Rapid fabrication of nanoporous iron by atmospheric plasma for efficient wastewater treatment

AnKang Lu; HanYu Li; Yao Yu; Lin Liu

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/acc950

Rapid fabrication of nanoporous iron by atmospheric plasma for efficient wastewater treatment

Nanotechnology. 2023 Apr 19;34(27). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/acc950.

Authors

AnKang Lu¹, HanYu Li¹, Yao Yu^{1

2}, Lin Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Lab for Materials Processing and Die & Mould Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
² Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37001508
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/acc950

Abstract

Nanoporous (NP) iron with large surface area is highly desired for wastewater degradation catalysis. However, it remains a challenge for the fabrication of NP-Fe because the conventional aqueous dealloying or liquid metal dealloying are not applicable. Herein, a novel and universal plasma-assisted electro-dealloying technique was utilized to fabricate NP-Fe. The NP-Fe demonstrates evenly distributed pore structure. The pore density can be tuned by the variation of the ratio of Fe and Zn in the precursor, and the average pore size can be tuned by the processing time. Owing to its large specific surface area, the NP-Fe shows excellent wastewater degradation performance, which is 26 times better than that of commercial zero-valent iron catalysts. This study provides a useful approach to fabricate NP active metals with enhanced catalytic performance.

Keywords: atmospheric plasma; dealloying; nanoporous iron; wastewater treatment.