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Size and shape effects of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles as catalysts for reductive degradation of dye pollutants

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Abstract

The magnetic nanoparticles that are easy to recycle have tremendous potential as a suitable catalyst for environmental toxic dye pollutant degradation. Rationally engineering shapes and tailoring the size of nanocatalysts are regarded as an effective manner for enhancing performances. Herein, we successfully synthesized three kinds of MnFe2O4 NPs with distinctive sizes and shapes as catalysts for reductive degradation of methylene blue, rhodamine 6G, rhodamine B, and methylene orange. It was found that the catalytic activities were dependent on the size and shape of the MnFe2O4 NPs and highly related to the surface-to-volume ratio and atom arrangements. Besides, all these nanocatalysts exhibit selectivity to different organic dyes, which is beneficial for their practical application in dye pollutant treatment. Furthermore, the MnFe2O4 NPs could be readily recovered by a magnet and reused more than ten times without appreciable loss of activity. The size and shape effects of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles demonstrated in this work not only accelerate further understanding the nature of nanocatalysts but also contribute to the precise design of nanoparticles catalyst for pollutant degradation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21501080), the Special Funding for Open and Shared Large-Scale Instruments and Equipments of Lanzhou University (LZU-GXJJ-2020-005) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2019-kb06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Guowen Hu, Zeqi Zhang, Xuan Zhang & Tianrong Li

Authors
  1. Guowen Hu
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  2. Zeqi Zhang
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  3. Xuan Zhang
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  4. Tianrong Li
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guowen Hu or Tianrong Li.

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Highlights

• Size and shape-dependent MnFe2O4 NPs were prepared via a facile method.

• Ligand-exchange chemistry was used to prepare the hydrophilic MnFe2O4 NPs.

• The catalytic properties of MnFe2O4 NPs toward dye degradation were fully studied.

• The catalytic activities of MnFe2O4 NPs followed Michaelis — Menten behavior.

• All the MnFe2O4 NPs exhibit selective degradation to different dyes.

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Hu, G., Zhang, Z., Zhang, X. et al. Size and shape effects of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles as catalysts for reductive degradation of dye pollutants. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 15, 108 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1396-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1396-4

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