Extracellular laccase produced by the wood-rotting fungus Cerrena unicolor was immobilised covalently on the mesostructured siliceous foam (MCF) and three hexagonally ordered mesoporous silicas (SBA-15) with different pore sizes. The enzyme was attached covalently via glutaraldehyde (GLA) or by simple adsorption and additionally crosslinked with GLA. The experiments indicated that laccase bound by covalent attachment remains very active and stable. The best biocatalysts were MCF and SBA-15 with Si-F moieties on their surface. Thermal inactivation of immobilised and native laccase at 80°C showed a biphasic-type activity decay, that could be modelled with 3- parameter isoenzyme model. It appeared that immobilisation did not significantly change the mechanism of activity loss but stabilised a fraction of a stable isoform. Examination of time needed for 90% initial activity loss revealed that immobilisation prolonged that time from 8 min (native enzyme) up to 155 min (SBA-15SF).

Ductile irons of the type of Si-Mo are characterized by increased resistance to long-term influence of high temperatures and cyclic temperature changes. They are mainly used in castings of combustion engine exhaust piping and other castings utilized at temperatures of up to 850°C. The aim of the study is to verify the mechanical properties of non-alloyed cast iron EN CSN GJS 450, SiMo4-0.5 and SiMo5-1 ductile irons at temperatures of 700 to 800°C, and the extent of their superficial oxidation after longterm annealing at a temperature of 900°C. Via chemical microanalysis the composition of oxidation products in the surface layer was evaluated.

Through partially replacing Y element, Ce was added into near-equiatomic AlNiY medium-entropy amorphous alloy (denoted as MEAA) ribbons by the melt spinning process in this study. The differences of microstructure, thermal stability, hardness and corrosion resistance of Al33.3Ni33.3Y33.4-xCex (x = 0, 2, 5, 8, 13) alloy ribbons were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and Vickers-type hardness tester. The anti-corrosion performance in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution of alloy ribbons was investigated elaborately through the general potentiodynamic polarization curves (Tafel) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results suggested that all ribbon samples could remain amorphous structure and the hardness are all above 510 HV0.1. With the increase of Ce content, the thermal stability begins to be gradually lower. However, according to the analysis of crystallization kinetics, all types of MEAA ribbons presents the relatively prominent thermal stability compared with traditional Al-based amorphous alloys. The corrosion current density raises firstly, then shows a decreasing trend, and has a slight increase at last. Therefore, appropriate content of Ce element can improve the corrosion protection performance of alloy ribbons and the 5 at.% Ce MEAA ribbons exhibited the excellent corrosion resistance in this study.

In the presented work, the conditions of the high-temperature and mechanochemical method for the synthesis of compound Sm ₅VO ₁₀ and their influence on its physicochemical properties were studied. The following methods were used for the study: X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet and visible light spectroscopy (UV–VIS–DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), and laser beam diffraction spectrometry (LDS). Based on the results, it was determined that the compound Sm ₅VO ₁₀ is thermally stable in air atmospheres up to 1475 °C, crystallises in a monoclinic system, and its structure is made up of oxygen VO ₄ and SmO ₈ polyhedra. The estimated energy gap value for nanometric, mechanochemically obtained Sm ₅VO ₁₀ was about 3.20 eV, and for the microcrystalline, obtained with the high-temperature method, was about 2.75 eV. The established physicochemical characterisation of Sm ₅VO ₁₀ initially showed that the compound could find potential applications, e.g. as a photocatalyst for water purification or as a component of new optoelectronic materials.

We investigated the effect of Cr thin film deposition on the thermal stability and corrosion resistance of hot-dip aluminized steel. A high-quality Cr thin film was deposited on the surface of the Al-9 wt. % Si-coated steel sheets by physical vapor deposition. When the Al-Si coated steel sheets were exposed to a high temperature of 500℃, Fe from the steel substrate diffused into the Al-Si coating layer resulting in discoloration. However, the highly heat-resistant Cr thin film deposited on the Al-Si coating prevented diffusion and surface exposure of Fe, improving the heat and corrosion resistances of the Al-Si alloy coated steel sheet.