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In this work, the sol-gel method was used to prepare composite gels based on 1,2-bis(5-triethoxysilyl-3-thiopentoxy)ethane and tetraethoxysilane, which showed sorption properties for strontium cations. Composite gels with colloidal silica were obtained. The obtained gels possess sorption activity to strontium cations. Template synthesis of gels in the presence of cesium cations was carried out. The results of sorption demonstrate the expected manifestation of the template effect, which determines the selectivity to cesium cations.

A series of resorcinol-formaldehyde resins (RFR) has been prepared and studied in terms of Cs-137 uptake efficiency from solutions (0.75М NaOH-2.25M NaNO3) intended for processing spent ion-exchangers. Sample synthesized at molar ratio of resorcinol to formaldehyde of 1.8:2.2 and solidified at 210 °C (sample RFR-3-1-210) has shown the best sorption-selective performance and chemical stability. Implementing RFR in dynamic sorption scheme enables to reduce its decay due to short contact time. In dynamic conditions, after feeding 1000 bed volumes of the solution, RFR 3-1-210 maintains its sorption properties after 6 sorption-desorption cycles.

Direct laser processing of various materials with nano- and femtosecond (fs) laser pulses is known to be a facile and inexpensive technology for fabrication of various surface morphologies. Since ultrafast deposition of the laser energy to target material typically creates unique experimental conditions with extremely high pressure and temperature, we hypothesized that carrying out this process in anhydrous non-oxidizing environment containing functionalizing agent (fluorophore with vinyl functional group) will allow one-step fabrication and subsequent functionalization of the surface of high-n material. In this paper, we demonstrate successful implementation of this idea by fabricating high-spatial-frequency laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) via direct fs-pulse ablation of bulk crystalline Si wafer immersed in solution of N-vinylcarbazole in toluene. Laser processing with linearly polarized fs-laser pulses was found to produce LIPSS with a characteristic period around 100 nm functionalized with N-vinylcarbazole molecules via photo-activated hydrosililation reaction. The unique LIPSS with hierarchical roughness and remarkable light trapping performance functionalized with sensory fluorophore show high sensitivity due to implementation of surface enhanced fluorescence effect. By using N-vinylcarbazole as functionalizing agent we demonstrate one-step fabrication of high-performance sensor for detecting nitrobenzene in water with a detection limit of 40 nM.

Here, we present the single-step laser-assisted fabrication of anti-reflective hierarchical surface textures on silicon locally functionalized with a photoluminescent (PL) molecular nanolayer. Using femtosecond-laser ablation of commercial crystalline Si wafers placed under a layer of a solution containing rhodamine 6G (R6G) a triethoxysilyl derivative, we fabricated ordered arrays of microconical protrusions with self-organized nanoscale surface morphology. At the same time, the laser-induced temperature increase facilitated surface activation and local binding of the R6G derivative to the as-fabricated nanotextured surface. The produced dual-scale surface textures showed remarkable broadband (visible to near-IR) light-absorbing properties with an averaged reflectivity of around 1%, and the capping molecular nanolayer demonstrated a strongly enhanced PL yield. By performing a pH sensing test using the produced nanotextured substrate, we confirmed the retention of sensory properties of the molecules attached to the surface and validated the potential applicability of the high-performing liquid-assisted laser processing as a key technology for the development of innovative multifunctional sensing devices in which the textured substrate (e.g., ultra-black semiconductor) plays a dual role as a support and PL signal amplifier.