Macroscopic and spectroscopic studies of the enhanced scavenging of Cr(VI) and Se(VI) from water by titanate nanotube anchored nanoscale zero-valent iron

Baowei Hu; Guohe Chen; Chengan Jin; Jun Hu; Chengcai Huang; Jiang Sheng; Guodong Sheng; Jingyuan Ma; Yuying Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.04.069

Macroscopic and spectroscopic studies of the enhanced scavenging of Cr(VI) and Se(VI) from water by titanate nanotube anchored nanoscale zero-valent iron

J Hazard Mater. 2017 Aug 15:336:214-221. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.04.069. Epub 2017 Apr 28.

Authors

Baowei Hu¹, Guohe Chen¹, Chengan Jin¹, Jun Hu², Chengcai Huang¹, Jiang Sheng³, Guodong Sheng⁴, Jingyuan Ma⁵, Yuying Huang⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering or College of Life Science, Shaoxing University, Zhejiang, 312000, PR China.
² School of Electronic Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Guangdong 523808, PR China.
³ Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, PR China.
⁴ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering or College of Life Science, Shaoxing University, Zhejiang, 312000, PR China; School of Chemistry and Environment, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, PR China; Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei 230031, PR China. Electronic address: gdsheng@usx.edu.cn.
⁵ Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, PR China.

PMID: 28494309
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.04.069

Abstract

Herein, a promising titanate nanotubes (TNT) anchored nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) nanocomposite (NZVI/TNT) was synthesized, characterized and used for the enhanced scavenging of Cr(VI) and Se(VI) from water. The structural identification indicated that NZVI was uniformly loaded on TNT, thereby, the oxidation and aggregation of NZVI was significantly minimized. The macroscopic experimental results indicated that NZVI/TNT exhibited higher efficiency as well as rate on Cr(VI) and Se(VI) scavenging resulted from the good synergistic effect between adsorption and reduction. Besides, TNT can weaken the inhibitory effect of co-existing humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) on the scavenging of Cr(VI) and Se(VI) by NZVI, since TNT showed strong adsorption for HA and FA that inhibit potential reactivity. XPS analysis suggested that surface-bound Fe(II) played a critical role in Cr(VI) and Se(VI) scavenging. XANES analysis demonstrated that TNT acted as a promoter for the almost complete transformation of Cr(VI) into Cr(III), and Se(VI) into Se(0)/Se(-II) in NZVI system. EXAFS analysis indicated that TNT acted as a scavenger for insoluble products, and thus more reactive sites can be used for Cr(VI) and Se(VI) reduction. The excellent performance of NZVI/TNT provide a potential material for purification and detoxification of Cr(VI) and Se(VI) from wastewater.

Keywords: Cr(VI) and Se(VI); Nanoscale zero-valent iron; Titanate nanotubes; X-ray absorption fine structure.