Hyperporous magnetic catalyst foam for highly efficient and stable adsorption and reduction of aqueous organic contaminants

Yu Yang; Zhuangzhuang Chu; Qiyao Huang; Yongtao Li; Bin Zheng; Jian Chang; Zhuohong Yang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126622

Hyperporous magnetic catalyst foam for highly efficient and stable adsorption and reduction of aqueous organic contaminants

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Oct 15:420:126622. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126622. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Authors

Yu Yang¹, Zhuangzhuang Chu², Qiyao Huang³, Yongtao Li⁴, Bin Zheng², Jian Chang⁵, Zhuohong Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: yu.yang@scau.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
³ Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ College of Natural Resources and Environment, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
⁵ Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China. Electronic address: changj@sustech.edu.cn.
⁶ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China. Electronic address: yangzhuohong@scau.edu.cn.

PMID: 34273882
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126622

Abstract

The facile and low-cost fabrication of free-standing magnetic catalysts with high catalytic efficiency, rapid reaction rate and excellent recoverability has been pursued for various catalysis applications, e.g., treating aqueous organic 4-nitrophenol pollutants. Here, we design and fabricate a free-standing nickel-coated hyperporous polymer foam (Ni-HPF) with adjustable shapes and sizes, hierarchical multiscale porous structures, abundant catalytical interfaces and excellent super-paramagnetic properties. Due to the synergistical effect of abundant binding sites and highly catalytic reduction, the as-prepared Ni-HPF has demonstrated high conversion efficiency (> 90% at extremely low concentration of 7.5 μM) and rapid reaction rate (2.58 × 10^-3 s^-1) for the reduction of organic 4-nitrophenol. Moreover, the magnetic catalyst also holds excellent recoverability (>80% conversion rate even after 1000 cycles) and good reproducibility (>80% conversion rate after 3 months of storage). As such, this work with novel material design and working principle could provide a wide range of potential applications in water purification, chemical catalysis and energy storage devices.

Keywords: 4-nitrophenol reduction; Excellent reusability; Hyperporous polymer foam; Ni catalysis; Super-paramagnetic property.