https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Index en-au 5 https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:34060 Tue 05 Feb 2019 14:14:59 AEDT ]]> https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:30779 2+ and Cu²⁺ on the oxidative degradation of Amoxicillin (AMX) by heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation using nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) as a catalyst was investigated. It was found that about 90.0% and 54.7% of AMX was degraded in the presence of 1 mM Cu²⁺ and 1 mM Mg²⁺ ions respectively, while 60.2% of AMX was removed by the control sample. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that nZVI aggregated visibly after degradation of amoxicillin. X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) confirmed the reduction of Cu²⁺ to Cu⁰ by Fe⁰ on nZVI’s surface to form similar Fe/Cu bimetal to accelerate the degradation of AMX, and magnesium oxides or hydroxides formed on the surface of nZVI to restrain the removal of AMX. X-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrated the existence of Fe⁰ in fresh nZVI and the corrosion aggregation of nZVI to form iron oxides or hydroxides after reaction. Kinetics studies demonstrated a pseudo first-order kinetics model for the oxidative degradation with the observed maximum K_obs as 0.0867 min⁻¹ in the presence of 1 mM Cu²⁺. The reason for this enhanced bimetallic catalytic activity is discussed.]]> Sat 24 Mar 2018 07:37:52 AEDT ]]>