Ammonium hydroxide

Nappa cabbage was purchased from Greenmart located in Seoul. Silver nitrate (99.8%) and ammonium hydroxide (25.0–28.0%) were purchased from Daejung Chemicals (Siheung, South Korea). Sodium hydroxide (93.0%) was purchased from Duksan Reagents (Ansan, South Korea). Polyvinylidene difluoride, carbon black, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, hydrochloric acid, ethanol, hydrazine, toluene, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, 2-nitrophenol, phosphate buffer solution pH 6.6 at 25 °C, and p-nitrophenol were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Company (St. Louis, MO, USA). All these reagents were used as received. Deionized water was used throughout the experiment.

Hexagonal BN (ESK Ceramics/3M, Germany, ≥99%) powder with the plate size of 12–15 μm was used in this study. Aniline (C₆H₅NH₂, ≥99%), p-phenylenediamine (C₆H₈N₂, ≥99.9%), and ammonium persulfate ((NH₄)₂S₂O₈, 98.0%) were supplied by Daejung Science (Republic of Korea) and used to prepare the aniline trimer. ETDS was obtained from Shin-Etsu Silicon (KF-105, equivalent weight = 166.6 g eq.⁻¹, density = 1.20 g cm⁻³; Republic of Korea) and was used after being thoroughly dried under vacuum at 60 °C for 24 h. 4,4′-Diaminodiphenylenemethane (DDM ≥ 99%), prepared by TCL Korea, was used as the curing agent without further purification. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH, ≥99%), ethanol (C₂H₅OH 70%), hydrochloric acid (HCl, 20%), and ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH, 30%) were obtained from Daejung Chemicals (Republic of Korea).

The bacterial concrete used in this research consisted of the commercial calcium lactate, purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, Schnelldorf, Germany. The chemicals included FeCl₃.6H₂O, FeCl₂.4H₂O, sodium hydroxide, MnSO₄.H₂O (Sigma Aldrich > 99% pureness), ethanol (Merck > 99–100% purity). Reagents were used during the synthesis, characterization, and reaction study, with no further purification.
For the casting of the bacterial concrete, the bacteria Bacillus subtilis was isolated from soil using a streak plate technique. Ordinary Portland cement (Grade 53) was purchased from Fauji Cement Company (Islamabad, Pakistan) (Pakistan Standard PS-232-2008—Grade 53, which means that the compressive strength of the cement after 28 days is 53 N/mm²). The iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized in the laboratory using a chemical precipitation method. Margalla coarse aggregates were used in this research. The calcium lactate used was a high purity product purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, Germany. The urea, calcium chloride anhydrous, and ammonium hydroxide were purchased from Daejung, Siheung si, Korea. The yeast extract, nutrient broth, and nutrient agar were purchased from Oxoid (Hampshire, UK). Deionized distilled water was produced in the laboratory using a B114 deionizer.

Corn was grown and harvested in China in September 2015, and corn stover was then collected and provided by CJ Cheiljedang Co. (Seoul, Korea). The received corn stover was air-dried at ambient temperature (~25 °C), ground up, passed through a sieve with a mesh size of 10–35 mesh (US Standard, 0.5–2.0 mm of nominal sieve opening) sieves, and then stored in sealed plastic containers at ambient temperature. The initial composition of the biomass was determined by a standard LAP of the NREL (Table 1) [29 ]. It should be noted that glucan, xylan, and lignin are the main components among the various ones shown in Table 1; therefore, an evaluation of pretreatment effects was focused on those three components in this study.
Ammonium hydroxide (28.0–30.0%; lot number A29260I1) and sulfuric acid (ACS grade, 95–98%, lot number SZBF0140V) were purchased from Daejung Chemical & Metals Co., Ltd. (Shehung-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea) and Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), respectively. Avicel^® PH-101 (catalog number 900-3-6, lot number BCBJ029V, Sigma-Aldrich) was acquired and served as a control sample in the enzymatic-digestibility test.

Ethyl alcohol (EtOH, 99.5% and 95%), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), ethylene glycol (EG), 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane (MPTS), silver nitrate (AgNO₃), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, average molecular weight ≈ 40,000), and octylamine (OA) were used without further purification. Ammonium hydroxide (NH₄OH, 25~28%) was purchased from Daejung Chemicals & Metals Co., Ltd. (Siheung, Korea). CdSe@ZnSs (QDs) were obtained from Zeus (Osan, South Korea), and 18.2 Ω water was obtained using a Direct-Q Millipore purification system (SAM WOO S&T Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea).

Calcium hydroxide, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, Calcium nitrate tetrahydrate, citric acid, and sodium hydroxide were all purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Korea). Diammonium hydrogen phosphate was purchased from Junsei (Japan). Ammonium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid were purchased from Daejung (Korea).