In this study, the adsorption process of Cr(VI) on the hematite facets was systematically investigated with synchrotron-based Cr K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, in situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, density-functional theory calculation, and surface complexation models. Structural model fitting of EXAFS spectroscopy suggested that the interatomic distances of Cr-Fe were, respectively, 3.61 Å for the chromate coordinated hematite nanoplates with exposed {001} facets, 3.60 and 3.30 Å for the chromate coordinated hematite nanorods with exposed {001} and {110} facets, which were characteristic of inner-sphere complexation. In situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopy analysis confirmed the presence of two inner-sphere surface complexes with C3ν and C2ν symmetry, while the C3ν and C2ν species were assigned to monodentate and bidentate inner-sphere surface complexes with average Cr-Fe interatomic distances of 3.60 and 3.30 Å, respectively. On the basis of these experimental and theoretical results, we concluded that HCrO4(-) as dominated Cr(VI) species was adsorbed on {001} and {110} facets in inner-sphere monodentate mononuclear and bidentate binuclear configurations, respectively. Moreover, the Cr(VI) adsorption performance of hematite facets was strongly dependent on the chromate complexes formed on the hematite facets.

In this study, we investigated the anoxic Cr(VI) removal with core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires. It was found the surface area normalized Cr(VI) removal rate constants of Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires first increased with increasing the iron oxide shell thickness and then decreased, suggesting that Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires possessed an interesting core-shell structure dependent Cr(VI) removal property. Meanwhile, the Cr(VI) removal efficiency was positively correlated to the amount of surface bound Fe(II). This result revealed that the core-shell structure dependent Cr(VI) removal property of Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires was mainly attributed to the reduction of Cr(VI) by the surface bound Fe(II) besides the reduction of Cr(VI) adsorbed on the iron oxide shell via the electrons transferred from the iron core. The indispensable role of surface bound Fe(II) was confirmed by Tafel polarization and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic depth profiles analyses. X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron microscope images of the fresh and used Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires revealed the formation of Fe(III)/Cr(III)/Cr(VI) composite oxides during the anoxic Cr(VI) removal process. This study sheds a deep insight into the anoxic Cr(VI) removal mechanism of core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires and also provides an efficient Cr(VI) removal method.

In this study, we demonstrate that protocatechuic acid (PCA) can significantly promote the alachlor degradation in the Fe(III)/H2O2 Fenton oxidation system. It was found that the addition of protocatechuic acid could increase the alachlor degradation rate by 10 000 times in this Fenton oxidation system at pH = 3.6. This dramatic enhancement of alachlor degradation was attributed to the complexing and reduction abilities of protocatechuic ligand, which could form stable complexes with ferric ions to prevent their precipitation and also accelerate the Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle to enhance the ·OH generation. Meanwhile, the Fe(III)/PCA/H2O2 system could also work well at near natural pH even in the case of PCA concentration as low as 0.1 mmol/L. More importantly, both alachlor and PCA could be effectively mineralized in this Fenton system, suggesting the environmental benignity of PCA/Fe(III)/H2O2 Fenton system. We employed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify the degradation intermediates of alachlor and then proposed a possible alachlor degradation mechanism in this novel Fenton oxidation system. This study provides an efficient way to remove chloroacetanilide herbicides, and also shed new insight into the possible roles of widely existed phenolic acids in the conversion and the mineralization of organic contaminants in natural aquatic environment.

This study reports the HO activation with different hematite nanocrystals and ascorbate ions for the herbicide alachlor degradation at pH 5. We found that hematite nanoplates (HNPs) exposed with {001} facets exhibited better catalytic performance than hematite nanocubes (HNCs) exposed with {012} facets, which was attributed to the formation of inner-sphere iron-ascorbate complexes on the hematite facets. The 3-fold undercoordination Fe cations of {001} facet favors the formation of inner-sphere iron-ascorbate complexes, while the 5-fold undercoordination Fe cations of {012} facet has stereo-hindrance effect, disfavoring the complex formation. The surface area normalized alachlor degradation rate constant (23.3 × 10 min L m) of HNPs-ascorbate Fenton system was about 2.6 times that (9.1 × 10 min L m) of HNCs-ascorbate counterpart. Meanwhile, the 89.0% of dechlorination and 30.0% of denitrification in the HNPs-ascorbate Fenton system were also significantly higher than those (60.9% and 13.1%) of the HNCs-ascorbate one. More importantly, the reductive dissolution of hematite by ascorbate was strongly coupled with the subsequent HO decomposition by surface bound ferrous ions through surface iron cycle on the hematite facets in the hematite-ascorbate Fenton systems. This coupling could significantly inhibit the conversion of surface bound ferrous ions to dissolved ones, and thus account for the stability of hematite nanocrystals. This work sheds light on the internal relationship between iron geochemical cycling and contaminants degradation, and also inspires us to utilize surface iron cycle of widely existent hematite for environmental remediation.

The interaction between ascorbate and hematite facets was systematically investigated with attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT) calculation, and kinetics model. Results of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and DFT calculation suggested formation of nonprotonated inner-sphere bidentate mononuclear and monodentate mononuclear iron–ascorbate complexes on the hematite {001} and {012} facets, respectively. The estimated reductive dissolution rate constants at pH 5.0 were (4.04 ± 0.16) × 10–4 and (1.59 ± 0.14) × 10–4 min–1 for hematite nanoplates and nanocubes, respectively, indicating that the bidentate mononuclear iron–ascorbate complexes on the {001} facets favored the hematite reductive dissolution process than the monodentate mononuclear iron–ascorbate counterparts on the {012} facets. These results also revealed that the hematite facet reduction with ascorbate was strongly dependent on the iron–ascorbate complexes formed on the hematite facets. This study provides new insights into the reductive interaction between ascorbate and hematite facets and also shed light on the environmental effects of hematite at the atomic level.