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Convenient green synthesis of Cu/Fe nanoparticles using pomegranate peel extracts and their performance for tetrabromobisphenol A removal

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Abstract

In this work, pomegranate peel extracts were used as the green reducing agent to synthesize Cu/Fe nanoparticles (P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles) and removed tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in aqueous solution. P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles were amorphous and irregularly spherical. The surfaces of nanoparticles contained Fe0, Fe3+ oxides (hydroxides), and Cu0. The bioactive molecules from pomegranate peel were extremely important for the synthesis of nanoparticles. P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles had excellent removal performance for TBBPA, and 98.6% of TBBPA (5 mg L−1) was removed within 60 min. The removal reaction of TBBPA by P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles was well-fitted with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The Cu loading was critical for TBBPA removal with an optimum value of 1.0 wt%. A weakly acidic condition (pH 5) was more favorable for the removal of TBBPA. The removal efficiency of TBBPA increased with the rise of temperature and decreased with increasing initial TBBPA concentration. The activation energy (Ea) was 54.09 kJ mol−1, indicating that the removal of TBBPA by P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles was mainly surface-controlled. Reductive degradation was the main mechanism of TBBPA removal by P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles. In conclusion, green synthesized P-Cu/Fe nanoparticles using pomegranate peel waste show great potential for the remediation of TBBPA in aqueous solution.

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All data used and analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Weifang University of Science and Technology Fund (2021XKJS39, 2022KJ06), the Project of Weifang Science and Technology Development Plan (2021GX048, 2022GX038), the Shandong Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (S202212843014), the Nature Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2022MB118), and the Project of Weifang Science and Technology Small and Medium Enterprises Innovation Ability Improvement (2023TS1005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Environment, Weifang University of Science and Technology, Weifang, 262700, China

    Guofu Huang, Mianmian Wang, Xinying Sun, Haijian Liu & Fangfang Liu

  2. Shandong Engineering Research Center of Green and High-Value Marine Fine Chemical, Weifang, 262700, China

    Guofu Huang, Mianmian Wang, Haijian Liu & Fangfang Liu

  3. Weifang Key Laboratory of Chemical Wastewater Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Weifang, 262700, China

    Guofu Huang, Mianmian Wang, Haijian Liu & Fangfang Liu

Authors
  1. Guofu Huang
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  2. Mianmian Wang
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  3. Xinying Sun
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  4. Haijian Liu
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  5. Fangfang Liu
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Contributions

Guofu Huang: experimental design, data curation, writing original draft, and funding. Mianmian Wang and Fangfang Liu: draft revision and funding. Xinying Sun and Haijian Liu: experiment and data collection. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guofu Huang.

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Huang, G., Wang, M., Sun, X. et al. Convenient green synthesis of Cu/Fe nanoparticles using pomegranate peel extracts and their performance for tetrabromobisphenol A removal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 80817–80827 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28165-w

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