Synthesis of carbon-coated magnetic nanocomposite (Fe3O4@C) and its application for sulfonamide antibiotics removal from water

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe occurrence of antibiotics in the environment has recently raised serious concerns regarding their potential threat to human health and aquatic ecosystem. A new magnetic nanocomposite, Fe 3 O 4 @C (Fe 3 O 4 coated with carbon), was synthesized, characterized, and then applied to remove five commonly-used sulfonamides (SAs) from water. Due to its combinational merits of the outer functionalized carbon shell and the inner magnetite core, Fe 3 O 4 @C exhibited a high adsorption affinity for selected SAs and a fast magnetic separability. The adsorption kinetics of SAs on Fe 3 O 4 @C could be expressed by the pseudo second-order model. The adsorption isotherms were fitted well with the Dual-mode model, revealing that the adsorption process consisted of an initial partitioning stage and a subsequent hole-filling stage. Solution pH exerted a strong impact on the adsorption process with the maximum removal efficiencies (74% to 96%) obtained at pH 4.8 for all selected SAs. Electrostatic force and hydrogen bonding were two major driving forces for adsorption, and electron-donor-acceptor interactions may also make a certain contribution. Because the synthesized Fe 3 O 4 @C showed comprehensive advantages of high adsorptivity, fast magnetic separability, and prominent reusability, it has potential applications in water treatment.

Removal of sulfamethazine antibiotics using cow manure-based carbon adsorbents

“…Unfortunately, sulfonamides are only metabolized partially in animals after therapeutic treatments, and it has been estimated that approximately 30-90 % of antibiotics are excreted through urine and feces (Zessel et al 2014). Due to ineffective or inappropriate treatment of these animal wastes, the antibiotics are discharged ultimately into the environments (Bao et al 2014;Schwab et al 2005;Tamtam et al 2008). As a result, the sulfonamides are found frequently in the surface/ground water, soils, sediments, and even in the drinking water (Batt et al 2006;Heberer 2002).…”

Synthesis and Potential Adsorption of Fe3O4@C Core-Shell Nanoparticles for to Removal of Pollutants in Aqueous Solutions: A Brief Review.

“…Furthermore, magnetic adsorbents have distinct advantages such as selective absorptivity, easy recovery, strong magnetic responsiveness and favorable water dispersibility. Characteristics such as a good regeneration capability substantiate the great potential of Fe 3 O 4 @C in water treatment [15][16][17].…”

“…Fe 3 O 4 @C core-shell nanoparticles consist of a magnetic core and carbon coating (Figures 1-3), owing its importance to characteristics such as high adsorption, easy magnetic separation and regeneration capacity [12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…Studies show that, depending on the synthesis condition, it is possible to obtain ferromagnetic Fe 3 O 4 @C core-shell nanoparticles [28,29] or super paramagnetic [15,30,31]. These characteristics depend on the phases of iron oxide used, which can be magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) [29,[32][33][34], hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) [35][36][37], maghemite (γ-Fe 2 O 3 ) [38][39][40] and wustite (FeO) [41].…”

“…To solve this problem, adsorption methods are used, since they are considered as an effective way to remove antibiotics from water [90]. To this end, studies have shown that core-shell nanoparticles and magnetic nanostructures can be effective in the adsorption of different antibiotics, such as sulfonamide [15], nafcillin [91] and tetracycline [92].…”