1
|
Ntelane TS, Feleni U, Mthombeni NH, Kuvarega AT. CuFeS 2 supported on dendritic mesoporous silica-titania for persulfate-assisted degradation of sulfamethoxazole under visible light. J Colloid Interface Sci 2024; 654:660-676. [PMID: 37864871 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.10.077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/23/2023]
Abstract
Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is a prevalent sulfonamide antibiotic found in the environment, and it has a variety of detrimental effects on environmental sustainability and water safety. Recently, the combination of photocatalysis and sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes (SR-AOPs) has attracted a lot of interest as a viable technique for degradation of refractory pollutants. In this study, a visible light active CuFeS2 supported on dendritic mesoporous silica-titania (CuFeS2-DMST) photocatalyst was synthesized to improve the ability of TiO2 to activate persulfate (PS) by introducing CuFeS2 (Fe2+/Fe3+, Cu+/Cu2+ redox cycles). The CuFeS2-DMST/PS/Vis system demonstrated superior SMX degradation efficiency (88.9%, 0.0146 min-1) than TiO2 because of reduced e-/h+ recombination, excellent charge separation and mobility, and a greater surface area than TiO2. Furthermore, after four consecutive photocatalytic cycles, the system demonstrated moderate stability. From chemical quenching tests, O2●-, h+, 1O2, SO4●- and ●OH were found to be the main reactive oxidizing species. The formed intermediates during the degradation process were identified, and degradation mechanisms were proposed. This study proposes a viable technique for activating PS using a low-cost, stable, and high-surface-area TiO2-based photocatalyst, and this concept can be applied to design photocatalysts for water treatment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tau S Ntelane
- Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, 1710 Johannesburg, South Africa; Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, 1710, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Usisipho Feleni
- Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, 1710 Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Nomcebo H Mthombeni
- Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, 1710, Johannesburg, South Africa; Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa
| | - Alex T Kuvarega
- Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida, 1710 Johannesburg, South Africa.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Baláž P, Dutková E, Baláž M, Daneu N, Findoráková L, Hejtmánek J, Levinský P, Knížek K, Bali Hudáková M, Džunda R, Bureš R, Puchý V. The manipulation of natural mineral chalcopyrite CuFeS 2via mechanochemistry: properties and thermoelectric potential. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:31125-31136. [PMID: 37947379 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp01788e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
In this study, the properties of the natural mineral chalcopyrite CuFeS2 after mechanical activation in a planetary mill were studied. The intensity of mechanical activation was controlled by changing the revolutions of the mill in the range 100-600 min-1. A series of characterization techniques, such as XRD, SEM, TEM, TA (DTA, TG, and DTG), particle size analysis, and UV-vis spectroscopy was applied and reactivity studies were also performed. Several new features were revealed for the mechanically activated chalcopyrite, e.g. the poly-modal distribution of produced nanoparticles on the micrometer scale, agglomeration effects by prolonged milling, possibility to modify the shape of the particles, X-ray amorphization and a shift from a non-cubic (tetragonal) structure to pseudo-cubic structure. The thermoelectric response was evaluated on the "softly" compacted powder via the spark plasma sintering method (very short holding time, low sintering temperature, and moderate pressure) by measuring the Seebeck coefficient and electrical and thermal conductivity above room temperature. The milling process produced samples with lower resistivity compared to the original non-activated sample. The Seebeck data close to zero confirmed the "compensated" character of natural chalcopyrite, reflecting its close-to stoichiometric composition with low concentration of both n- and p-type charge carriers. Alternatively, an evident correlation between thermal conductivity and energy supply by milling was observed with the possibility of band gap manipulation, which is associated with the energy delivered by the milling procedure.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter Baláž
- Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Erika Dutková
- Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Matej Baláž
- Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Nina Daneu
- Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 3, S1-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
| | - Lenka Findoráková
- Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Jiří Hejtmánek
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cukrovarnická 10/112, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Petr Levinský
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cukrovarnická 10/112, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Karel Knížek
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Cukrovarnická 10/112, 16200 Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Mária Bali Hudáková
- Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 45, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Róbert Džunda
- Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Radovan Bureš
- Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| | - Viktor Puchý
- Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 04001 Košice, Slovakia.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Tetzlaff D, Rensch T, Messing L, Banke P, Grätz S, Siegmund D, Borchardt L, Apfel UP. Mechanochemical one-pot synthesis of heterostructured pentlandite-carbon composites for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Chem Sci 2023; 14:11790-11797. [PMID: 37920333 PMCID: PMC10619543 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc04542k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
We have utilized carbon sources as milling additives to enable a direct mechanochemical one-pot synthesis of Fe3Co3Ni3S8/carbon (Pn/C) materials using elemental reaction mixtures. The obtained Pn/C materials are thoroughly characterized and their carbon content could be adjusted up to 50 wt%. In addition to carbon black (CB) as an additive, Pn/C materials were produced using graphite, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which allows the overall physicochemical properties of materials for energy storage applications to be adjusted. By employing the Pn/C materials as electrocatalysts for the HER in a zero-gap proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer, we were able to reach a current density of 1 A cm-2 at a cell potential as low as 2.12 V using Pn, which was synthesized with 25 wt% CB. Furthermore, electrolysis at an applied current density of 1 A cm-2 for 100 h displays a stable performance, thus providing a sustainable synthesis procedure for potential future energy storage applications. Herein, we show that catalyst supports play an important role in the overall performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David Tetzlaff
- Fraunhofer UMSICHT Osterfelder Straße 3 DE-46047 Oberhausen Germany
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Tilo Rensch
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Leonard Messing
- Fraunhofer UMSICHT Osterfelder Straße 3 DE-46047 Oberhausen Germany
| | - Petra Banke
- Fraunhofer UMSICHT Osterfelder Straße 3 DE-46047 Oberhausen Germany
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Sven Grätz
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Daniel Siegmund
- Fraunhofer UMSICHT Osterfelder Straße 3 DE-46047 Oberhausen Germany
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Lars Borchardt
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| | - Ulf-Peter Apfel
- Fraunhofer UMSICHT Osterfelder Straße 3 DE-46047 Oberhausen Germany
- Ruhr University Bochum, Inorganic Chemistry I Universitätsstraße 150 DE-44780 Bochum Germany
| |
Collapse
|