Faizah A. AlMalki¹, Aziza M. Hassan^2,*, Zeinab M. Klaab¹, Soliman Abdulla³, Antonio Pizzi⁴

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2077-2092, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.016173

Abstract Recently, natural substances in the form of nanoparticles are increasingly being used in different field, particularly in medicines to enhance their beneficial effects in treatment and prevention. Cancer cells of the breast (MCF-7) have been chosen to be examined and treated in vitro with conventional drug Tamoxifen (Tam) and tannin nanoparticles extract (NP99) individually or in combination. MTT reagent has been applied to assess the cell viability and propagation percentage, DNA fragmentation and mRNA relative expression of apoptotic genes to study the cell death pathway. The results showed that Tam and tannin NP99 triggered cytotoxic activity towards the MCF-7 cell.… More >

Wenting Ren^1,3, Fei Guo², Minghui Liu^1,3, Haocheng Xu^1,3, Hankun Wang^1,3, Yan Yu^1,2,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2291-2301, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015973

Abstract Understanding the assembly and spatial arrangement of bamboo cell wall components is crucial for its optimal utilization. Bamboo cell walls consist of aggregates of cellulose microfibrils and matrix. In the present study, the size and arrangement of cellulose microfibril aggregates in the cell walls of sclerenchyma fibers and parenchyma cells in moso bamboo were investigated with NMR and FE-SEM. The NMR measurement showed that the characteristic sizes of the microfibril aggregates of fibers and parenchyma cells were approximately 25.8 nm and 18.8 nm, respectively. Furthermore, high-resolution SEM showed the size of microfibril aggregates varied little across the cell wall of… More >

Jiaqian Lei, Yaojun Zhang^*, Panyang He

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2277-2289, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015824

Abstract Geopolymers have been developed to various catalysts due to their advantages. However, low conductivity restricts their application in the electrocatalysis field. In this study, an α-Fe₂O₃/circulating fluidized bed fly ash based geopolymer (CFAG) composite anode was fabricated using a facile dip-coating method by loading α-Fe₂O₃ in the matrix of CFAG. The effects of α-Fe₂O₃ content on the composition, surface morphology and electrochemical performance of α-Fe₂O₃/CFAG composite anode were investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) results demonstrated that α-Fe₂O₃ was successfully inlaid with the surface of amorphous CFAG matrix. The electrochemical measurements indicated that α-Fe₂O₃/CFAG composite anode… More > Graphic Abstract

Yingchun Yang^1,*, Liqing Chen¹, Yuguang Mao²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2261-2276, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015793

Abstract Improving the activity of Iron Ore Tailings (IOTs) to utilize them as a mineral admixture in cement-based minerals is still challenging. In this paper, the wet grinding technology was employed to stimulate the activity of IOTs, and the traditional dry grinding method was used as a reference. The effect of wet grinding on the activation of IOTs was evaluated through ion leaching from an alkaline solution and the reactivity index. Additionally, a detailed comparison between Dry-grinding Iron Ore Tailings (DIOTs) and Wet-grinding Iron Ore Tailings (WIOTs) was made. This comparison was based on particle characteristics, crystal structures, chemical structure, and… More > Graphic Abstract

Jian Yang, Xiaoli Li^*, Hui Wang, Kaiqiang Geng

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2241-2260, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015565

Abstract In the present study, in order to investigate the effects of fly ash on the structural evolution and strength damage mechanism of Pisha-sandstone cement soil, unconfined compressive strength tests of Pisha-sandstone cement soil with different fly ash content levels and various ages were carried out. The apparent morphology, microstructures, and chemical compositions of the samples were observed and analyzed using ultra-depth three-dimensional microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and XRD methods. The results revealed that the unconfined compressive strength levels of Pisha-sandstone cement soil samples displayed increasing trends with the increases in fly ash content and age. For example, when the fly… More > Graphic Abstract

Pengcheng Liu, Ping Xiang, Qishi Zhou^*, Hai Zhang, Jiefu Tian, Misganu Demis Argaw

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2223-2239, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015544

Abstract Bamboo is a renewable natural building material with good mechanical properties. However, due to the heterogeneity and anisotropy of bamboo stalk, a large amount of material performance testing costs are required in engineering applications. In this work, longitudinal compression, bending, longitudinal shear, longitudinal tensile, transverse compression and transverse tensile tests of bamboo materials are conducted, considering the influence of the bamboo nodes. The mechanical properties of the whole bamboo stalk with the wall thickness and outer circumference are explored. Through univariate and multiple regression analysis, the relationship between mechanical properties and wall thickness and perimeter is fitted, and the conversion… More > Graphic Abstract

Shuang Si, Qian Tang, Xingong Li^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2209-2222, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015506

Abstract This study investigated the characteristics of wood fiber/polycaprolactone composite after an artificial accelerated thermo-oxidative aging treatment. The effect of time, temperature and humidity during the treatment on their mechanical, chemical and morphology properties were evaluated. The composite was prepared from melted wood fibers and modified polycaprolactone by a molding process. A temperature and humidity controllable test chamber was used for the thermo-oxidative aging of the composite. The thermo-oxidative aging caused surface of the composite to be much more rougher and even a few cracks and holes appeared on it. According to the spectra of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Gel… More > Graphic Abstract

Xi Chen^1,2, Ying Li^1,2,*, Hualei Bai^1,2, Liyuan Ma^1,2

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2189-2208, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015394

Abstract Recycled concrete powder (RCP) is used more and more in cement-based materials, but its influence on the hydration process is still unclear. Therefore, this paper studied the influence of recycled concrete powder (RCP) on the hydration process of cement and provides a theoretical basis for the hydration mechanism of cement composite materials. The hydration heat method was used to systematically analyze the thermal evolution process of cement paste with or without RCP. Hydration products were identified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal analysis (TG–DSC). The pore structure change of cement pastes was analyzed by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) method. The… More > Graphic Abstract

Olga Grigoreva^1,*, Elena Runova², Alexei Alyabyev³, Edward Hertz⁴, Anna Voronova⁵, Viktor Ivanov², Svetlana Shadrina⁶, Igor Grigorev⁷

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2175-2188, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.016387

Abstract The issue of accelerated forestry plantation with high-quality wood using the best soils in terms of productivity, fertilizers, and intensive treatment has become quite relevant due to increased demand for forestry products and higher requirements for environmentally friendly use of forest resources. This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of various techniques for treating coniferous plantations, including thinning, fertilization, and herbicide processing, on wood quality key indicators. The paper examined the wood density, correlation of early and late wood zones, and the cell wall thickness for 38-year-old pine trees grown on the sample plots of Siversky… More >

Peng Liu, Bin Bai, Cui Wang, Yunan Chen, Zhiwei Ge, Wenwen Wei, Hui Jin^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2159-2174, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.016166

Abstract In this paper, a simple method to plate a hydrophobic coating on the inner surface of a small-scaled tube was proposed, where the coating consisted of carbon microspheres. Three common plastics polystyrene, polycarbonate and polyethylene were used as the feedstocks to be processed in supercritical water in a quartz tubular reactor. After reaction, the contact angle of droplet on the inner surface of the quartz tube was turned out to be over 100°, significantly larger than that of the blank tube 54°. When processing polystyrene in the 750C supercritical water for 10 min, the largest contact angle was obtained, up… More > Graphic Abstract