Nano Fe2O3 embedded in montmorillonite with citric acid enhanced photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles towards diethyl phthalate.

Nano-Fe2O3 embedded in montmorillonite particles (Fe-Mt) were prepared to degrade diethyl phthalate (DEP) with citric acid (CA) under xenon light irradiation. Compared to pristine montmorillonite (Na-Mt), the embedding process increased 14.5-fold of iron content and 1.8-fold of specific surface area. The synthesized Fe-Mt have more oxygen vacancies than Fe2O3 nanoparticles (nFe2O3), which could induce more reactive oxygen species (ROSs) generation in the presence of CA under xenon lamp irradiation. Fe-Mt with CA enhanced photo-assisted degradation of DEP 2.5 times as compared to nFe2O3 with CA. Quenching experiments, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and identification of products confirmed that surface-bound •OH was the main radical to degrade DEP. Common anions (i.e., NO3-, CO32-, Cl-) and humic acid could compete •OH with DEP and cause slower degradation of DEP. The removal efficiency of DEP was more than 56% with Fe-Mt after three recycles, and the dissolved Fe concentration from Fe-Mt was below 75 μmol/L, indicating Fe-Mt had a good stability as a catalyst. Fe-Mt together with CA appeared to be a promising strategy to remove organic pollutants in surface water, or topsoil under solar irradiation. Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Citation

Zhaoyue Sun, Lisha Feng, Guodong Fang, Longgang Chu, Dongmei Zhou, Juan Gao. Nano Fe2O3 embedded in montmorillonite with citric acid enhanced photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles towards diethyl phthalate. Journal of environmental sciences (China). 2021 Mar;101:248-259

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PMID: 33334520

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