Abstract
The reduction of nitroarenes to aromatic amines is one of the potential pathways to remediate the hazardous impact of toxic nitroarenes on the aquatic environment. Aromatic amines obtained from the reduction of nitroaromatics are not only less toxic than nitroaromatics but also act as important intermediates in the synthesis of dyes, drugs, pigments, herbicides, and polymers. There is a huge demand for the development of cost-effective, and eco-friendly catalysts for the efficient reduction of nitroarenes. In the present study, Fe3O4@trp@Ir nanoparticles were explored as efficient catalysts for the reduction of nitroarenes. Fe3O4@trp@Ir magnetic nanoparticles were fabricated by surface coating of Fe3O4 with tryptophan and iridium by co-precipitation method. As-prepared Fe3O4@trp@Ir nanoparticles are environmentally benign efficient catalysts for reducing organic pollutants such as 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 4-nitroaniline (4-NA), and 1-bromo-4-nitrobenzene (1-B-4-NB). The key parameters that affect the catalytic activity like temperature, catalyst loading, and the concentration of reducing agent NaBH4 were optimized. The obtained results proved that Fe3O4@trp@Ir is an efficient catalyst for reducing nitroaromatics at ambient temperature with a minimal catalyst loading of 0.0025%. The complete conversion of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol took only 20 s with a minimal catalyst loading of 0.0025% and a rate constant of 0.0522 s−1. The high catalytic activity factor (1.040 s−1 mg−1) and high turnover frequency (9 min−1) obtained for Fe3O4@trp@Ir nanocatalyst highlight the possible synergistic effect of the two metals (Fe and Ir). The visible-light photocatalytic degradation of 4-NP was also investigated in the presence of Fe3O4@trp@Ir. The photocatalytic degradation of 4-NP by Fe3O4@trp@Ir is completed in 20 min with 95.15% efficiency, and the rate of photodegradation of 4-NP (0.1507 min−1) is about twice the degradation rate of 4-NP in the dark (0.0755 min−1). The catalyst was recycled and reused for five cycles without significant reduction in the conversion efficiency of the catalyst.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The authors declare that all relevant data are included in the manuscript.
References
Aditya T, Jana J, Singh NK et al (2017) Remarkable facet selective reduction of 4-nitrophenol by morphologically tailored (111) faceted Cu2O nanocatalyst. ACS Omega 2:1968–1984. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.6b00447
Alaghmandfard A, Madaah Hosseini HR (2021) A facile, two-step synthesis and characterization of Fe3 O4–LCysteine–graphene quantum dots as a multifunctional nanocomposite. Appl Nanosci 11:849–860. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-020-01642-1
Atacan K, Çakiroǧlu B, Özacar M (2016) Improvement of the stability and activity of immobilized trypsin on modified Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles for hydrolysis of bovine serum albumin and its application in the bovine milk. Food Chem 212:460–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.06.011
Bagbi Y, Sarswat A, Mohan D et al (2017) Lead and chromium adsorption from water using L-cysteine functionalized magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. Sci Rep 7:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03380-x
Banerjee S, Benjwal P, Singh M, Kar KK (2018) Graphene oxide (rGO)-metal oxide (TiO 2 /Fe 3 O 4) based nanocomposites for the removal of methylene blue. Appl Surf Sci 439:560–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.01.085
Belachew N, Tadesse A, Kahsay MH et al (2021) Synthesis of amino acid functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles for adsorptive removal of Rhodamine B. Appl Water Sci 11:1–9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-021-01371-y
Bilal M, Mehmood S, Rasheed T, Iqbal HMN (2019) Antibiotics traces in the aquatic environment: persistence and adverse environmental impact. Curr Opin Environ Sci Heal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2019.11.005
Boruah PK, Borah DJ, Handique J et al (2015) Facile synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4 nanopowder and Fe3O4/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite for methyl blue adsorption: a comparative study. J Environ Chem Eng 3:1974–1985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2015.06.030
Chen L, Chuang Y, Nguyen TB et al (2020) Novel molybdenum disulfide heterostructure nanohybrids with enhanced visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity towards organic dyes. J Alloys Compd 848:156448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.156448
Chen L, Chen CW, Huang CP et al (2022) A visible-light sensitive MoSSe nanohybrid for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline, oxytetracycline, and chlortetracycline. J Colloid Interface Sci 616:67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2022.01.035
Chen L, Tsai ML, Chuang Y et al (2022) Construction of carbon nanotubes bridged MoS2/ZnO Z-scheme nanohybrid towards enhanced visible light driven photocatalytic water disinfection and antibacterial activity. Carbon N Y 196:877–889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2022.05.055
Chishti AN, Guo F, Aftab A et al (2021) Synthesis of silver doped Fe3O4/C nanoparticles and its catalytic activities for the degradation and reduction of methylene blue and 4-nitrophenol. Appl Surf Sci 546:149070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2021.149070
Dhanalakshmi M, Lakshmi Prabavathi S, Saravanakumar K et al (2020) Iridium nanoparticles anchored WO3 nanocubes as an efficient photocatalyst for removal of refractory contaminants (crystal violet and methylene blue). Chem Phys Lett 745:137285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2020.137285
Dinari M, Dadkhah F (2021) Visible light photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol by new high-performance and easy recoverable Fe3O4/Ag2O-LDH hybrid photocatalysts. Appl Organomet Chem 35:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1002/aoc.6355
Dutta S, Sarkar S, Ray C et al (2014) Mesoporous gold and palladium nanoleaves from liquid-liquid interface: enhanced catalytic activity of the palladium analogue toward hydrazine-assisted room-temperature 4-nitrophenol reduction. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 6:9134–9143. https://doi.org/10.1021/am503251r
Gusain R, Gupta K, Joshi P, Khatri OP (2019) Adsorptive removal and photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using metal oxides and their composites: A comprehensive review. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 102009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2019.102009
Hung CM, Chen CW, Jhuang YZ, Di DC (2016) Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles: characterization and performance exemplified by the degradation of methylene blue in the presence of persulfate. J Adv Oxid Technol 19:43–51. https://doi.org/10.1515/jaots-2016-0105
Ismail M, Khan MI, Khan SB et al (2018) Catalytic reduction of picric acid, nitrophenols and organic azo dyes via green synthesized plant supported Ag nanoparticles. J Mol Liq 268:87–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.07.030
Jia W, Tian F, Zhang M et al (2021) Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Nitrogen-doped porous carbon-encapsulated copper composite for efficient reduction of 4-nitrophenol. J Colloid Interface Sci 594:254–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.03.020
Ju K, Parales RE (2010) Nitroaromatic compounds, from synthesis to biodegradation. Microbiol Mole Biol Rev 74(2):250–272. https://doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.00006-10
Khan A, Zhang K, Wang X et al (2021) Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Degradation of antibiotics in aqueous media using manganese nanocatalyst-activated peroxymonosulfate. J Colloid Interface Sci 599:805–818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.04.095
Kumari M, Gupta R, Jain Y (2019) Fe3O4 – glutathione stabilized Ag nanoparticles: a new magnetically separable robust and facile catalyst for aqueous phase reduction of nitroarenes. Appl Organomet Chem 33:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/aoc.5223
Kundu S, Liang H (2011) Shape-selective formation and characterization of catalytically active iridium nanoparticles. J Colloid Interface Sci 354:597–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2010.11.032
Mafa PJ, Malefane ME, Idris AO et al (2021) Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Cobalt oxide / copper bismuth oxide / samarium vanadate ( Co 3 O 4 / CuBi 2 O 4 / SmVO 4) dual Z-scheme heterostructured photocatalyst with high charge-transfer efficiency : Enhanced carbamazepine degradation unde. J Colloid Interface Sci 603:666–684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.06.146
Mancuso A, Navarra W, Sacco O et al (2021) Photocatalytic degradation of thiacloprid using tri-doped tio2 photocatalysts: a preliminary comparative study. Catalysts 11:927. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11080927
Mansingh S, Padhi DK, Parida K (2019) Bio-surfactant assisted solvothermal synthesis of magnetic retrievable Fe 3 O 4 @rGO nanocomposite for photocatalytic reduction of 2-nitrophenol and degradation of TCH under visible light illumination. Appl Surf Sci 466:679–690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.10.056
Mihaela R, Barbu-tudoran L, Oancea S et al (2022) Aspartic acid stabilized iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Nanomaterials 12:1151
Moeini N, Tamoradi T, Ghadermazi M, Ghorbani-Choghamarani A (2018) Anchoring Ni (II) on Fe3O4@tryptophan: a recyclable, green and extremely efficient magnetic nanocatalyst for one-pot synthesis of 5-substituted 1H-tetrazoles and chemoselective oxidation of sulfides and thiols. Appl Organomet Chem 32:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/aoc.4445
Mohanta D, Ahmaruzzaman M (2021) Facile fabrication of novel Fe3O4-SnO2-gC3N4 ternary nanocomposites and their photocatalytic properties towards the degradation of carbofuran. Chemosphere 285:131395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131395
Nariya P, Das M, Shukla F, Thakore S (2020) Synthesis of magnetic silver cyclodextrin nanocomposite as catalyst for reduction of nitro aromatics and organic dyes. J Mol Liq 300:112279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2019.112279
Nasrollahzadeh M, Sajadi SM, Hatamifard A (2016) Waste chicken eggshell as a natural valuable resource and environmentally benign support for biosynthesis of catalytically active Cu/eggshell, Fe3O4/eggshell and Cu/Fe3O4/eggshell nanocomposites. Appl Catal B Environ 191:209–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2016.02.042
Nguyen TB, Huang CP, Doong R (2018) Graphical abstract SC. Appl Catal B Environ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2018.08.035
Padhi DK, Panigrahi TK, Parida K et al (2017) Green synthesis of Fe3O4/RGO nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic performance for Cr(VI) reduction, phenol degradation, and antibacterial activity. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 5:10551–10562. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b02548
Paquin F, Rivnay J, Salleo A et al (2015) Multi-phase semicrystalline microstructures drive exciton dissociation in neat plastic semiconductors. J Mater Chem C 3:10715–10722. https://doi.org/10.1039/b000000x
Paul A, Dhar SS (2020) Designing Cu2V2O7/CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 ternary nanocomposite: a high performance magnetically recyclable photocatalyst in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. J Solid State Chem 290:121563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jssc.2020.121563
Pav AI, Galindo E, Paraguay-delgado F et al (2020) Magnetic nanocomposite with fluorescence enhancement effect based on amino acid coated-Fe 3 O 4 functionalized with quantum dots. Mater Chemist Phys 251:123082. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2020.123082
Pham MT, Hussain A, Bui DP et al (2021) Surface plasmon resonance enhanced photocatalysis of Ag nanoparticles-decorated Bi2S3 nanorods for NO degradation. Environ Technol Innov 23:101755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2021.101755
Priya DB, Asharani IV (2018) Catalytic reduction in 4-nitrophenol using Actinodaphne madraspatana Bedd leaves-mediated palladium nanoparticles. IET Nanobiotechnol 12:116–126. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-nbt.2017.0027
Rawat J, Bijalwan K, Negi C et al (2021) Magnetically recoverable Au doped iron oxide nanoparticles coated with graphene oxide for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Mater Today Proc 45:4869–4873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.01.349
Samanta P, Desai AV, Let S, Ghosh SK (2019) Advanced porous materials for sensing, capture and detoxification of organic pollutants toward water remediation. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 7:7456–7478. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b00155
Samuel MS, Jose S, Selvarajan E et al (2020) Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens; application for cytotoxicity effect on A549 cell line and photocatalytic degradation of p-nitrophenol. J Photochem Photobiol B Biol 202:111642. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2019.111642
Santhiago M, Henry CS, Kubota LT (2014) Electrochimica Acta Low cost, simple three dimensional electrochemical paper-based analytical device for determination of p-nitrophenol. Electrochim Acta 130:771–777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2014.03.109
Seoudi R, Al-Marhaby FA (2016) Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic application of different sizes of gold nanoparticles on 4-nitrophenol. World J Nano Sci Eng 06:120–128. https://doi.org/10.4236/wjnse.2016.63012
Shabib F, Fazaeli R, Aliyan H, Richeson D (2022) Hierarchical mesoporous plasmonic Pd-Fe 3 O 4 /NiFe-LDH composites: characterization, and kinetic study of a photodegradation catalyst for aqueous metoclopramide. Environ Technol Innov 27:102515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2022.102515
Sharif HMA, Mahmood A, Cheng HY et al (2019) Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with EDTA and Ag nanoparticles for the catalytic reduction of organic dyes from wastewater. ACS Appl Nano Mater 2:5310–5319. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.9b01250
Sun Y, Liu Z, Fei Z et al (2019) Synergistic effect and degradation mechanism on Fe-Ni / CNTs for removal of 2, 4-dichlorophenol in aqueous solution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26:8768–8778
Theerdhala S, Bahadur D, Vitta S et al (2010) Sonochemical stabilization of ultrafine colloidal biocompatible magnetite nanoparticles using amino acid, l-arginine, for possible bio applications. Ultrason Sonochem 17:730–737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultsonch.2009.12.007
Thekkathu R, Ashok D, K Ramkollath P et al (2020) Magnetically recoverable Ir/IrO2@Fe3O4 core/ SiO2 shell catalyst for the reduction of organic pollutants in water. Chem Phys Lett 742:137147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2020.137147
Tie SL, Lin YQ, Lee HC et al (2006) Amino acid-coated nano-sized magnetite particles prepared by two-step transformation. Colloids Surfaces A Physicochem Eng Asp 273:75–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2005.08.027
Tipsawat P, Wongpratat U, Phumying S et al (2018) Magnetite (Fe 3 O 4) nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and electrochemical properties. Appl Surf Sci 446:287–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.11.053
Veisi H, Moradi SB, Saljooqi A, Safarimehr P (2019) Silver nanoparticle-decorated on tannic acid-modified magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 @TA/Ag) for highly active catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol, Rhodamine B and Methylene blue. Mater Sci Eng C 100:445–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msec.2019.03.036
Wang M, Tian D, Tian P, Yuan L (2013) Synthesis of micron-SiO 2 @nano-Ag particles and their catalytic performance in 4-nitrophenol reduction. Appl Surf Sci 283:389–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.06.120
Wang RL, Li DP, Wang LJ et al (2019) The preparation of new covalent organic framework embedded with silver nanoparticles and its applications in degradation of organic pollutants from waste water. Dalt Trans 48:1051–1059. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8DT04458A
Xiong R, Lu C, Wang Y et al (2013) Nanofibrillated cellulose as the support and reductant for the facile synthesis of Fe3O4/Ag nanocomposites with catalytic and antibacterial activity. J Mater Chem A 1:14910–14918. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ta13314a
Yan Z, Fu L, Zuo X, Yang H (2017) PT Graphical Abstract SC. Applied Catal B Environ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.12.040
Yu Y, Sun Y, Ge B et al (2022) Synergistic removal of organic pollutants from water by CTF / BiVO 4 heterojunction photocatalysts. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-24184-1
Zhao F, Khaing KK, Yin D et al (2018) Large enhanced photocatalytic activity of g-C 3 N 4 by fabrication of a nanocomposite with introducing upconversion nanocrystal and Ag nanoparticles. RSC Adv 8:42308–42321. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ra07901c
Acknowledgements
Diksha would like to acknowledge Punjab Engineering College (PEC) and The Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) for providing GATE fellowship. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Pooja Devi (CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh) for carrying out photoelectrochemical studies and Dr. Dipak Dutta (CSIR-IMTech, Chandigarh) for helping us to carry out ESR experiments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Diksha: investigation, data curation, writing—original draft. Manpreet Kaur: conceptualization, methodology. Veeranna Yempally: validation, supervision, writing—review, and editing. Harminder Kaur: resources, supervision, writing—review, and editing.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Informed consent was obtained from all the authors involved.
Consent to publish
The authors have consented to the submission of research work to the Environment Science and Pollution Research Journal.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Weiming Zhang
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Diksha, Kaur, M., Yempally, V. et al. Sustainable magnetically recoverable Iridium-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles for enhanced catalytic reduction of organic pollutants in water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 56464–56483 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26267-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26267-z