Abstract
The contamination of drinking water with naturally occurring arsenic is a global health threat. Filters that are packed with adsorbent media with a high affinity for arsenic have been used to de-contaminate water - generally iron or aluminium oxides are favored materials. Recently, nanoparticles have been introduced as adsorbent media due to their superior efficiency compared to their bulk counter-parts. An efficient nanoadsorbent should ideally possess high surface area, be easy to synthesize, and most importantly offer a high arsenic removal capacity. Achieving all the key features in a single step synthesis is an engineering challenge. We have successfully engineered such a material in the form of nanochains synthesized via a one step flame synthesis. The ultra-long γ-Fe2O3 nanochains possess high surface area (151.12 m2 g-1), large saturation magnetization (77.1 emu g -1) that aids in their gas phase self-assembly into long chains in an external magnetic field, along with an extraordinary arsenic removal capacity (162 mg g-1). A filter made with this material exhibited a relatively low-pressure drop and very little break-through of the iron oxide across the filter.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 12974-12981 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Materials Chemistry A |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 32 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 28 2014 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Materials Science(all)