Increasing exposure to arsenic (As) contaminated ground water is a great threat to humanity. Suitable technology for As immobilization and removal from water, especially for As(III) than As(V), is not available yet. However, it is known that As(III) is more toxic than As(V) and most groundwater aquifers, particularly the Gangetic basin in India, is alarmingly contaminated with it. In search of a viable solution here, we took a cue from the natural mineralization of Tooeleite, a mineral containing Fe(III) and As(III)ions, grown under acidic condition, in presence of SO 4 2a' ions. Complying to this natural process, we could grow and separate Tooeleite-like templates from Fe(III) and As(III) containing water at overall circumneutral pH and in absence of SO 4 2a' ions by using highly polar Zn-only ends of wurtzite ZnS nanorods as insoluble nano-acidic-surfaces. The central idea here is to exploit these insoluble nano-acidic-surfaces (called as INAS in the manuscript) as nucleation centres for Tooeleite growth while keeping the overall pH of the aqueous media neutral. Therefore, we propose a novel method of artificial mineralization of As(III) by mimicking a natural process at nanoscale.

Malakar, A., Das, B., Islam, S., Meneghini, C., De Giudici, G., Merlini, M., et al. (2016). Efficient artificial mineralization route to decontaminate Arsenic(III) polluted water - The Tooeleite Way. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 6, 26031 [10.1038/srep26031].

Efficient artificial mineralization route to decontaminate Arsenic(III) polluted water - The Tooeleite Way

MENEGHINI, CARLO;
2016-01-01

Abstract

Increasing exposure to arsenic (As) contaminated ground water is a great threat to humanity. Suitable technology for As immobilization and removal from water, especially for As(III) than As(V), is not available yet. However, it is known that As(III) is more toxic than As(V) and most groundwater aquifers, particularly the Gangetic basin in India, is alarmingly contaminated with it. In search of a viable solution here, we took a cue from the natural mineralization of Tooeleite, a mineral containing Fe(III) and As(III)ions, grown under acidic condition, in presence of SO 4 2a' ions. Complying to this natural process, we could grow and separate Tooeleite-like templates from Fe(III) and As(III) containing water at overall circumneutral pH and in absence of SO 4 2a' ions by using highly polar Zn-only ends of wurtzite ZnS nanorods as insoluble nano-acidic-surfaces. The central idea here is to exploit these insoluble nano-acidic-surfaces (called as INAS in the manuscript) as nucleation centres for Tooeleite growth while keeping the overall pH of the aqueous media neutral. Therefore, we propose a novel method of artificial mineralization of As(III) by mimicking a natural process at nanoscale.
2016
Malakar, A., Das, B., Islam, S., Meneghini, C., De Giudici, G., Merlini, M., et al. (2016). Efficient artificial mineralization route to decontaminate Arsenic(III) polluted water - The Tooeleite Way. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 6, 26031 [10.1038/srep26031].
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11590/309789
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 18
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 20
social impact