ABSTRACT
Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) have gained significant attention due to their various physical and chemical properties; however, there is a gap in the study of NGQDs' magnetic properties. This work adds to the efforts of bridging the gap by demonstrating the room temperature paramagnetism in GQDs doped with Nitrogen up to 3.26 at.%. The focus of this experimental work was to confirm the paramagnetic behavior of metal free NGQDs resulting from the pyridinic N configuration in the GQDs host. Metal-free nitrogen-doped NGQDs were synthesized using glucose and liquid ammonia as precursors by microwave-assisted synthesis. This was followed by dialysis filtration. The morphology, optical, and magnetic properties of the synthesized NGQDs were characterized carefully through atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM)), UV-VIS spectroscopy, fluorescence, X-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The high-resolution TEM analysis of NGQDs showed that the NGQDs have a hexagonal crystalline structure with a lattice fringe of ~0.24 nm of (1120) graphene plane. The N1s peak using XPS was assigned to pyridinic, pyrrolic, graphitic, and oxygenated NGQDs. The magnetic study showed the room-temperature paramagnetic behavior of NGQDs with pyridinic N configuration, which was found to have a magnetization of 20.8 emu/g.
ABSTRACT
In this study, we have investigated the use of electrodeposited Au-Pt nanoparticles (AuPtNPs) on indium tin oxide (ITO) for the detection of Hg2+ heavy ions in water samples. The mechanism of AuPtNP electrocrystallization on ITO glass in an aqueous solution containing 0.5 mM HAuCl4 + 0.5 mM H2PtCl6 is described for the first time. The nucleation mechanism of monometallic AuNPs on ITO was found to be progressive; however, a transition from progressive to instantaneous was observed for bimetallic AuPtNPs at elevated overpotentials. The modified ITOs were then assessed for the electrodetection of Hg2+ in aqueous media. It was shown by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) that the sensitivity of the constructed AuPtNPs/ITO electrode toward Hg2+ was about 2.08 µA nM-1. An approximate detection limit of 4.03 nM Hg2+ was achieved, which is below the permissible level of 30.00 nM Hg2+ in drinking water, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Characterization of AuPt nanostructures was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and different electrochemical techniques (cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)). Our results indicate a good potential of a facile and robust electrochemical assembly for on-site detection of heavy metals in water samples.
Subject(s)
Mercury , Metal Nanoparticles , Gold , Tin Compounds , WaterABSTRACT
In this study a membrane biological reactor (MBR) was operated at 25 ± 1 °C and pH = 7.5 ± 0.5 to treat synthetic wastewater containing high phenol concentrations. Removal efficiencies of phenol and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were evaluated at four various hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 24, 12, 8, and 4 hours. The removal rate of phenol (5.51 kg-Phenol kg-VSS(-1) d(-1)), observed at HRT of 4 h, was the highest phenol degradation rate in the literature. According to COD tests, there were no significant organic matter in the effluent, and phenol was degraded completely by mixed culture. Substrate inhibition was calculated from experimental growth parameters using the Haldane, Yano, and Edward equations. The results show that the Haldane equation is fitted to the experimental data in an excellent manner. Kinetic parameters were derived by nonlinear regression with a correlation coefficient (R(2)) of 0.974. The values for Haldane constants µmax, Ks, and Ki were 0.3085 h(-1), 416 mg L(-1) and 1,886 mg L(-1), respectively. The Ki value is the highest value obtained for mixed cultures degrading phenol under batch conditions.
