Safflower seed (Carthamus tinctorius L.) invigoration by pre-hydration

For seed storage, a low moisture content index is recommended, while in sowing, a rapid and homogeneous hydrolysis is important to reactivate its metabolism during germination and seedling development. The goal of the study was to establish the effect of pre-conditioning treatments on safflower seed, through the germination and emergence of seedlings. The pre-imbibition treatments were: distilled water, gibberellic acid and a biostimulant based on humic and fulvic acids, in periods of 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours. The seed was produced in spring-summer 2019 and 2020. The results indicate that imbibition of seeds in water by a period of 4 hours was the most effective treatment, showing the highest germination percentages, in addition to presenting a faster and more uniform emergence of seedlings. The pre-conditioning with Gibberellic acid even reduced the germination values and the biostimulant generated homogeneity in the emergence of seedlings

Improvement of Orange II Photobleaching by Moderate Ga3+Doping of Titania and Detrimental Effect of Structural Disorder on Ga Overloading

Highly photoactive Ga3+-doped anatase modification of titania was prepared by homogeneous hydrolysis of aqueous solutions mixture of titanium oxo-sulphate TiOSO4and gallium(III) nitrate with urea. Incorporation of Ga3+into the anatase lattice has a clear positive effect on the photocatalytic activity under UV and Vis light irradiation up to a certain extent of Ga. Ga3+doping decreased the size of the crystallites, increased surface area, and affected texture of the samples. Higher amount of gallium leads to the formation of a nondiffractive phase, probably photocatalytically inactive. The titania sample with 2.18 wt.% Ge3+had the highest activity during the photocatalysed degradation in the UV and visible light regions; the total bleaching of dye Orange II was achieved within 29 minutes. Ga concentration larger than 5% (up to 15%) significantly inhibited the growth of the anatase crystal domains which formed the nondiffractive phase content and led to remarkable worsening of the photobleaching efficiency.

Impact of Ge4+Ion as Structural Dopant of Ti4+in Anatase: Crystallographic Translation, Photocatalytic Behavior, and Efficiency under UV and VIS Irradiation

Nanometric particles of germanium-doped TiO2were prepared by homogeneous hydrolysis of TiOSO4and GeCl4in an aqueous solution using urea as the precipitation agent. Structural evolution during heating of these starting Ge-Ti oxide powders was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-temperature X-ray powder diffraction (HTXRD). The morphology and microstructure changes were monitored by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman and infrared spectroscopy (IR), specific surface area (BET), and porosity determination (BJH). The photocatalytic activity of all samples was determined by decomposition of Orange II dye under irradiation at 365 nm and 400 nm. Moderate doping with concentration upto value 2.05 wt.% positively influences azo dye degradation under UV and Vis light. Further improvement cannot be achieved by higher Ge doping. Effect of the annealing (200, 400, and 700°C) on photocatalysis and other properties has been assessed.