Continuous preparation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles through Impinging Stream-Rotating Packed Bed reactor and their electrochemistry detection toward heavy metal ions

• Fe3O4 nanoparticles were continuous prepared through IS-RPB reactor.
• The Fe3O4 nanoparticles showed selective detection of heavy metal ions.
• It exhibited favorable sensitivity (14.9 μA μM−1) and LOD (0.119 μM) for Pb(II).
• The as-prepared nanoparticles showed favorable potential application.

We reported the continuous preparation and electrochemical behavior toward heavy metal ions of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs). This Fe3O4 NPs were fabricated through a novel Impinging Stream-Rotating Packed Bed reactor with a high production rate of 2.23 kg/hour. The as-prepared Fe3O4 NPs were quasi-spherical with a mean diameter of about 10 nm and shown the characteristics of superparamagnetism with the saturated magnetization of 60.5 emu/g. The electrochemical characterization of the as-prepared Fe3O4 NPs toward heavy metal ions were evaluated using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) analysis. The results indicated that the modified electrode could be used to individual detection of Pb(II), Cu(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II). In particular, the modified electrode exhibited the selective detection toward Pb(II) with higher sensitivity of 14.9 μA/μM, while the response to Cu(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II) were negligible. Besides, the modified electrode shown good stability and potential practical applicability in the electrochemical determination of Pb(II). This above results offered a simple method for continuous preparation sensing materials in the application field of electrochemical detection of toxic metal ions through the technology of process intensification.

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