Removal of hexavalent chromium from wastewater by Cu/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles

Jien Ye; Yi Wang; Qiao Xu; Hanxin Wu; Jianhao Tong; Jiyan Shi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90414-0

Removal of hexavalent chromium from wastewater by Cu/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles

Sci Rep. 2021 May 25;11(1):10848. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-90414-0.

Authors

Jien Ye^{1

2}, Yi Wang^{1

2}, Qiao Xu^{1

2}, Hanxin Wu^{1

2}, Jianhao Tong^{1

2}, Jiyan Shi^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China. shijiyan@zju.edu.cn.
⁴ MOE Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, College of Environmental and Resource Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China. shijiyan@zju.edu.cn.

Abstract

Passivation of nanoscale zerovalent iron hinders its efficiency in water treatment, and loading another catalytic metal has been found to improve the efficiency significantly. In this study, Cu/Fe bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared by liquid-phase chemical reduction for removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) from wastewater. Synthesized bimetallic nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmet-Teller isotherm, and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that Cu loading can significantly enhance the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) by 29.3% to 84.0%, and the optimal Cu loading rate was 3% (wt%). The removal efficiency decreased with increasing initial pH and Cr(VI) concentration. The removal of Cr(VI) was better fitted by pseudo-second-order model than pseudo-first-order model. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the Cr(VI) removal was spontaneous and endothermic, and the increase of reaction temperature facilitated the process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated that Cr(VI) was completely reduced to Cr(III) and precipitated on the particle surface as hydroxylated Cr(OH)₃ and Cr_xFe_1-x(OH)₃ coprecipitation. Our work could be beneficial for the application of iron-based nanomaterials in remediation of wastewater.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't