Polymer-Coated Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Materials and Antibiotics in Water
Tingyu Zhang, Jiadi Liu, Feng Zhou, Shiyuan Zhou, Jiacheng Wu, Dongyun Chen, Qingfeng Xu, Jianmei Lu
Abstract
A novel crosslinked copolymer, poly(1,4,8,11-cyclotetradecane [2,2-bipyridine]-5,5-dicarboxamine) (PNH), was synthesized in high yield via a simple condensed polymerization at 45 °C. PNH exhibited a strong affinity with Fe3+ ions in water, and the absorbance capacity of Fe3+ in water reaches 350 mg g–1 PNH. The obtained polymeric metal complex, PNH-Fe, can be converted into PNH-covered Fe2O3 nanoparticles by moderate hydrothermal treatment. Fe2O3@PNH becomes an excellent photocatalyst for the removal of water-soluble organic pollutants. Even if Fe2O3@PNH is at low catalyst loadings (0.1 g/L), it still has an excellent performance because of enhanced charge separation through the interaction between PNH and Fe2O3. Fe2O3@PNH exhibits better catalytic performance (∼90% for tetracycline (TC), 50 ppm) than pure Fe2O3 (up to 3 times). This work not only broadens the synthetic utility of Fe2O3 but also shows promising potential of Fe2O3 for use in the treatment of water pollution.