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Enrichment of Precious Metals from Wastewater with Core–Shell Nanoparticles of Iron
Author(s) -
Ling Lan,
Huang XiaoYue,
Zhang WeiXian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201705703
Subject(s) - materials science , nanoparticle , precious metal , metal , wastewater , chemical engineering , zerovalent iron , reactivity (psychology) , nanotechnology , metallurgy , waste management , adsorption , chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , engineering , pathology
Large‐scale deployment of zero‐valent iron nanoparticles for enrichment and recovery of gold from industrial wastewater is reported. Iron nanoparticles have a core–shell structure in which a metallic iron core is enclosed with a thin layer of iron oxides/hydroxides. The two nanocomponents offer synergistic functions for rapid separation, enrichment, and stabilization of metal ions such as Au, Ag, Ni, and Cu. Thanks to the advantages of small size, large surface area, and high reactivity, only a small amount of iron nanoparticles are needed. The recovered nanoparticles thus contain precious metals well above conventional metal ores (e.g., >100 g Au ton −1 ). Cost‐effective recovery of precious metals from trace‐level sources such as wastewater looks promising.