Tetrabromobisphenol A transformation by biochar supported post-sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron: Mechanistic insights from shell control and solvent kinetic isotope effects

Feilong Gao; Mingyi Zhang; Shakeel Ahmad; Jiaming Guo; Yinghao Shi; Xinzuo Yang; Jingchun Tang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132028

Tetrabromobisphenol A transformation by biochar supported post-sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron: Mechanistic insights from shell control and solvent kinetic isotope effects

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Sep 15:458:132028. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132028. Epub 2023 Jul 10.

Authors

Feilong Gao¹, Mingyi Zhang¹, Shakeel Ahmad¹, Jiaming Guo¹, Yinghao Shi¹, Xinzuo Yang¹, Jingchun Tang²

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria/Tianjin Engineering Center of Environmental Diagnosis and Contamination Remediation, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria/Tianjin Engineering Center of Environmental Diagnosis and Contamination Remediation, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China; National Engineering Laboratory for Site Remediation Technologies, China. Electronic address: tangjch@nankai.edu.cn.

PMID: 37459757
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132028

Abstract

Post-sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron with a controlled FeS_X shell thickness deposited on biochar (S-nZVI/BC) was synthesized to degrade tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). Detailed characterizations revealed that the increasing sulfidation degree altered shell thickness/morphology, S content/speciation/distribution, hydrophobicity, and electron transfer capacity. Meanwhile, the BC improved electron transfer capacity and hydrophobicity and inhibited the surface oxidation of S-nZVI. These properties endowed S-nZVI/BC with highly reactive (∼8.9-13.2 times) and selective (∼58.4-228.9 times) over nZVI/BC in TBBPA transformation. BC modification improved the reactivity and selectivity of S-nZVI by 1.77 and 1.96 times, respectively. The difference of S-nZVI/BC in reactivity was related to hydrophobicity and electron transfer, particularly FeS_X shell thickness and morphology. Optimal shell thickness of ∼32 nm allowed the maximum association between Fe⁰ core and exterior FeS_X, resulting in superior reactivity. A thicker shell with abundant networks increased the roughness but decreased the surface area and electron transfer. The higher [S/Fe]_surface and [S/Fe]_particle were conducive to the selectivity, and [S/Fe]_particle was more influential than [S/Fe]_surface on selectivity upon similar hydrophobicity. The solvent kinetic isotope effects (SKIEs) exhibited that increasing [S/Fe]_dose tuned the relative contributions of atomic H and electron in TBBPA debromination but failed to alter the dominant debromination pathway (i.e., direct electron transfer) in (S)-nZVI/BC systems. Mechanism of electron transfer rather than atomic H contributed to higher selectivity. This work demonstrated that S-nZVI/BC was a prospective material for the remediation of TBBPA-contaminated groundwater.

Keywords: Direct electron transfer; Networks; S-nZVI/BC; Shell thickness; TBBPA.