Ammonia solution

Ammonia solution (28%-30%) was purchased from Samchun Pure Chemical CO., Ltd, Korea. Acetonitrile, Urea, Glutamic acid, Ammonium-¹⁵N Chloride (98% 15N), Urea-¹⁵N₂(98% 15N), Camphanic chloride and Ammonia assay kit were purchased from Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo, USA. Ethyl alcohol was purchased from Daejung Chemical & Metals CO., Ltd, Korea. The nutrient media used in the research for screening bacteria were Man–Rogosa–Sharpe (MRS, Becton Dickinson, NJ, USA) and Tryptic soy broth (TSB) (Difco, Franklin Lake, NJ).

CNFs suspensions were provided by MOORIM P&P (Seoul, Korea). The provided CNFs have a nanoscale needle-shaped structure (Figure 1) with a diameter of less than 30 nm and a length of more than 100 nm. PHA pellets were provided by CJ CheilJedang (Seoul, Korea). TEOS solution (reagent grade, 98%) and MTMS solution (extra pure grade, 96%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA) and Daejung Chemicals & Metals (Siheung-si, Korea), respectively. Ammonia solution (extra pure grade, 25–30%) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA, ultrapure grade, >99.9%) were purchased from Samchun Chemicals (Seoul, Korea). The steel plate (114 × 25 mm) used in the lap shear test was purchased from Qmesys (Uiwang-si, Korea).

Copper(I) chloride reagent grade, 97% (CAS Number 7758-89-6) and Copper(II) chloride dihydrate ACS reagent, ≥99.0% (CAS Number 10125-13-0) were procured from Sigma-Aldrich, Merck, St. Louis, MO, USA. Support materials used in the present study include Alumina Spheres 2.5/210 (with diameter 2.5 mm, crush strength 65 N, Packed bulk density 500–600, surface area 200–220 m²/g, pore volume 0.75 mL/g) purchased from Sasol Germany GmbH, Hamburg, Germany). Ammonia solution, 25.0–30.0%, A1766 was obtained from Samchun Chemical Co Ltd. Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Korea). High purity CO (99.9%), CO₂ (99.99%) and N₂ (99.999%) gases were obtained from Sinil Gas at Suncheon (Korea). All of the reagents used were of analytical-reagent grade. In addition, deionized (DI) water was applied throughout this study.

Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (3-MPMA), methacrylic acid, and adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH) were purchased from Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., LTD (Tokyo, Japan). Fumed silica with an average diameter of 250 nm and bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (BisGMA) resin were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). The aluminum oxide nanopowder dispersion with an average particle size of 10 nm (Al₂O₃ gamma, 20 wt.%) was purchased from US Research Nanomaterials, Inc. (Houston, TX, USA). The ammonia solution (28–30 wt.%) and sodium hydroxide pellets (NaOH) were received from Samchun Pure Chemical Co., Ltd. (Pyeongtaek, Korea). The bisphenol A type epoxy resin (YD-128) was obtained from Kukdo Chemical (Seoul, Korea). Irgacure 651 was received from Ciba Specialty Chemicals (Basel, Switzerland). Drierite (≥98% CaSO₄) was obtained from W.A. Hammond Drierite Co., LTD (Xenia, OH, USA). Deionized (DI) water was used for all experiments.

Three different templates (two carbon templates (cores 1 and 2) and one SiO₂/carbon template (core 3)) were dissolved in ethanol (99.5%). N,N-Dimethylethanolamine (DMEA, 99%, Acros Organics, Waltham, MA, USA) or ammonia solution (28–30%, Samchun Pure Chemical Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea) were added to the template-ethanol solutions under vigorous stirring for 30 min. Titanium tetrabutoxide (TBOT, 99%, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) was quickly poured into the template-ethanol solutions. The template-ethanol solutions containing TBOT were stirred for 6 h. The core-shell-structured template particles coated with TBOT were separated by centrifuging, and the residue was discarded. The separated template particles were placed in a 60 °C convection drying oven for 1 day. Next, the core-shell-structured TiO₂ composite particles were gathered and calcined at varying temperatures from 400 to 800 °C for 2 h with an increase of 10 °C/min in air to obtain the hollow titania spheres. Table 1 lists the detailed synthesis formulation.

TNPs were synthesized via the hydrothermal method. In a typical reaction, 15 mL of titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP, 99.9%, Aldrich) was dissolved in 50 mL of distilled water and the resulting solution was vigorously stirred for a few minutes before adding 0.7 mL of ammonia solution (28–30%, SAMCHUN) to it. This solution was magnetically stirred at 350 rpm for 3 h to obtain a homogeneous mixture. The reaction mixture so obtained was transferred to a Teflon-lined autoclave and was then heated at 200 °C for 5 h. Finally, the white precipitate was washed with distilled water and ethanol and then dried at 80 °C for 12 h.

La_0.8Sr_0.2Mn_0.5Co_0.5O_3-δ (LSMCO) as electrode material was synthesized via modified Pechini method³⁷ . The nitrate metal precursors of Lanthanum(III) nitrate hydrate (99.9%, Sigma Aldrich), strontium nitrate (98%, Samchun), manganese(II) nitrate tetrahydrate (97%, Sigma Aldrich), and cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate (97%, Samchun) as raw material were dissolved in 200 mL of deionized water at room temperature with stoichiometric ratio. The citric acid (CA, 99.5%, Samchun) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA, 99.5%, Sigma Aldrich) as a chelating agent were added in nitrate solution with a molar ratio of which the metals, CA and EDTA is 1: 2.2: 2.2, respectively. The solution had a pH of 7 that was adjusted by ammonia solution (25%, Samchun) and was dehydrated at 573 K to form a vigorous gel and ignited to flame, resulting in the ash. The resulting ash-like material was pre-calcined at 673 K for 2 h to eliminate the organic component. Subsequently, annealing at 1273 K for 5 h was carried out to obtain pure and stoichiometric LSMCO powder.