The photodegradation kinetics of 2‐mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), a corrosion inhibitor for copper‐based alloys, is studied in high amorphous polyvinyl alcohol coatings subjected to either UV irradiation or indoor light exposure. The photodegradation process proceeds rapidly, thus compromising the anticorrosion ability of the coating. The encapsulation of MBT into layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocarriers slows down its decomposition kinetics by a factor of three. Besides preserving the corrosion inhibitor, such a strategy allows a controlled release of MBT triggered by corrosion‐related stimuli, for example, presence of chloride species and acid pH. The developed coating guarantees long‐lasting corrosion protection even at low amounts of inhibitor‐loaded LDH nanocarriers (ca. 5 wt %). This also reflects in a high transparency, which makes the protective coating suitable for demanding applications, such as the conservation of high‐value metal works of art.

Anion exchange membranes (AEM) have gained attention recently as a promising candidate for low-cost water electrolysis systems to produce hydrogen, linked with renewable energy resources as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. The development of potential materials for producing and analyzing AEM is an imperative step towards commercialization and plays a competitive role in the hydrogen production industry. In this article, we developed a composite anion exchange membrane prepared by activating a commercial support structure (Celgard^® 3401) with a commercially available functional group (Fumion^® FAA-3) through a phase-inversion process. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis demonstrated the phase-inversion procedure as an effective methodology. Furthermore, the cell performance test result (with Celgard/Fumion) was very promising and even better in comparison with a commercial membrane commonly applied in alkaline electrolysis (Fumasep). We also developed a testing procedure for membrane performance evaluation during electrolysis which is very critical considering the effect of CO₂ absorption on membrane conductivity.

The recycling of plastic waste is undergoing fast growth due to environmental, health and economic issues, and several blends of post-consumer and post-industrial polymeric materials have been characterized in recent years. However, most of these researches have focused on plastic containers and packaging, neglecting hard plastic waste. This study provides the first experimental characterization of different blends of hard plastic waste and virgin polypropylene in terms of melt index, differential scan calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), mechanical properties (tensile, impact and Shore hardness) and Vicat softening test. Compared to blends based on packaging plastic waste, significant differences were observed in terms of melt flow index (about 10 points higher for hard plastic waste). Mechanical properties, in particular yield strain, were instead quite similar (between 5 and 9%), despite a higher standard deviation being observed, up to 10%, probably due to incomplete homogenization. Results demonstrate that these worse performances could be mainly attributed to the presence of different additives, as well as to the presence of impurities or traces of other polymers, other than incomplete homogenization. On the other hand, acceptable results were obtained for selected blends; the optimal blending ratio was identified as 78% post-consumer waste and 22% post-industrial waste, meeting the requirement for injection molding and thermoforming.

The protection of metals from atmospheric corrosion is a task of primary importance for many applications and many different products have been used, sometimes being toxic and harmful for health and the environment. In order to overcome drawbacks due to toxicity of the corrosion inhibitors and harmful organic solvents and to ensure long-lasting protection, new organic compounds have been proposed and their corrosion inhibition properties have been investigated. In this work, we describe the use of a new environment-friendly anticorrosive coating that takes advantage of the synergism between an eco-friendly bio-polymer matrix and an amino acid. The corrosion inhibition of a largely used Copper-based (Cu-based) alloy against the chloride-induced indoor atmospheric attack was studied using chitosan (CH) as a biopolymer and l-Cysteine (Cy) as an amino acid. To evaluate the protective efficacy of the coatings, tailored accelerated corrosion tests were carried out on bare and coated Cu-based alloys, further, the nature of the protective film formed on the Cu-based alloy surface was analyzed by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) while the surface modifications due to the corrosion treatments were investigated by optical microscopy (OM). The evaluation tests reveal that the Chitosan/l-Cysteine (CH/Cy) coatings exhibit good anti-corrosion properties against chloride attack whose efficiency increases with a minimum amount of Cy of 0.25 mg/mL.

Antibacterial properties of engineered materials are important in the transition to a circular economy and societal security, as they are central to many key industrial areas, such as health, food, and water treatment/reclaiming. Nanocoating and electrospinning are two versatile, simple, and low-cost technologies that can be combined into new advanced manufacturing approaches to achieve controlled production of innovative micro- and nano-structured non-woven membranes with antifouling and antibacterial properties. The present study investigates a rational approach to design and manufacture electrospun membranes of polysulfone (PSU) with mechanical properties optimized via combinatorial testing from factorial design of experiments (DOE) and endowed with antimicrobial silver (Ag) nanocoating. Despite the very low amount of Ag deposited as a conformal percolating nanocoating web on the polymer fibers, the antimicrobial resistance assessed against the Gram-negative bacteria E. coli proved to be extremely effective, almost completely inhibiting the microbial proliferation with respect to the reference uncoated PSU membrane. The results are relevant, for example, to improve antifouling behavior in ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis in water treatment.

When exposed to air, silver artifacts undergo an unpleasant darkening and shiny loss, commonly known as tarnishing. At the present, the development of protective coatings by using eco-friendly and biocompatible materials, able to ensure high transparency and to hinder the degradation of silver objects, remains a huge challenge. In this study, chitosan was used for the first time to realize sustainable coatings for silver protection. Both pure and benzotriazole-containing chitosan coatings were prepared and applied on sterling silver disks. A commercial product based on acrylic resin was used as a reference. The aesthetic features and protective properties of these coatings were evaluated by performing two different types of aging treatments. In particular, the assessment of the protective efficacy was carried out by reproducing both highly aggressive polluted environments and real-like museums’ storage conditions. In the first case, chitosan-based coatings with benzotriazole performed better, whereas in storage conditions all the chitosan films showed comparable efficacy. Compositional, morphological and structural analyses were used to evaluate the protective properties of the coatings and to detect any physical or chemical modifications after the aging treatments. Our findings reveal that the two different testing methods provide complementary information. Moreover, chitosan coatings can achieve protective efficacy comparable with that of the commercial product but using non-toxic solvents and a renewable biopolymer. Chitosan coatings, designed for cultural heritage conservation, are thus promising for the protection of common sterling silver objects.