Ferric carbide nanocrystals encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as an outstanding environmental catalyst

By Chen Wang, Jian Kang, P. Liang, Huayang Zhang, Hongqi Sun, Moses O. Tadé, Shaobin Wang. 2017

194 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes encapsulating iron carbide (Fe3C) nanocrystals (Fe3C@NCNT) were fabricated by a simple and direct pyrolysis method using melamine and ferric chloride as the C, N and Fe precursors. The surface morphology, structure and composition of the Fe3C@NCNT materials were thoroughly investigated. The nanomaterials were employed as novel catalysts for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation; outstanding efficiency, high stability and excellent reusability were observed in the catalytic oxidation of organics. The encapsulated Fe3C nanoparticles played a key role in the emerging synergetic effects of the carbide and the protective graphitic layers. In addition, the quaternary N and trace amounts of iron on the CNT surface acted as the active sites. Various quenching experiments were carried out to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of Fe3C@NCNT. It was found that singlet oxygen, superoxide, sulfate and hydroxyl radicals worked together to degrade phenol solutions. Due to their simple synthesis method, low-cost precursors, unique structure and excellent catalytic activity and stability, these novel iron-carbide-based composites have great potential as new strategic materials for environmental catalysis.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Organic Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3f10c263d470767d89de0edc727f3a113873e94b