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Knowledge of the pollution activity at the mining and smelting sites and assessment of contamination levels at different sites is not always sufficient for reliable conclusions regarding lead (Pb) provenance and contributions from sources. Pb isotopes have long been used as ‘fingerprints’ of the source of Pb recorded in environmental …

Environmental contamination by toxic metals—such as Pb²⁺, Cr³⁺, and Hg²⁺—and organometallic species like monomethylmercury (MeHg) presents one of the most persistent global challenges due to their bioaccumulation, long-term toxicity, and resistance to degradation. This thesis addresses this critical issue through a multidisciplinary approach combining nanotechnology, environmental chemistry, biosensor engineering, and …

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 …

Electrochemical energy conversion devices such as fuel cells (FCs) and water electrolyzers (WE) have attracted attention from the scientific community for their unique ability to store electrical energy in the form of hydrogen and then generate electricity by the reverse process. Unfortunately, those devices rely on a significant amount of …

We are speeding full throttle towards a climate catastrophe and we have only until 2030 to take action to avoid the most devastating and unimaginable consequences. The lack of political and corporate will to change the status quo of “business as usual” is causing mass protests and civil disobedience globally. …

Atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma jets in material processing have received substantial attention in the past two decades and are still in the developing stage with a growing interest in material synthesis and surface processing. The main opportunities of these techniques are their potential cost reductions in apparatus and handling. Because …

The potential toxicity of nanoparticles in our environment and consumer products is currently determined by costly and timely animal-based testing, which limits the rate of nanoparticle testing, causing a desperate need for alternative testing strategies. A promising alternative – mechanism-based prediction – employs a set of high-throughput cell-based tests that …

Of our main interest in this work is the stabilization of assemblies of topological defects (TDs) in liquid crystals (LCs). Due to the topological origin of TDs, the physics of defects is of interest for all branches of physics, including condensed matter systems, particle physics, and cosmology. LCs represent an …

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) in nanoparticle form has recently gained a lot of attention, in both the scientific and industrial communities. This is due to the fact that it exhibits various interesting chemical and physical characteristics, for example, a high photocatalytic activity and the absorption of incident UV light. Many applications …

A new approach for the synthesis of silver (Ag), platinum (Pt) and gold (Au) nanoparticles and their composites with hydroxyapatite (HAp) is developed via a sonochemical process. The major goal was to design physicochemical properties of material in order to achieve: (i) intensive antibacterial activity and (ii) maximal reduction of …