetry. The calculated elementary cell parameter for the mayor Fe-Ni phase (weight fraction 99%) was a = 3.593 Å, whereas the mean grain size was <D> = 2932 Å. Morphology of the stainless steel substrate surface was studied with profilometry. Mechanical properties of the stainless steel substrates and stainless steel substrates coated with ceramic layer of barium strontium titanate were studied with microhardness tester. For measurements performed according to the Vickers method the average microhardness was found HV = 189 or HV = 186 for the “in-line” and “mapping” measurement pattern, respectively. The sol-gel method was used to coat the surface of the stainless steel substrate with a thin ceramic layer of the chemical composition Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3. It was found that the stainless steel substrate covered with sol-gel deposited ceramic coating exhibited the average hardness within the range HV = 217 up to HV = 235 for loading force F = 98 mN and F = 0.98 N, respectively. The Knopp method was also used and it was found that the stainless steel substrate with Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 coating exhibited hardness HK = 386.

Two different complexing agents, namely citric acid and gelatin, were used for gel-combustion synthesis of yttria stabilized zirconia. The influence of synthesis conditions on properties of powders and sintered bodies was studied by X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and helium pycnometer measurements.

The magnetic properties of the U-type ferrite synthesized by a sol-gel process had studied by substituting cobalt with manganese or zinc in cobalt-based U-type ferrite. The substituted U-type ferrite showed a dominant crystal structure at a different substitution ratio of manganese and zinc. The change of the starting temperature of U-type ferrite formation according to substitutional elements was confirmed by TG-DTA analysis. In the case of manganese substitution, the starting temperature of U-type ferrite formation lowered, and on the contrary, when zinc was substituted, it became higher. The magnetic properties of the U-type ferrite substituted with manganese showed a tendency that the saturation magnetization was decreased and the coercivity was increased as the manganese ratio increased. The highest saturation magnetization was 57.9 emu/g in the specific composition (Ba4Co0.5Zn1.5Fe36O60) substituted with zinc.

In this paper the chemo-rheological behavior of aqueous TiC suspension and physical properties of gelcasted green body were investigated. The monomer system used in this project was acrylamide (AM) and methylenebisacrylamide (MBAM). Polymerisation reaction was promoted by the addition of tetramethyl ethylenediamine as a catalyst and ammonium persulfate as a initiator. The effects of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), polyethylenimine (PEI) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) dispersants on the premix solution containing TiC powder have been studied via observation of the zeta potential and rheological behavior. The optimal amount of TMAH was achieved 0.4 wt.% at pH 9. The chemorheological results showed that the gelation time decreased and viscosity increased with increasing the monomer content, solid loading, initiator amount and temperature. The highest flexural strength of gel casted green body was obtained with 50 vol% solid loading and 25 wt.% monomers content.

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) has been attracting widespread interest in medical applications. In a form of coating, it enables to create a durable bond between an implant and surrounding bone tissues. With addition of silver nanoparticles HAp should also provide antibacterial activity. The aim of this research was to evaluate the composition of hydroxyapatite with silver nanoparticles in a non-destructive and non-contact way. For control measurements of HAp molecular composition and solvent evaporation efficiency the Raman spectroscopy has been chosen. In order to evaluate dispersion and concentration of the silver nanoparticles inside the hydroxyapatite matrix, the optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been used. Five samples were developed and examined ‒ a reference sample of pure HAp sol and four samples of HAp colloids with different silver nanoparticle solution volume ratios. The Raman spectra for each solution have been obtained and analyzed. Furthermore, a transverse-sectional visualization of every sample has been created and examined by means of OCT.

We measured the bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme activity in 67 plasma samples from 14 newborn Holstein calves using both a conventional method (featuring heat inactivation) and a commercial agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) kit; the relevant isoenzymes were termed bone-specific ALP (BAP) and ALP isoenzyme 3 (ALP3). We explored whether the AGE kit afforded reliable data when used to analyze samples from Holstein calves. The blood was collected from the jugular vein of each calf immediately prior to the first colostrum feeding (pre-feeding), 20 and 40 h after pre-feeding, and on days 4 and 7; whereas three samples (from three calves) were not obtained. The total plasma ALP activity varied widely, exceeding the ranges of reference values. On electrophoresis, 52 of 67 plasma samples (77.6 %) clearly contained both ALP isoenzyme 2 and ALP3, as did control human serum. The total ALP activity of the 52 samples ranged from 166–1989 U/L (median: 1013 U/L), whereas the values for the other 15 samples (22.4%) exhibiting abnormal isoenzyme fractionation ranged from 1014–5118 U/L (median: 1780 U/L). In the 52 plasma samples exhibiting clearly separated isoenzymes, ALP3 and BAP activities were strongly positively correlated as revealed by Deming regression (y = 0.93x + 22.6, p<0.0001) and Bland-Altman analysis (ALP3/BAP activities limit of agreement: −5.1%). Thus, the AGE kit yields useful information on newborn calves, and can replace the conventional method when the total plasma ALP activity is less than approximately 1000 U/L.

U-type ferrite typified by Ba4Co2Fe36O60 is used as a RAM (Radar Absorbing Materials) in the X-band (8-12 GHz). Ba4Co2Fe36O60 is known to have a complex crystal structure, which makes it difficult to obtain single phase and have low reproducibility. Previously known U-type ferrites have been fabricated based on a ceramic process that mixing (by a ball mill), calcining, grinding, binder mixing, drying, sieving, pressing and sintering. In contrast, the process of preparing the powder by the sol-gel method and its heat-treating is advantageous in that it can reduce the process steps and the required time. In addition, the precise stoichiometric control by the sol-gel method can effectively evaluate the effect of added or substituted elements. In this study investigates the crystal structure of Ba4Co2Fe36O60 synthesized by the sol-gel method and the morphology of U-type ferrite nano-powders according to various heat treatment conditions. Analysis of the crystal structure is used for XRD. Morphology and size are observed by SEM. In addition, VSM is performed to confirm the change of magnetic properties according to various heat treatment conditions.

This paper discusses the influence of the direction of applied deformation on the ability to gelation of thermosensitive chitosan hydrogels. The application of the shear rate equal in value to the classically performed oscillatory measurements leads to significantly different shapes of experimental curves. It was found that the type of mechanically applied deformation has a significant impact on the gelation ability of colloidal chitosan solutions and conditions of sol-gel phase transition. Simple shear leads to a phase transition at a lower temperature or in a shorter time compared to oscillatory tests. Moreover, based on the final values of dynamic viscosity in rotational measurements, it was found that stronger crosslinking of the polymer structure was observed.

A significant challenge of modern technology is the design of high-efficiency filters that allow more effective removal of aerosol particles suspended in the air, e.g. micron and submicron oil droplets. Our previous work has proven that aerogel structure deposition on fibre surface is a promising method for post-production improvement of the oil-mist filter performance. In this work, a modification of the previously described method was proposed, consisting in carrying out the process in the flow (semi-batch) regime, i.e. the streams of reagents successively pass through the filter in a self-designed and self-made modification chamber. The effect of the reactant flow rate and the order of reactants (precursor/catalyst or catalyst/precursor solutions) on the mass of deposited aerogel, and thus - also on the filtration efficiency during the removal of oil mist droplets and the pressure drop accompanying the airflow - is presented and described. The possible routes of modification scaling-up are discussed with defined unit operations.

In this work, gel-casting of foams method was used to produce ZrO2 porous ceramics. The obtained foams with total porosity of 89.5 vol% were composed of approximately spherical cells having the mean diameter of 537 ± 153 μm interconnected by circular cell windows having the mean diameter of 152 ± 82 μm. Next, the ZrO2 foams were coated with fluorapatite (FA) and hydroxyapatite (HA) layers by slurry infiltration. The intermediate fluorapatite (FA) layer was introduced to prevent the chemical reactions between ZrO2 and HA at high temperatures during sintering process. The ZrO2 samples containing only HA coatings, were also tested, for comparison. The obtained ceramic biomaterials were subjected to in vitro tests in the simulated body fluid (SBF) solution. The results show that the ZrO2 foams with FA/HA layers possessed better bioactivity than the foams with the HA/HA coating.

The paper presents the influence of ZrO2 coating on Ti6Al7Nb titanium alloy depending on the method of deposition. The coatings were made by sol-gel method and atomic layer deposition (ALD). Wettability tests, pitting corrosion assessment and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were carried out in the paper. Complementary macro- and microscopic observations, roughness analysis by profilometric method and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were made. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that the type of method of depositing the layer on the surface of the material has a significant influence on its properties and that it should be taken into account during the process of the material improvement. Drawing on the findings presented, it can be inferred that roughness has a significant impact upon the surface wetttability of the tested surfaces and their related corrosion resistance. The obtainment of hydrophobic surfaces is for smaller rougidity values.

This paper is devoted to application of adsorption process for cooling power generation in a cooling devices. Construction and working principle of a water-silica gel adsorption chiller has been presented and the basic refrigeration cycle has been discussed. The article outlines behavior of a single-stage adsorption system influenced by changes in cycle time. The effect of cycle time and inlet chilled water temperatures on the main system performance parameters has been analysed