• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.112-125
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• 2021

The new emerging "High entropy materials" attract the attention of the scientific society because of their simpler structure and spectacular applications in many fields. A novel nanocrystalline high entropy (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 oxide has been successfully synthesized through mechanochemical treatment followed by sintering and air quenching. The present research work focuses on the possibility of single-phase formation in the aforementioned high entropy oxide despite the great difference in the atomic sizes of reactant alkaline earth and 3d transition metal oxides. Structural properties of (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide were explored by confirmation of its single-phase Fd-3m spinel structure by x-ray diffraction (XRD). Further, nanocrystalline nature and morphology were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Among thermal properties, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide is thermally stable up to a temperature of 1200℃. Whereas phase evolution in (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide before and after sintering was analyzed through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Electrochemical studies of (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide consists of a comparison of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of water and hydrazine hydrate oxidation. Values of activation energy for water oxidation (9.31 kJ mol-1) and hydrazine hydrate oxidation (13.93 kJ mol-1) reveal that (Be,Mg,Ca,Sr,Zn,Ni)3O4 high entropy oxide is catalytically more active towards water oxidation as compared to that of hydrazine hydrate oxidation. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is also performed to get insight into the kinetics of both types of reactions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2023

A persulfate(PS)/sulfidated microscale zero-valent iron(S-mZVI) system was tested for treating a soil contaminated with phenol. Sulfidation of bare mZVI was conducted using a mechanochemical process utilizing a ball mill in order to improve persulfate activation capacity and stability of unmodified mZVI. The synthesized S-mZVI performed markedly better than the bare mZVI in activating PS. The optimum molar ratio of sulfur to mZVI was around 0.12. In the soil slurry experiments, a very rapid and complete removal of phenol was observed at the optimum molar ratios of PS to S-mZVI of 2:1 and PS to phenol of 16:1. The phenol removal efficiencies decreased as the water content of the slurries decreased. This was believed to be due to increased soil oxidant demand as the amount of soil was increased as relative to the water content. To evaluate the field applicability of the process, slurry experiments adopting high soil contents were carried out that simulated in-situ soil mixing conditions. These experiments resulted in substantially compromised degradation efficiencies of 54.3% and 43.8% within 4 hours. The current study generally shows that the PS/S-mZVI process has a potential to be developed into a remediation technology for soils contaminated with organics.