Strategies to enhance the reactivity of zero-valent iron for environmental remediation: A review

• Published in: Journal of environmental management 2022-09, Vol.317, p.115381-115381, Article 115381
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yun-fei, Zhang, Chun-hui, Xu, Jian-hui, Li, Lei, Li, Dan, Wu, Qi, Ma, Lu-ming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additional auxiliary measures; Contaminants removal; Enhancement mechanism; Pretreatment; ZVI-Based materials
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115381

Application of zero-valent iron (ZVI) has become one of the most promising innovative technologies for the remediation of environmental pollutants. However, ZVI may suffer from the low intrinsic reactivity toward refractory pollutants, which seriously restricts its practical application in fields. Therefore, strategies have been developing to enhance the reactivity of ZVI. Until now, the most commonly used strategies include pretreatment of ZVI, synthesis of highly-active ZVI-based materials and additional auxiliary measures. In this review, a systematic and comprehensive summary of these commonly used strategies has been conducted for the following purposes: (1) to understand the fundamental mechanisms of the selected approaches; (2) to point out their advantages and shortcomings; (3) to illustrate the main problems of their large-scale application; (4) to forecast the future trend of developing ZVI technologies. Overall, this review is devoted to providing a fundamental understanding on the mechanism for enhancing the reactivity of ZVI and facilitating the practical application of ZVI technologies in fields. [Display omitted] •Recent advances on strategies to enhance the reactivity of ZVI are reviewed.•The mechanism, advantages and shortcomings of the enhancing strategies are summarized.•An up-to-date prospective trend toward enhancing the reactivity of ZVI is drawn.•Main problems and future needs on enhancing the reactivity of ZVI are proposed.