The element phosphorus (P) is essential to all life (e.g. plants, animals and bacteria) and is a key ingredient in fertilizers to sustain high crop yields. However, the lifetime of exploitable reserves of natural ore deposits containing P is estimated to range from the next few decades to several hundreds of years, since P is intensively used in agriculture and other industries. The use of P yi...

The high-pressure structural chemistry of α-zirconium phosphate, α-Zr(HPO4)2·H2O, was studied using in-situ high-pressure diffraction and synchrotron radiation. The layered phosphate was studied under both hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic conditions and Rietveld refinement carried out on the resulting diffraction patterns. It was found that under hydrostatic conditions no uptake of additional wa...

Materials with disordered structures have a crucial role in the rapid development of new technologies. Improvement of these materials for particular application, as well as preparation of novel composites is based on a thorough understanding of the basic mechanisms of charge carrier transport. Among various classes of structurally disordered materials, a family of iron phosphate glasses attract...

In this study, we, for the first time, tried to apply IC50 values (inhibitory concentration estimated to affect the endpoint in question by 50%) in the MTT colorimetric assay to investigate the cytotoxic effects of highly absorbent foam dressings based on silver zirconium phosphate, a newly nanobased matrix. Our results showed that silver released from dressings based on silver zirconium phosph...

The attachment chemistry required for the sequential self-assembly of zirconium phosphonate (ZP) monolayers on gold and germanium surfaces is examined with a combination of attenuated total reflection (ATR-FTIR) and polarization modulation (PM-FTIR) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. On the germanium substrates, the conversion of an attached o-aminosilane monolayer to phosphate amide sp...

tio2/zro2 nanocomposite was obtained by the sonochemical technique. in this method, two separate gels containing zirconium and titanium were prepared and mixed together. the precursor sol of zirconium was prepared from an aqueous solution of zrcl4. the precursor titanium tetra isopropoxide (ttip) dissolved in isopropanol. mixing of titanium and zirconium gels was resulted in a yellow tio2/zro2 ...

Biogeochemical transformation (inclusive of dissolution) of iron (hydr)oxides resulting from dissimilatory reduction has a pronounced impact on the fate and transport of nutrients and contaminants in subsurface environments. Despite the reactivity noted for pristine (unreacted) minerals, iron (hydr)oxides within native environments will likely have a different reactivity owing in part to change...

The acquisition of iron from transferrin by Gram-negative bacterial pathogens is dependent on a periplasmic ferric-ion-binding protein, FbpA. FbpA shuttles iron from the outer membrane to an inner membrane transport complex. A bound phosphate anion completes the iron co-ordination shell of FbpA and kinetic studies demonstrate that the anion plays a critical role in iron binding and release in v...