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Polyvinylpyrrolidone and graphene-modified hematite nanoparticles for efficient electrocatalytic oxidation of p-nitrophenol

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Abstract

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and graphene (G)-modified iron oxides (Fe2O3-PVP-G) are prepared by a simple hydrothermal reaction. Their morphology and structure were examined and proved by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. P-nitrophenol (p-NP) is a usual organic pollutant, which is highly toxic and difficult to decompose. Electrochemical reduction of p-NP is a widely used treatment, but the reduction products are still toxic. In this work, the electrochemical catalytic oxidation of p-NP was achieved on Fe2O3-PVP-G modified electrodes. Compared to pure Fe2O3, Fe2O3-PVP-G shows better catalytic performance, with a current density 10.4 times larger than that from Fe2O3. Electrochemical results verify that the improvement comes from the promotion of its activity and the favorable enrichment of p-NP with the help of the doped PVP and G. pH experiments indicate that p-NP is oxidized to aliphatic acid, which is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Due to the protection of organic molecules, Fe2O3-PVP-G exhibits long-term stabilities on electrochemical oxidation on p-NP with the retention of 88.5% for 15 days. Our results also provide another perspective for studying electrocatalytic performances.

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Funding

This work is supported by Jiangsu Provincial Key R&D Project (BE2016187), Jiangsu Province Students’ Platform for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (202010300073), and (202110300299).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Yan Guo & Yuxi Wei

  2. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Zhuang Li

  3. Reading Academy, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, Jiangsu, China

    Xinxu Zhang & Kexin Shi

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Guo, Y., Li, Z., Wei, Y. et al. Polyvinylpyrrolidone and graphene-modified hematite nanoparticles for efficient electrocatalytic oxidation of p-nitrophenol. J Solid State Electrochem 26, 1051–1065 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-022-05146-6

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