PP Polymer (Sweden)

Abstract This chapter examines mobile payments and digital banking services. The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the use of alternative payment systems, away from cash to electronic payments. The digitalization of payments includes business-to-business (B2B), customer-to-business (C2B), and government-to-business and consumers (G2B/C), whether the payments are by computer, wire transfers, and point of sale (POS) systems. POS systems have become a standard in many retail outlets. Mobile payments use a smart device for contactless pay. Consumers see the increasing prevalence of payment systems when they go to the retail checkout or service counter. Worldwide, mobile payments are approaching 50% of digital. Digitalized payment systems are becoming more secure, decreasing concerns over mistaken payments, fraud, and errors. Consumers' confidence in value and usage decreases with age. Most fraud is due to scams and not hacking. Greater access to improved infrastructure and affordable smart devices will expand the usage of digitalized payment systems worldwide.

Microplastics have recently become a major environmental issue due to their ubiquitous distribution, uncontrolled environmental occurrences, small sizes and long lifetimes. Actual remediation methods include filtration, incineration and advanced oxidation processes such as ozonation, but those methods require high energy or generate unwanted by-products. Here we tested the degradation of fragmented, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) microplastic residues, by visible light-induced heterogeneous photocatalysis activated by zinc oxide nanorods. The reaction was monitored using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical analyser and optical imaging. Results show a 30% increase of the carbonyl index of residues, and an increase of brittleness accompanied by a large number of wrinkles, cracks and cavities on the surface. The degree of oxidation was directly proportional to the catalyst surface area. A mechanism for polyethylene degradation is proposed.