Mercury (Hg) is a naturally occurring trace element and pollutant that is ubiquitous in aquatic ecosystems. All Hg species are hazardous, but methylmercury (MeHg) is the most alarming due to its neurotoxicity, teratogenicity, and bioaccumulation in the food web. Humans risk exposure through fish consumption, so MeHg is of major health and environmental concern. MeHg is chiefly synthesized by anaerobic bacteria with the hgcAB gene cluster, like the δ-proteobacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. However, the Hg uptake mechanism remains elusive. Both active and passive transport models have been proposed, and cell surface thiols serve important roles. This study aimed to characterize the Hg uptake at the inner membrane of G. sulfurreducens using protoplasts. The effects of added cysteine and glutathione, and of blocking Hg-thiol interactions with a thiol-binding ligand, qBBr, on Hg’s methylation and partitioning between extracellular, intracellular, and membrane-adsorbed fractions, were explored. After the fact, it was discovered that a mixture of spheroplasts, protoplasts, and several intermediates had been formed by the protocols. Cysteine addition made no difference compared with no thiol addition, but glutathione may have increased the extracellular Hg content. Compared with controls, qBBr-treated spheroplasts seemed to have higher extracellular Hg levels and lower MeHg production. However, all results were ambiguous due to high experimental uncertainty and low statistical significance. Despite the study’s shortcomings, it seems worthwhile to study Hg uptake at the inner membrane, but the experimental protocols must be redesigned to do so.

Development and usage of poly-and perflourinated chemicals has increased considerablysince their discovery. They have since then polluted our environment and are exposed tohumans via drinking water and sea food amongst others. Regular waste water treatmentfacilities are not able to remove these chemicals despite their negative effect on humanhealth. I analysed the usability of ion exchange resin in a rotating bed reactor for removingpoly- and perflourinated chemicals from water. The capability of different resins to adsorbpoly- and perfluorinated chemicals was compared. These include Donau Carbon Epibon Y20x50; Purolite A592E and Purolite PFA694E as well as ECT2’s resin’s Sorbex regenerableand Sorbex LC4 non-regenerable. Kinetic studies were performed with ECt2’s Sorbexregenerable resin in a small scale and industrial scale version. The levels of poly- andperfluorinated chemicals left in the water after treatment was measured using liquidchromatography and mass spectrometry. The results showed that Sorbex ion exchange resinis the most effective adsorbent for treatment of industrial level volumes of water.

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Corrosion is the sum of processes by which an element, commonly a metal, wears away, deteriorates [1]–[3]. One of these processes uses the principle of electrochemistry as a basis, being the transfer of electrons between one chemical reaction and the element that undergoes corrosion [4], [5]. One example of electrochemical corrosion in everyday life is steel corrosion [6]. Iron contains electrons that can be taken up by oxygen in an acidic environment through the following reaction: O2 + 2 H2O + 4 e-  4 OH-. This reaction taking up electrons is defined as a reduction. These electrons come from iron which releases them, this process being defined as an oxidation reaction: Fe(s)  Fe2+ + 2 e-. The resulting redox reaction is maintained by the movement of electrons between two poles, often electrodes, an anode where the oxidation occurs and a cathode where the reduction occurs [7]. Iron, which was more inert is now available as an ion for interacting elsewhere in its environment. As metals have an important place in our society, so does electrochemical corrosion. Being infrastructure, medicine, food storage or transportation, corrosion must be kept under control. For instance, corrosion of metallic biomaterials can severely compromise their biocompatibility [8], [9]. Research has led to various solutions to drastically reduce corrosion caused by external environments. Metals in trace amounts also have an important impact, particularly on health. Due to their size, they can easily be absorbed by living species; this can be beneficial for health purposes for instance but, if absorbed in excess, it can also lead to a panel of risks [10]–[12]. The metal used in this project is gold. Due to its properties and sensitivity to its environment as a nanoparticle, gold has proven to be beneficial, especially in life science and modern medicine [13]–[15]. However, drawbacks behind the intensive use of gold nanoparticles (GNP) are less known and more complex to study. The variation of the pH in the bulk solution has been studied for this project. The explored assumption is that corrosion of these nanoparticles is guided by changes of the bulk pH, which is often linked to electrochemical reactions, themselves described by the Nernst equation [16]–[18]. During corrosion, the surface pH changes. This is of interest in this project and has been indirectly monitored by both the bulk pH and the surface potential. Pourbaix diagram is an example of this link between potential and pH values: it focuses on the potential of the species of interest. Depending on their sizes and whether there is a current, pH should be calculated either at the particle surface or in the bulk solution. Indeed, the current density can translate a pH difference between the two positions. As the species react at their surface, pH value there can deviate a lot from the bulk pH value. To observe pH changes, Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction (HOR) has been selected as it leads to a H+ production: H2  2 H+ + 2 e-. It has often been used for this purpose [16], [17], [19], [20]. The concept behind this project originates from another study, “Near-surface ion distribution and buffer effects during electrochemical reactions”, studying HOR on a rotating Pt disc electrode [20]. Here, researchers have studied effects that the pH, represented in the Nernst equation, has on the current density near the electrode. The previous study has been adapted for this project by now studying pH effects on the current density near spherical GNPs. Additional studies such as Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) and diffusion limitation from hydrogen- and oxygen supplies have been considered in the project. The simulations have been performed on MATLAB software.

In this project, hydrophilic bicontinuous microporous materials were synthesized via one‑pot polycondensation, using epoxy compounds and polyamines as the main monomer and curing agents. To achieve this goal, two approaches have been taken. In the first approach, monoliths were prepared by partial aminolysis of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) biopolyester by various polyamines under mild condition. The oligomers were then crosslinked by epoxy monomer to form porous rigid polymer structures. A two‑level full factorial screening design was established to investigation how the curing temperature, the amount of PHB, and the monolith loading affected the material morphology. In the second approach, monoliths were obtained by polycondensation of epoxy monomers and polyamines in presence of pore forming sol­vents. The morphology of final products was optimized by changing the polymer precursor compositions, or the pore-forming solvents. The specific surface areas of the materials were characterized by nitrogen cryo‑sorption and scanning electron microscopy was used to evalu­ate the monolith morphologies and skeleton structures. Chemical composition was explored by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Finally, sample TEPIC100, having desired bicontinuous microporous scaffold, was in situ synthesized in a 1.0 mm i.d. surface-modified PEEK tubing.

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