• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.60-69
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• 2013

Purified melanin pigment from Klebsiella sp. GSK was characterized by thermogravimetric, differential thermal, X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis. This melanin pigment is structurally amorphous in nature. It is thermally stable up to $300^{\circ}C$ and emits a strong exothermic peak at $700^{\circ}C$. Its carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen composition is 47.9%, 6.9% and 12.0%, respectively. It was used to scavenge metal ions and free radicals. After immobilizing the pigment and using it to adsorb copper and lead ions, the metal ion adsorption capacity was evaluated by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and the identity of melanin functional groups involved in the binding of metal ions was determined by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Batch adsorption studies showed that 169 mg/g of copper and 280 mg/g of lead were adsorbed onto melanin-alginate beads. The metal ion adsorption capacity of the melanin-alginate beads was relatively significant compared to alginate beads. The metal ion desorption capacity of HCl was greater (81.5% and 99% for copper and lead, respectively) than that of EDTA (80% and 71% for copper and lead, respectively). The ability of the melanin pigment to scavenge free radicals was evaluated by inhibition of the oxidation of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and was shown to be about 74% and 98%, respectively, compared with standard antioxidants.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.568-574
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• 1997

The effect of microencapsulation of maetal hydride (MH) with copper on the electrode performance of a Ni/MH battery has been investigated. The MH electrodes were prepared with a combination of cold press and paste methods. The discharge capacity of the electrode increased with an addition of small amounts if CMC into the electrode, but decreased when heat-treated in an oxygen-free nitrogen flow. The capacity of a Cu-coated $LaNi_5$ electrode was higher than that of LaNi5electrode. The discharge capacity of the electrode prepared with Cu-coated $LaNi_5$ increased with the increase of copper content in the electrode. It is considered that the increase of copper content enhanced the current density on the electrode surface, leading to the increase of the discharge capacity The MH electrode coated by an acidic electroless plating method showed much higher discharge capacity than that using an alkaline electroless plating method. The discharge capacity of the $LaNi_{4.5}Al_{0.5}$ electrode was higher than that of the $LaNi_5$ electrode. Also, the effect of microencapsulation on the deactivation of $LaNi_5$ was studied using an absorption-desorption cycle in CO-containing hydrogen.