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Plastic pollution is a global issue, yet our understanding of its impact on organisms and ecosystems remains limited. My PhD thesis explores the presence of microplastics (MP) in river ecosystems, their interaction with freshwater hyporheic biofilms and specifically, the response of hyporheic biofilms to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) pollution in the …

In recent decades, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) has attracted considerable attention as a n omnipresent analyte, finding applications in clinical studies/diagnos is , biology, environmental protection, atmospheric studies, homeland security, and various analytical methodologies . This dissertation provides valuable insights into three different types of electrochemical sensors …

Ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) are nano-to-atomic-scale interfaces that separate domains of different polar order. What makes DWs so interesting is their dynamic nature in an electric field, which offers an exciting potential for nanoscale and atomic-scale applications, but, also, more generally, the dynamics of DWs is linked to a fundamental …

Synthesized in green plants, cellulose is the most abundant natural biopolymer on the planet and is thus widely available, cheap and renewable. Furthermore, its hierarchical structure allows extraction of nanosized particles in the form of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), obtained with hydrolysis or cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), isolated through chemical, biological pretreatment …

Current and especially past industrial and mining activities, including underground and open pit mining, have often resulted in soil pollution that has become a global and alarming environmental problem. Among contaminants, heavy metals and metalloids are under environmental scrutiny due to their potential toxicity, persistence, and because they can be …

Fusion technology has a great potential to safely provide an inexhaustible quantity of electricity without producing greenhouse gases and minimal hazardous waste compared to conventional energy sources, such as nuclear power plants. For materials intended for fusion plasma-facing applications, the essential properties are structural stability at elevated temperature, adequate thermal …

Thermal insulation materials have a strong impact on energy efficiency of buildings which are one of the main energy consumers in the EU. Thermal insulation materials are widely used and improving their properties or improving their production can therefore have a rapid impact on the efficient use of energy in …

In the past, the search for soluble aluminium trifluoride (AlF3) led to the discovery of organoaluminium compounds (AlR3) and organoaluminium fluorides. However, suitable methods for the introduction of fluorine into AlR3 are still scarce, making the discrete AlF3 and organoaluminium fluoride compounds rare. Our investigation of the reactivity of cyclic …

Alkali activation is a chemical process in which aluminosilicate-rich materials that dissolve in basic media at room temperature form binding phases by polycondensation. Alkali-activated materials (AAM), also called geopolymers, are inorganic aluminosilicate-based materials produced mainly from fly ashes and metallurgical slags or clays with high Al and Si content and …

This thesis focuses on the fate of chosen antidepressants in the environment. Studied compounds belong to the class of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Reportedly they do not completely mineralize by existing water treatment processes and their residues cause unwanted toxic effects in aquatic organisms. However, to date, insufficient information has …