Degradation mechanism of HCN by electrochemically coupled copper-loaded magnetic nanoparticles in a liquid phase pseudo-homogeneous system

Abstract

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) comes from a wide range of sources, but it is highly toxic and corrosive, harming the environment and human health. This experiment used magnetic nano-Fe3O4 particles loaded with Cu (Cu-Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles) for electrochemical catalytic purification of HCN in a liquid phase pseudo-homogeneous system. The results show that the purification efficiency of Cu-Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles on HCN is 70% without electricity. After a certain voltage is applied, the degradation efficiency of 2h with iron-carbon particles is significantly improved, and the degradation efficiency can reach about 95%. And the degradation efficiency increases with the increase of voltage. The electrochemical synergistic degradation mechanism of Cu-Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles is complex, which can directly catalyze the degradation of HCN or form CNO- intermediates to further degrade into CO2, H2O, and NH3. Meanwhile, Fe2+, Cu+, and other transition metal ions in the liquid phase participate in the Fenton-like reaction to further degrade HCN. The results show that the synergistic electrochemical degradation of HCN by Cu-Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles has excellent potential to degrade highly toxic gases.