Accessible silver-iron oxide nanoparticles as a nanomaterial for supported liquid membranes

Abstract

The present study introduces the process performances of nitrophenols pertraction using new liquid supported membranes under the action of a magnetic field. The membrane system is based on the dispersion of silver–iron oxide nanoparticles in n-alcohols supported on hollow microp-orous polypropylene fibers. The iron oxide–silver nanoparticles are obtained directly through cyclic voltammetry electrolysis run in the presence of soluble silver complexes ([AgCl2 ]−; [Ag(S2 O3)2 ]3−; [Ag(NH3)2 ]+) and using pure iron electrodes. The nanostructured particles are characterized mor-phologically and structurally by scanning electron microscopy (SEM and HFSEM), EDAX, XRD, and thermal analysis (TG, DSC). The performances of the nitrophenols permeation process are investigated in a variable magnetic field. These studies show that the flux and extraction efficiency have the highest values for the membrane system embedding iron oxide–silver nanoparticles obtained electrochemically in the presence of [Ag(NH3)2 ]+ electrolyte. It is demonstrated that the total flow of nitrophenols through the new membrane system depends on diffusion, convection, and silver-assisted transport.