Degradation of p-nitrophenol by interior microelectrolysis of zero-valent iron/copper-coated magnetic carbon galvanic couples in the intermittent magnetic field

In this present paper, the copper-coated magnetic carbon (CCMC) was fabricated by pre-deposition of ferric ferrous oxides onto carbon particles and followed by the chemical deposition of copper. Galvanic couples composed of zero-valent iron and copper-coated magnetic carbon (Fe0/CCMC) were employed for the treatment of simulative wastewater containing p-nitrophenol (PNP). Under the optimized conditions such as magnetic induction intensity, mass ratio of Fe0/CCMC and initial pH, it was found that the degradation rate of PNP greatly increased due to the enhancement of the internal microelectrolysis of Fe0/CCMC couples in the intermittent magnetic field. In addition, the half-life value of COD of simulative wastewater containing PNP was used as a parameter to evaluate the degradation efficiency of PNP by interior microelectrolysis of zero-valent iron (Fe0), zero-valent iron/carbon (Fe0/C), zero-valent iron/magnetic carbon (Fe0/MC) and zero-valent iron/copper-coated magnetic carbon (Fe0/CCMC), respectively. It showed that the degradation efficiency of PNP by interior microelectrolysis of Fe0/CCMC was the highest among them. The degradation process could be described as a pseudo-first-order model and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer (LC–MS) analysis showed that amino-phenol was an intermediate during the degradation of PNP.

Graphical abstractThe copper-coated magnetic carbon (CCMC) was fabricated by pre-deposition of ferric ferrous oxides onto carbon particles and followed by the chemical deposition of copper. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) was a measure of oxygen requirement of a sample that is susceptible to oxidation by strong chemical oxidant and was commonly used to indirectly measure the amount of organic compounds in water. The results showed that galvanic couples composed of zero-valent iron and copper-coated magnetic carbon (Fe0/CCMC) enhanced obviously the degradation of p-nitrophenol, comparing with Fe0 alone.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► The copper-coated magnetic carbon (CCMC) was fabricated by two-step deposition. ► The enhancement effect of Fe0/CCMC couples on the corrosion of Fe0 was studied. ► The p-nitrophenol degradation was enhanced by Fe0/CCMC couples in the magnetic field.