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This study investigated the influence of two representative suspended clay particles, bentonite and kaolinite, on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nTiO2) in saturated quartz sand in both NaCl (1 and 10 mM ionic strength) and CaCl2 solutions (0.1 and 1 mM ionic strength) at pH 7. The breakthrough curves of nTiO2 with bentonite or kaolinite were higher than those without the presence of clay particles in NaCl solutions, indicating that both types of clay particles increased nTiO2 transport in NaCl solutions. Moreover, the enhancement of nTiO2 transport was more significant when bentonite was present in nTiO2 suspensions relative to kaolinite. Similar to NaCl solutions, in CaCl2 solutions, the breakthrough curves of nTiO2 with bentonite were also higher than those without clay particles, while the breakthrough curves of nTiO2 with kaolinite were lower than those without clay particles. Clearly, in CaCl2 solutions, the presence of bentonite in suspensions increased nTiO2 transport, whereas, kaolinite decreased nTiO2 transport in quartz sand. The attachment of nTiO2 onto clay particles (both bentonite and kaolinite) were observed under all experimental conditions. The increased transport of nTiO2 in most experimental conditions (except for kaolinite in CaCl2 solutions) was attributed mainly to the clay-facilitated nTiO2 transport. The straining of larger nTiO2-kaolinite clusters yet contributed to the decreased transport (enhanced retention) of nTiO2 in divalent CaCl2 solutions when kaolinite particles were copresent in suspensions.

Structural and morphological characterisation of bimetallic Pd-Pt/Al 2 O 3 model catalysts are performed using X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and CO chemisorption. Further, the catalysts were studied under oxidising and reducing conditions using both X-ray absorption spectroscopy and low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy. For the as-prepared catalysts, the existence of alloyed bimetallic Pd-Pt particles and of (tetragonal) PdO were found for the samples calcined at 800 C. PdO is present in form of crystals at the surface of the Pd-Pt particles or as isolated PdO crystals on the support oxide. Bimetallic Pd-Pt nanoparticles were only formed on the Pd-Pt catalysts after calcination at 800 C. The results show that the Pd-Pt nanoparticles undergo reversible changes in surface structure composition and chemical state in response to oxidising or reducing conditions. Under oxidising conditions Pd segregates to the shell and oxidises forming PdO, while under reducing conditions regions with metallic Pd and Pd-Pt alloys were observed at the surface.No bimetallic Pd-Pt nanoparticles were observed for the sample initially calcined at 500 C, but instead isolated monometallic particles, where small Pt particles are easily oxidised under O 2 treatment. In the monometallic catalysts, the Pd is found to be completely oxidised already after calcination and to consist of metallic Pd after reductive treatment.

An ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-qTOF-MS) method using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography was developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of 18 free amino acids in urine with a total acquisition time including the column re-equilibration of less than 18 min per sample. This method involves simple sample preparation steps which consisted of 15 times dilution with acetonitrile to give a final composition of 25 % aqueous and 75 % acetonitrile without the need of any derivatization. The dynamic range for our calibration curve is approximately two orders of magnitude (120-fold from the lowest calibration curve point) with good linearity (r2 ≥ 0.995 for all amino acids). Good separation of all amino acids as well as good intra- and inter-day accuracy (<15 %) and precision (<15 %) were observed using three quality control samples at a concentration of low, medium and high range of the calibration curve. The limits of detection (LOD) and lower limit of quantification of our method were ranging from approximately 1–300 nM and 0.01–0.5 µM, respectively. The stability of amino acids in the prepared urine samples was found to be stable for 72 h at 4 °C, after one freeze thaw cycle and for up to 4 weeks at −80 °C. We have applied this method to quantify the content of 18 free amino acids in 646 urine samples from a dietary intervention study. We were able to quantify all 18 free amino acids in these urine samples, if they were present at a level above the LOD. We found our method to be reproducible (accuracy and precision were typically <10 % for QCL, QCM and QCH) and the relatively high sample throughput nature of this method potentially makes it a suitable alternative for the analysis of urine samples in clinical setting.

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