Work

Iron-copper bimetallic nanoparticles dispersed within alginate-derived porous carbon: One-pot fabrication, characterization, and efficient peroxydisulfate activation for acid red 73 degradation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT In recent years, the facile fabrication of metal–carbon nanocomposites has attracted significant attention due to their versatile and promising applications. Herein, iron-copper bimetallic nanoparticles dispersed within alginate-derived porous carbon (nFeCu/APC) were synthesized via one-pot pyrolysis using sodium alginate (NaA), Fe(NO 3 ) 3 , and Cu(NO 3 ) 2 as precursors. The resulting material featured metallic Fe (12.0 wt%) and Cu (16.0 wt%) nanoparticles with an average diameter of 17 ± 3 nm, embedded within the alginate-derived porous carbon (APC) framework. Moreover, nFeCu/APC exhibited a total pore volume (V total ) of 0.247 cm 3 /g and a specific surface area (S BET ) of 163 m 2 /g, likely attributable to the self-activation and self-templating of NaA during one-pot pyrolysis. The presence of Fe endowed the nanocomposite with magnetic properties (saturation magnetization of 15.3 emu/g), enabling convenient post-use recovery. Accordingly, nFeCu/APC was evaluated for activating peroxydisulfate (PDS) in the degradation of acid red 73 (AR73). Under a neutral condition (pH 7.0), 5.00 mM PDS activated by 0.100 g/L nFeCu/APC eliminated 97.5 ± 0.3 % AR73 (25 ppm) within 90 min at 30 °C. Kinetic analysis confirmed that the degradation fitted the pseudo-first-order model with an activation energy of 76.6 kJ/mol. Summing up, the nFeCu/APC nanocomposite demonstrated multifunctionality and strong potential in peroxydisulfate-driven advanced oxidation processes for efficient AR73 degradation.

Source: Sustainable Chemistry for Climate Action

DOI: 10.1016/j.scca.2025.100179