Magnetic Hydrochar (MHC) Nanocomposite obtained from Sunflower Husk

AURA ALEJANDRA BURBANO PATIÑO; MARIA FERNANDA HORST; VERÓNICA LASALLE

Conferencia; The 9th International Conference on Nanostructures, Nanomaterials and Nanoengineering (ICNNN 2020); 2020

This study aimed to obtain an industrial waste-based magnetic hydrochar (MHC) by hydrothermalcarbonization (HTC) method using 150 °C, 3 hours and H3PO4 as the activating agent. SunflowerHusk (SFH) is a highly important residue in Argentina, especially in Buenos Aires province and itwas used as the feedstock to obtain the hydrochar. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM),Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform InfraredSpectroscopy (FT-IR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), elemental analysis, Dynamic LightScattering (DLS) and zeta potential were implemented to characterized the synthesized materials.Characterization results showed a successful obtainment of the MHC. BET surface area and porevolume of the hydrochar are found to be 150 m2/g and 0.19 cm3/g respectively. The carboncontentof the hydrochar reached a value of 69%. Furthermore, TEM analysis provided information on themorphology and size particle showing a stabilization of magnetite nanoparticles by hydrochar matrix as it can be seen in Figure 1 and exhibiting a size which is around 20 nm. Besides, the diffractograms show a crystalline phase owing to magnetite and an amorphous phase due to the hydrochar. For MHC material, the mechanism of interaction between hydrochar and the iron oxide moieties was studied where it was suggested: London dispersion forces, hydrogen bond and a chemical bond. Furthermore, a stability test in water was carried out in terms of iron leaching, resulting in a negligible value. This test was important because the materials might be used in water remediation on the adsorption of organic pollutants from water especially those called emerging pollutants such as pharmaceutical, dyes among others.