Wood decay fungi (WDF) seem to be particularly suitable for developing myco-materials due to their mycelial texture, ease of cultivation, and lack of sporification. This study focused on a collection of WDF strains that were later used to develop mycelium mats of leather-like materials. Twenty-one WDF strains were chosen based on the color, homogeneity, and consistency of the mycelia. The growth rate of each strain was measured. To improve the consistency and thickness of the mats, an exclusive method (newly patented) was developed. The obtained materials and the corresponding pure mycelia grown in liquid culture were analyzed by both thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate the principal components and texture. TGA provided a semi-quantitative indication on the mycelia and mat composition, but it was hardly able to discriminate differences in the production process (liquid culture versus patented method). SEM provided keen insight on the mycelial microstructure as well as that of the mat without considering the composition; however, it was able to determine the hyphae and porosity dimensions. Although not exhaustive, TGA and SEM are complementary methods that can be used to characterize fungal strains based on their desirable features for various applications in bio-based materials. Taking all of the results into account, the Fomitopsis iberica strain seems to be the most suitable for the development of leather-like materials.

The rapid growth in demand for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) is posing challenges in the management of end‐of‐life (EoL) systems and the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs), especially lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Such challenges can be addressed by collecting and recycling spent LIBs through economically and environmentally sustainable processes and by enabling the transition to a circular economy vision based on the use of secondary raw materials. These processes involve not only the metallurgic approaches to recover the critical metals, but also the pretreatment approaches that are crucial to enhance the recovery efficiency of other valuable materials (e.g., graphite, fluorinated compounds, binders, electrolyte). Herein, pretreatment processes ranging from the disassembling, opening, and sorting to the component separation, collection, and recovery, are described for the EoL 18650‐type commercial LIB. A closed loop of eco‐friendly recycling to fully recover the composite cathode, i.e., the cathode active material (CAM), the fluorinated binder, and the conductive carbon, as well as the separator, is presented. The recovery approach is based on green solvents and is designed to limit water consumption. The recovered materials are used to assemble a new cell, and the electrochemical characterization is used to evaluate the effective feasibility of the whole recycling process.

This article reports on the formation of pyrolytic carbon/TiO₂ nanocomposite (p-C/TiO₂) by pyrolysis of a mixture of the P25 TiO₂ and kraft lignin at 600 °C. The result was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometry (EPR), thermogravimetry (TGA) and SEM microscopy. Its photocatalytic activity was ascertained using three classes of chemical probes, namely (i) degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine-B (RhB) dyes in UV light-irradiated aqueous suspensions, (ii) depletion of phenol and (iii) degradation of antibiotics. The p-C/TiO₂ nanocomposite is a strong phisisorbent of both MB and RhB nearly twofold with respect to neat TiO₂. Although it is nearly twofold more photoactive toward the degradation of MB (0.091 min⁻¹ versus 0.047 min⁻¹), it is not with regard to RhB degradation (0.064 min⁻¹ versus 0.060 min⁻¹). For the degradation of phenol in aqueous media (pH 3), pristine TiO₂ was far more effective than p-C/TiO₂ for oxygenated suspensions (17.6 × 10⁻³ mM min⁻¹ versus 4.3 × 10⁻³ mM min⁻¹). Under an argon atmosphere, the kinetics were otherwise identical. The activity of the material was tested also for a real application in the degradation of a fluoroquinolone antibiotic such as enrofloxacin (ENR) in tap water. It is evident that the photoactivity of a semiconductor photocatalyst is not a constant, but it does depend on the nature of the substrate used and on the experimental conditions. It is also argued that the use of dyes to assess photocatalytic activities when suspensions are subjected to visible light irradiation is to be discouraged as the dyes act as electron transfer photosensitizers and or can undergo photodegradation from their excited states.

This research investigated the suitability of air-to-water generator (AWG) technology to address one of the main concerns in green hydrogen production, namely water supply. This study specifically addresses water quality and energy sustainability issues, which are crucial research questions when AWG technology is intended for electrolysis. To this scope, a reasoned summary of the main findings related to atmospheric water quality has been provided. Moreover, several experimental chemical analyses specifically focused on meeting electrolysis process requirements, on water produced using a real integrated AWG system equipped with certified materials for food contact, were discussed. To assess the energy sustainability of AWGs in green hydrogen production, a case study was presented regarding an electrolyzer plant intended to serve as energy storage for a 2 MW photovoltaic field on Iriomote Island. The integrated AWG, used for the water quality analyses, was studied in order to determine its performance in the specific island climate conditions. The production exceeded the needs of the electrolyzer; thus, the overproduction was considered for the panels cleaning due to the high purity of the water. Due to such an operation, the efficiency recovery was more than enough to cover the AWG energy consumption. This paper, on the basis of the quantity results, provides the first answers to the said research questions concerning water quality and energy consumption, establishing the potential of AWG as a viable solution for addressing water scarcity, and enhancing the sustainability of electrolysis processes in green hydrogen production.

Fungi are an alternative source to animal-based chitin. In fungi, chitin fibrils are strongly interconnected and bound with glucans that justify the unique matrix. The present study aimed to extract chitin and glucans from the mycelium of several wood decay fungal strains in order to obtain flexible materials and to check correlations between chitin content and the mechanical properties of these materials. Five strains were chosen in consideration of their different cell wall chemical composition (high content of α-glucans, β-glucans or chitin) to evaluate how these differences could influence the mechanical and chemical characteristics of the material. The fungal strains were cultivated in liquid-submerged dynamic fermentation (both flasks and bioreactor). Chitin and glucans were crosslinked with acetic acid and plasticized with glycerol to obtain flexible sheets. Abortiporus biennis, Fomitopsis iberica and Stereum hirsutum strains were found to adapt to produce material with adequate flexibility. The obtained materials were characterized by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for the understanding of the material composition. The material obtained from each species was mechanically tested in terms of tear strength, elongation at break, and Young's modulus.