Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Place of Publication
United Kingdom
School
School of Engineering
RAS ID
24679
Funders
Australian Research Council
Curtin Research Fellowship
Opening Project (KL13-02) of the State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, China
Grant Number
ARC Number : DP130101319
Abstract
Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes encapsulating iron carbide (Fe3C) nanocrystals (Fe3C@NCNT) were fabricated by a simple and direct pyrolysis method using melamine and ferric chloride as the C, N and Fe precursors. The surface morphology, structure and composition of the Fe3C@NCNT materials were thoroughly investigated. The nanomaterials were employed as novel catalysts for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation; outstanding efficiency, high stability and excellent reusability were observed in the catalytic oxidation of organics. The encapsulated Fe3C nanoparticles played a key role in the emerging synergetic effects of the carbide and the protective graphitic layers. In addition, the quaternary N and trace amounts of iron on the CNT surface acted as the active sites. Various quenching experiments were carried out to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of Fe3C@NCNT. It was found that singlet oxygen, superoxide, sulfate and hydroxyl radicals worked together to degrade phenol solutions. Due to their simple synthesis method, low-cost precursors, unique structure and excellent catalytic activity and stability, these novel iron-carbide-based composites have great potential as new strategic materials for environmental catalysis
DOI
10.1039/C6EN00397D
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Comments
Wang, C., Kang, J., Liang, P., Zhang, H., Sun, H., Tadé, M. O., & Wang, S. (2017). Ferric carbide nanocrystals encapsulated in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes as an outstanding environmental catalyst. Environmental Science: Nano. 4 (1), 170-179.
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EN00397D