New publication in Environmental Sciences & Technology: Iron Nitride Nanoparticles for Enhanced Reductive Dechlorination of Trichloroethylene

17.03.2022

n this study we show that nitriding, used for decades to improve the corrosion resistance of iron and steel materials, substantially enhances the selectivity and longevity of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) in the remediation of trichloroethylene (TCE).

Nitriding of nZVI led to an increase of the particles’ hydrophobicity and surface availability of iron in reduced forms. Nitrided nZVI particles showed up to 20-fold increase in the TCE dechlorination rate, compared to pristine nZVI particles, and about a 3-fold reduction in the hydrogen evolution rate. This was related to a low energy barrier of 27.0 kJ mol–1 for the first dechlorination step of TCE on the γ′-Fe4N(001) surface, as revealed by density functional theory calculations with an implicit solvation model. Experiments with aged particles showed that nitrided nZVI particles retained high reactivity even after three months of aging. The study was published in Environmental Science and Technology.

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