Regenerable urchin-like Fe3O4@PDA-Ag hollow microspheres as catalyst and adsorbent for enhanced removal of organic dyes

Kuixin Cui; Bin Yan; Yijun Xie; Hui Qian; Xiaogang Wang; Qingxue Huang; Yuehui He; Shengming Jin; Hongbo Zeng

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.02.011

Regenerable urchin-like Fe₃O₄@PDA-Ag hollow microspheres as catalyst and adsorbent for enhanced removal of organic dyes

J Hazard Mater. 2018 May 15:350:66-75. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.02.011. Epub 2018 Feb 7.

Authors

Kuixin Cui¹, Bin Yan², Yijun Xie³, Hui Qian⁴, Xiaogang Wang⁵, Qingxue Huang⁵, Yuehui He⁶, Shengming Jin⁷, Hongbo Zeng⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China; Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 1H9, Canada; Powder Metallurgy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 1H9, Canada; College of Light Industry, Textile & Food Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China.
³ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 1H9, Canada.
⁴ National Institute for Nanotechnology, National Research Council, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2M9, Canada.
⁵ Schoolof Material Science & Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
⁶ Powder Metallurgy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
⁷ School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China. Electronic address: shmjin@csu.edu.cn.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 1H9, Canada. Electronic address: hongbo.zeng@ualberta.ca.

PMID: 29453121
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.02.011

Abstract

In this work, novel urchin-like Fe₃O₄@polydopamine (PDA)-Ag hollow microspheres have been prepared via a facile synthesis method by in situ reduction and growth of Ag nanoparticles on mussel-inspired PDA layers coated on Fe₃O₄ hollow cores. The catalytic reduction efficiency and adsorption performance of the as-prepared urchin-like Fe₃O₄@polydopamine (PDA)-Ag hollow microspheres for model organic dyes (i.e., methylene blue and rhodamine B) under varying pH condition have been systematically investigated, which are demonstrated to be significantly enhanced as compared to that of spherical (relatively smooth) solid Fe₃O₄@PDA-Ag microspheres. The as-prepared urchin-like Fe₃O₄@PDA-Ag hollow microspheres show high reusability, easy separability, and fast regeneration ability, with no obvious drop in the catalytic and adsorption efficiency after cyclic reuse. The versatile PDA coatings on the urchin-like microspheres allow further surface functionalization for development of multifunctional catalyst and adsorbent materials. This work provides a very useful and facile methodology for synthesizing and tuning the urchin-like morphology of Fe₃O₄@PDA-Ag microspheres, with great potential applications in catalysis and wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Catalytic reduction; Polydopamine; Regeneration ability; Urchin-like Fe(3)O(4)@PDA-Ag hollow microspheres; Water treatment.

Publication types

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