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The construction of efficiency: Glazing insulation in France and Belgium since 1945
Published in João Mascarenhas-Mateus, Ana Paula Pires, Manuel Marques Caiado, Ivo Veiga, History of Construction Cultures, 2021
Glazing is a singular construction element insofar as it must meet a double, a priori contradictory, requirement: opening up a room to provide light and transparency while also enclosing it to ensure continuity of the thermal and acoustic insulation with the rest of the building envelope. In the aftermath of the World War II, the glass industry developed a new response to this contradiction; namely, insulating glass units. These units were made of at least two sheets of glass sealed together so as to leave a cavity of dry air, thus radically improving window insulation. They quickly became essential products for modern standards of comfort. Double and triple glazing enabled the construction of fully glass buildings to spread across Europe, all the while meeting increasingly stringent energy policies.
Sustainable synthesis of silica nanoparticles from agricultural waste and its utilization in modern technology: A review
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2023
Aiman Shahbaz, Mahnoor Ayaz, Usama Bin Khalid, Laiba Liaqat
Nano silica plays a vital role in different areas of discipline and various types of industries. Some of the applications are as follows. Food and nutrition fields are availing SiNPs for different purposes such as in column chromatography for food analysis, enhancing the proficiency of glucose meter, packaging material, improving shelf-life of food, flavor bearer, moisture adsorbent, or in the removal of unwanted toxic heavy metals (Kasaai 2015). Silica aerogels are being commercially prepared and used in thermal window insulation, supercapacitors, acoustic barriers, catalytic supports, etc. because of their high surface area, porous surface, reduced bulk density, low refractive index, ultra-low dielectric constant, and high thermal insulation. SiNPs derived from RH have a nano-porous structure with a high surface area that is very important for anodes in lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, these SiNPs have great electrochemical properties for being utilized as an anode in lithium-ion batteries showing high-capacity electrodes. SiNPs can remove minute metal contaminations and act as a stabilization agent for metals like Pb and Zn. Large quantities of SiNPs are also helpful in CO2 sequestration for reducing ecological footprint (Pode 2016). Nano silica is also used in constructing contrast agent particles for medical imaging like quantum dots, gold NPs, and iron oxide. SiNPs have the ability of surface modification, are less toxic to cells, controlled size distribution, and have excellent biocompatibility. Furthermore, aside from being used as contrast agents, they are also modified for drug delivery. They are also utilized to detect, purify and separate DNA samples. Due to specific characteristics of SiNPs i.e., weak electrostatic forces, ability to form hydrogen bonds, and dehydration, DNA gets adsorbed on SiNPs surface. SiNPs act as biosensors for DNA as oligonucleotides hybridized with DNA strands and gives fluorescence. DNA extraction can also be done by silica-coated magnetic NPs (Ghorbani, Sanati, and Maleki 2015; Gonçalves 2018). Some of the detailed applications of SiNPs are discussed in the following sections: