Multi-functional magnesium hydroxide coating for iron nanoparticles towards prolonged reactivity in Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solutions

Maamoun, I.; Falyouna, O.*; Eljamal, R.*; Bensaida, K.*; Tanaka, Kazuya  ; Tosco, T.*; Sugihara, Yuji*; Eljamal, O.*

In this study, the reactive performance of magnesium hydroxide-coated iron nanoparticles was investigated for the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solutions. Short- and long-term progressive-release of reactivity was evaluated through several batch tests. The Multi-functional effect of the environmentally-friendly magnesium hydroxide coating shell was represented by the progressive shell-dissolution in water and preventing the rapid corrosion of the iron core, which resulted in a controlled release of reactivity towards hexavalent chromium. Magnesium hydroxide-coated iron nanoparticles showed good performance in preserving the long-term reactivity within a wide ranges of pH and temperature. The long-term investigation of magnesium hydroxide-coated iron nanoparticles performance towards hexavalent chromium removal confirmed the progressive and maintained reactivity, represented by the continuous release of iron core electrons, to achieve full removal over 50 days reaction time, to be reported for the first time in the literature. The material showed high regeneration abilities up to 5 cycles with 1.36 times average enhancement in hexavalent chromium removal efficiency compared to that of iron. Moreover, it achieved an increase in the shelf-live longevity performance up to 30 days without any storing solution with considerable removal efficiency after 180 min reaction time.