Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Poly(acrylic acid) coating induced 2-line ferrihydrite nanoparticle transport in saturated porous media

Journal of Nanoparticle Research volume 15, Article number: 1705 (2013) Cite this article

Abstract

Iron oxide and iron nanoparticles (NPs) have been used effectively for environmental remediation, but are limited in their applications by strong retention in groundwater-saturated porous media. For example, delivery of NPs to large groundwater reservoirs would require large numbers of injection wells. To address this problem, we have explored polymer coatings as a surface engineering strategy to enhance transport of oxide nanoparticles in porous media. We report here on our studies of 2-line ferrihydrite NPs and the influence of poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) polymer coatings on the colloidal stability and transport in natural sand-packed column tests simulating flow in groundwater-saturated porous media. Measurements were also made of zeta potential, hydrodynamic diameter, and polymer adsorption and desorption properties. The coated NPs have a diameter range of 30–500 nm. We found that NP transport was improved by PAA coating and that the transport properties could be tuned by adjusting the polymer concentration. Our results demonstrate that a high stability of oxide particles and improved transport can be achieved in groundwater-saturated porous media by introducing negatively charged polyelectrolytes and optimizing polymer concentrations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

References

  • Chen S (2007) Polymer-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for medical imaging. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  • Chibowski S, Wiśniewska M (2002) Study of electrokinetic properties and structure of adsorbed layers of polyacrylic acid and polyacrylamide at Fe2O3–polymer solution interface. Colloids Surf A 208:131–145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cornell RM, Schwertmann U (2003) The Iron oxides: structure, properties, reactions, occurrences and uses, 2nd ed. Wiley-VCH, New york

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh S, Jiang W, McClements JD, Xing B (2011) Colloidal stability of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: influence of natural organic matter and synthetic polyelectrolytes. Langmir 27:8036–8043

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holsen TM, Taylor ER, Seo YC, Anderson PR (1991) Removal of sparingly soluble organic chemicals from aqueous solutions with surfactant-coated ferrihydrite. Environ Sci Technol 25:1585–1589

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter RJ (1981) Zeta potential in colloid science: principles and applications. Academic Press, New York, pp 20–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Komlos J, Jaffé PR (2004) Effect of iron bioavailability on dissolved hydrogen concentrations during microbial iron reduction. Biodegradation 15:315–325

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Komlos J, Peacock A, Kukkadapu RK, Jaffé PR (2008) Long-term dynamics of uranium reduction/reoxidation under low sulfate conditions. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 72(15):3603–3615

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • M’Pandou A, Siffert B (1987) Polyethyleneglycol adsorption at TiO2–H2O interface: distortion of ionic structure and shear plane position. Coll Surf 24:159–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald LH, Moon HS, Jaffé PR (2011) The role of biomass, electron shuttles, and ferrous iron in the kinetics of geobacter sulfurreducens-mediated ferrihydrite reduction. Water Res 45:1049–1062

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Orwoll RA, Yong CS (1999) Polymer Data Handbook. Oxford University Press, Newyork, pp 252–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiraferri A, Sethi R (2009) Enhanced transport of zero valent iron nanoparticles in saturated porous media by guar gum. J Nanopart Res 11:635–645

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wu W, He Q, Jiang C (2008) Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles: synthesis and surface functionalization strategies. Nanoscale Res Lett 3:397–415

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support of the Andlinger Innovation Fund of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. The authors thank Prof. Robert Prud’homme for his valuable discussions and his group for assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Aishuang Xiang & Bruce E. Koel

  2. Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Peter R. Jaffé

  3. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Weile Yan

Authors
  1. Aishuang Xiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Weile Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bruce E. Koel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Peter R. Jaffé
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bruce E. Koel or Peter R. Jaffé.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 25 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xiang, A., Yan, W., Koel, B.E. et al. Poly(acrylic acid) coating induced 2-line ferrihydrite nanoparticle transport in saturated porous media. J Nanopart Res 15, 1705 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1705-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1705-3

Keywords

search

Navigation