Magnetic Core-Shell Iron Oxides-Based Nanophotocatalysts and Nanoadsorbents for Multifunctional Thin Films
Viorica Muşat,
Nicolae Stănică,
Elena Maria Anghel,
Irina Atkinson,
Daniela Cristina Culiţă,
Silviu Poloşan,
Lenuţa Crintea (Căpăţână),
Alina Cantaragiu Ceoromila,
Cristian-Teodor Buruiană,
Oana Carp
Affiliations
Viorica Muşat
Laboratory of Chemical Nanotechnologies-LNC-CNMF, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, 111 Domnească Street, 800201 Galaţi, Romania
Nicolae Stănică
Institute of Physical Chemistry, “Ilie Murgulescu” of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenţei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Elena Maria Anghel
Institute of Physical Chemistry, “Ilie Murgulescu” of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenţei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Irina Atkinson
Institute of Physical Chemistry, “Ilie Murgulescu” of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenţei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Daniela Cristina Culiţă
Institute of Physical Chemistry, “Ilie Murgulescu” of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenţei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
Silviu Poloşan
Multifunctional Materials and Structures Laboratory, National Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 405 A, 077125 Magurele, Romania
Lenuţa Crintea (Căpăţână)
Laboratory of Chemical Nanotechnologies-LNC-CNMF, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati, 111 Domnească Street, 800201 Galaţi, Romania
Alina Cantaragiu Ceoromila
Cross-border Faculty, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, 111 Domnească Street, 800201 Galaţi, Romania
Cristian-Teodor Buruiană
Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, 111 Domnească Street, 800201 Galați, Romania
Oana Carp
Institute of Physical Chemistry, “Ilie Murgulescu” of Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenţei 202, 060021 Bucharest, Romania
In recent years, iron oxides-based nanostructured composite materials are of particular interest for the preparation of multifunctional thin films and membranes to be used in sustainable magnetic field adsorption and photocatalysis processes, intelligent coatings, and packing or bio-medical applications. In this paper, superparamagnetic iron oxide (core)-silica (shell) nanoparticles suitable for thin films and membrane functionalization were obtained by co-precipitation and ultrasonic-assisted sol-gel methods. The comparative/combined effect of the magnetic core co-precipitation temperature (80 and 95 °C) and ZnO-doping of the silica shell on the photocatalytic and nano-sorption properties of the resulted composite nanoparticles were investigated by ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectroscopy monitoring the discoloration of methylene blue (MB) solution under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and darkness, respectively. The morphology, structure, textural, and magnetic parameters of the investigated powders were evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) measurements, and saturation magnetization (vibrating sample magnetometry, VSM). The intraparticle diffusion model controlled the MB adsorption. The pseudo- and second-order kinetics described the MB photodegradation. When using SiO2-shell functionalized nanoparticles, the adsorption and photodegradation constant rates are three–four times higher than for using starting core iron oxide nanoparticles. The obtained magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were tested for films deposition.
