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Predicting the aggregation tendency of oxidized nanoscale zero-valent iron in aquatic environments

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Abstract

Predicting the aggregation tendency of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), oxidized nZVI, in particular, is crucial for the risk assessment of nZVI in aquatic environments. In this study, the comprehensive effects of the pH and ionic strength (IS) on the aggregation behaviors of two highly oxidized nZVIs (HO-nZVI) were examined. Compared with hematite nanoparticles, HO-nZVI presented a sudden acceleration in aggregation under critical conditions; moreover, the morphology of the HO-nZVI aggregates at pH and IS values higher or lower than the critical conditions was significantly different. Furthermore, owing to the differences in magnetization between the two prepared HO-nZVI samples, their critical coagulation conditions were significantly different. The significant changes in the aggregation behavior of the HO-nZVI samples were analyzed using colloidal theories, and the aggregation tendency of HO-nZVI under specific conditions could be simulated by calculating the theoretical critical conditions of aggregation via a method that takes into account the hydrochemical properties, magnetization, and surface charge of HO-nZVI. To examine the correctness of the method, we compared the experimentally determined colloidal stability of HO-nZVI in water samples collected from nearby rivers with the theoretically predicted value. The results indicated that the method was adequate for most situations, except for those in which the hydrochemical properties of the water samples were close to the critical coagulation conditions. Our study proposes a theoretical approach that is viable for simulating the colloidal stability of magnetic nanoparticles in aquatic environments; we anticipate that it will further facilitate the risk assessment of nanoparticles.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank Prof. Weixian Zhang and his team at Tongji University for providing the nZVI for our study. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Funding

This work was jointly supported by the Foundation of Shaanxi Educational Committee (No. 19JK0398 and 17JK0380), State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse Foundation, (No. PCRRF17017), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21807085).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, 4 Jinhua Road, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Danlie Jiang, Xilang Jin & Aijie Ma

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Danlie Jiang & Daqiang Yin

  3. Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Daqiang Yin

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  1. Danlie Jiang
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Correspondence to Danlie Jiang.

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Jiang, D., Jin, X., Ma, A. et al. Predicting the aggregation tendency of oxidized nanoscale zero-valent iron in aquatic environments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 44177–44182 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10337-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10337-7

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