Highly efficient and stable catalytic reactivities of iron(-oxide) incorporated carbide nanofiber composite for environmental and bio-medical application

• Published in: Journal of materials research and technology 2021-11, Vol.15, p.5232-5243
• Main Authors: An, Ha-Rim, Bae, Soo An, Kim, Chang Yeon, Son, Byoungchul, Park, Ji-In, Kim, Hyeran, Lee, Moonsang, Yang, Kyeong Eun, Lee, Sang Moon, Kim, Soo Hyeon, Jeong, Yesul, Jang, Yujin, Jeong, Beomgyun, Lee, Hyun Uk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon nanofiber; Composite; Heterogeneous catalyst; Iron oxide; Photocatalysis
• ISSN: 2238-7854
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.10.127

In this study, we applied iron (-oxide) incorporated carbide nanofiber composites as heterogeneous catalysts with wide visible-light absorption ability, catalytic reactivity, and catalytic stability for the highly efficient decomposition performance. Notably, water vapor activated iron (-oxide) incorporated carbide nanofiber catalyst (Act-Fe-CNF) showed high crystalline Fe3O4 phase, saturation magnetization point (17.76 emu/g), and large surface area (508.2 m2/g). In water vapor activation, Fe3C particles inside carbide nanofiber oxidized and aggregated to larger Fe3O4 particles, thereby forming a meso/macroporous structure and improving surface area offering more available active sites for catalytic reactivity. Under both UV-/real solar-light irradiation, it was demonstrated that the Act-Fe-CNF catalysts exhibited unprecedentedly excellent removal capabilities (>98%, [k] = 4.06 h−1) for rhodamine B, leading to complete water purification. Interestingly, the AF-CNFs catalysts also showed strong antimicrobial activities against gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) under incandescent-light irradiation. These results indicated that the Act-Fe-CNF catalysts might have utility in important environmental and bio-medical applications.