TY - JOUR A1 - Lange, M. A. A1 - Khan, I. A1 - Opitz, P. A1 - Hartmann, J: A1 - Ashraf, M. A1 - Qurashi, A. A1 - Prädel, L. A1 - Panthöfer, M. A1 - Cossmer, Antje A1 - Pfeifer, Jens A1 - Simon, Fabian A1 - von der Au, Marcus A1 - Meermann, Björn A1 - Mondeshki, M. A1 - Tahir, M. N. A1 - Tremel, W. T1 - A Generalized Method for High-Speed Fluorination of Metal Oxides by Spark Plasma Sintering Yields Ta3O7F and TaO2F with High Photocatalytic Activity for Oxygen Evolution from Water N2 - A general method to carry out the fluorination of metal oxides with poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE, Teflon) waste by spark plasma sintering (SPS) on a minute scale with Teflon is reported. The potential of this new approach is highlighted by the following results. i) The tantalum oxyfluorides Ta3O7F and TaO2F are obtained from plastic scrap without using toxic or caustic chemicals for fluorination. ii) Short reaction times (minutes rather than days) reduce the process time the energy costs by almost three orders of magnitude. iii) The oxyfluorides Ta3O7F and TaO2F are produced in gram amounts of nanoparticles. Their synthesis can be upscaled to the kg range with industrial sintering equipment. iv) SPS processing changes the catalytic properties: while conventionally prepared Ta3O7F and TaO2F show little catalytic activity, SPS-prepared Ta3O7F and TaO2F exhibit high activity for photocatalytic oxygen evolution, reaching photoconversion efficiencies up to 24.7% and applied bias to photoconversion values of 0.86%. This study shows that the materials properties are dictated by the processing which poses new challenges to understand and predict the underlying factors. KW - Fluorination KW - Oxygen evolution reaction KW - Photocatalysis KW - Spark plasma sintering KW - Tantalum oxyfluorides PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-524329 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202007434 VL - 23 IS - 20 SP - 7434 PB - Wiley‐VCH GmbH AN - OPUS4-52432 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lange, M. A. A1 - Khan, I. A1 - Dören, R. A1 - Ashraf, M. A1 - Qurashi, A. A1 - Prädel, L. A1 - Panthöfer, M. A1 - von der Au, Marcus A1 - Cossmer, Antje A1 - Pfeifer, Jens A1 - Meermann, Björn A1 - Mondeshki, M. A1 - Tahir, M. N. A1 - Tremel, W. T1 - High-speed solid state fluorination of Nb2O5 yields NbO2F and Nb3O7F with photocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution from water N2 - Solid state reactions are slow because the diffusion of atoms or ions through the reactant, intermediate and crystalline product phases is the rate-limiting step. This requires days or even weeks of high temperature treatment, and consumption of large amounts of energy. We employed spark-plasma sintering, an engineering technique that is used for high-speed consolidation of powders with a pulsed Electric current passing through the sample to carry out the fluorination of niobium oxide in minute intervals. The approach saves time and large amounts of waste energy. Moreover, it allows the preparation of fluorinated niobium oxides on a gram scale using poly (tetrafluoroethylene) (®Teflon) scrap and without toxic chemicals. The synthesis can be upscaled easily to the kg range with appropriate sintering equipment. Finally, NbO2F and Nb3O7F prepared by spark plasma sintering show significant photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) oxygen evolution from water in terms of photocurrent density and incident photon-to-current Efficiency (% IPCE), whereas NbO2F and Nb3O7F prepared by conventional high temperature chemistry show little to no PEC response. Our study is a proof of concept for the quick, clean and energy saving production of valuable photocatalysts from plastic waste. KW - Fluorination KW - Nb2O5, NbO2F, Nb3O7F KW - Photocatalytic activity PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/d1dt00533b VL - 50 IS - 19 SP - 6528 EP - 6538 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry AN - OPUS4-52439 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Munir, R. A1 - Noureen, N. A1 - Bashir, M. A1 - Shoaib, N. A1 - Ashraf, A. A1 - Lisec, Jan A1 - Zaidi, N. T1 - Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) and Cancer Awareness Measure MYthical Causes Scale (CAM‑MY) scores in Pakistani population N2 - Lifestyle modifications could prevent almost one‑third to one‑half of all cancer cases. The awareness of cancer risk factors could motivate people to make such changes in their behaviors and lifestyles. This work aims to investigate the cancer awareness level in the Pakistani population. Telephone interviews of 657 individuals in Pakistan were carried out using the Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM) and Cancer Awareness Measure–MYthical Causes Scale (CAM‑MY). We observed that participants scored significantly better on the CAM scale than the CAM‑MY scale, and CAM scores were negatively associated with CAM‑MY scores. Years of formal education or a biology major at undergraduate or graduate level did not affect our population’s cancer awareness levels. Age displayed a weak but statistically significant negative association with CAM scores. Most participants failed to identify modifiable cancer risk factors, e.g., low physical activity. Efforts should be made to improve awareness of modifiable risk factors. We observed that brief training sessions could markedly improve people’s understanding of cancer risk factors and myths. KW - Cancer KW - Cancer awareness measure KW - Cancer risk PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-548960 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13012-8 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 10 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London AN - OPUS4-54896 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -