The effect of nanocrystalline magnetite size on arsenic removal

By J. Mayo, C. Yavuz, S. Yean, L. Cong, Heather J. Shipley, William W. Yu, J. Falkner, A. Kan, M. Tomson, V. Colvin. 2007

470 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Higher environmental standards have made the removal of arsenic from water an important problem for environmental engineering. Iron oxide is a particularly interesting sorbent to consider for this application. Its magnetic properties allow relatively routine dispersal and recovery of the adsorbent into and from groundwater or industrial processing facilities; in addition, iron oxide has strong and specific interactions with both As(III) and As(V). Finally, this material can be produced with nanoscale dimensions, which enhance both its capacity and removal. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential arsenic adsorption by nanoscale iron oxides, specifically magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. We focus on the effect of Fe3O4 particle size on the adsorption and desorption behavior of As(III) and As(V). The results show that the nanoparticle size has a dramatic effect on the adsorption and desorption of arsenic. As particle size is decreased from 300 to 12 nm the adsorption capacities for both As(III) and As(V) increase nearly 200 times. Interestingly, such an increase is more than expected from simple considerations of surface area and suggests that nanoscale iron oxide materials sorb arsenic through different means than bulk systems. The desorption process, however, exhibits some hysteresis with the effect becoming more pronounced with small nanoparticles. This hysteresis most likely results from a higher arsenic affinity for Fe3O4 nanoparticles. This work suggests that Fe3O4 nanocrystals and magnetic separations offer a promising method for arsenic removal.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5ac1c769dd74ade104ebdf50780af4755dced939

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biomedical Engineering

1. J. Gómez-Pastora
2. Inmaculada Ortiz
3. M. Amin
4. Eugenio Bringas
5. Umair Manzoor
6. A. A. Alazba
7. Y. Yamini

In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

1. S. Shariati
2. M. Faraji
3. A. Rajabi
4. Sarika Singh
5. D. Bahadur
6. Umair Manzoor
7. A. A. Alazba
8. Y. Yamini

Citations in the corpus

• Functional Oxide Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites for the Removal of Heavy Metals and Dyes (2013, background): “Many of these reports deal with the influence of different parameters on the removal of metal ions by Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles [43-46].”
• Foliar heavy metal uptake, toxicity and detoxification in plants: A comparison of foliar and root metal uptake. (2017, unknown): “For example, 12-nm magnetite particles were almost 200folds more effective than 20 and 300 nm particles, in removing As(V) and As(III) from water [77].”
• A Review of Removal of Pollutants from Water/Wastewater Using Different Types of Nanomaterials (2014, background): “Metal based nanomaterials proved to be better in removing heavy metals than activated carbon [296], for example, adsorption of arsenic by using TiO 2 nanoparticles and nanosized magnetite [297, 298].”
• Synthesis and Properties of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles by Co-precipitation Method to Removal Procion Dye (2013, background): “Many of papers have been published demonstrating that magnetic Fe 3 O 4 can be used for wastewater purification, such as to adsorb arsenite, arsenate, crom, cadmium, nickel [9],[10].”