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Nov 19, 2014 - Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR), Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public. Health ...
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A Facile and Cost-Effective Method for Separation of OilWater Mixtures Using Polymer-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Soubantika Palchoudhury, and Jamie R Lead Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/es5037755 • Publication Date (Web): 19 Nov 2014 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on November 24, 2014

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Environmental Science & Technology

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A Facile and Cost-Effective Method for Separation

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of Oil-Water Mixtures Using Polymer-Coated Iron

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Oxide Nanoparticles

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Soubantika Palchoudhury and Jamie R. Lead*

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Center for Environmental Nanoscience and Risk (CENR), Department of Environmental Health

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Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 29208, USA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ABSTRACT

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Catastrophic oil spills and oil from waste waters such as bilge and fracking waters pose major

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environmental concerns. The limitations of existing cleanup techniques for benign oil

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remediation has inspired a recent scientific impetus to develop oil-absorbing, smart

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nanomaterials. Magnetic nanocomposites were here designed to allow easy recovery from

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various systems. In this study, sorption of reference MC252 oil with easy-to-synthesize and low-

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cost hydrophilic polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated iron oxide nanoparticles is reported for the first

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time. The one-step modified polyol synthesis in air directly generates water-soluble

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nanoparticles. Stable polyvinylpyrrolidone-coatings are known to minimize environmental

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alterations of nanoparticles from aggregation and other processes. Iron oxide provides effective

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magnetic actuation, while both PVP and iron oxide have low toxicity. These nanoparticles gave

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quantitative (near 100%) oil removal under optimized conditions. The facile synthesis and ease

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of use represents a significant improvement over existing techniques.

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Environmental Science & Technology

INTRODUCTION

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Recent catastrophic oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon, first Gulf War, Exxon Valdez, and

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IXTOC 1 induce significant damage to the marine ecosystem in the form of dead sea-birds,

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otters, sea-turtles, marine mammals, contaminated planktons, and affected corals.1,2 Oil from

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wastewaters like bilge water and industrial oil spills from facility repairs add to this

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environmental threat. Additionally, hydrocarbon mixed water from modern extraction techniques

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like directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing significantly affects contaminant level in nearby

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wells and aquifers.3,4 The long-term detrimental impact of different oil contaminations to the

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food-chain is a huge concern. To mitigate the harmful environmental effect of fast spreading oil

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spills and wastes, rapid removal of oil from the discharge and receiving waters is important.

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However, there are potential challenges to the existing cleanup methods. For instance, current

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methods for oil spill remediation result in a low efficiency and labor intensive clean-up, with

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possible increased toxicity.5,6 Excessive use of dispersants adds to the water contamination and

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limits the efficacy of other oil removal routes. Mechanical skimmers are limited to oil removal

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near the deployment area. The booms cannot prevent sinking of the recovered oil, causing

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damage to the marine biota. The sorbent materials are widely used, but require improved oil pick

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up rate and retention. For bioremediation routes, the microbial biosurfactants must be field tested

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and should show higher oil removal capacity for practical applicability. Biosurfactants

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essentially function like dispersants and cannot remove the oil. These limitations highlight the

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necessity to develop new nanomaterials for cost-effective and benign oil removal.7,8

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Magnetic nanocomposites have been used to address the limitation in collecting conventional

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oil adsorbents.9,10 For example, polysiloxane coated Fe2O3@C core-shell nanoparticles (NPs)

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were used for enhanced selectivity in oil-water separation.11 In a recently reported iron oxide-

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collagen nanobiocomposite, inexpensive collagen from industrial waste served as an improved

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oil absorbing agent and the iron oxide core provided magnetic actuation.12 Calcagnile et. al.

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found that the weakly bound iron oxide NPs in surface modified polyurethane foam facilitated

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oil absorption, easy recovery, and reusability.13 Additionally, magnetite nanofillers infused in

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low epoxidized natural rubber showed excellent absorption capacity for petrol oil.14

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concentration of iron oxide NPs within alkyd resin biopolymer substantially increased the oil

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absorption capacity of the composite.15 These studies highlight the potential of iron oxide NPs

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for oil removal.16 These applications are particularly attractive because iron oxide is of inherently

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low toxicity.17-20 However, the practical applicability of the materials for submerged oil, for

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instance, is questionable. In addition, many methods require complex syntheses, using large

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energy and material inputs for production. A facile and cheap method of production is required

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to directly generate stable, water soluble iron oxide NPs to minimize environmental impact21 and

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facilitate an easy scale-up for oil remediation applications.

High

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In this study, oil sorption efficiency of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-coated iron oxide NPs is

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investigated. Compared to the multi-step complex synthesis methods, these water-soluble iron

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oxide NPs were formed via a cost-effective one-step protocol under ambient air with low energy

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consumption. In addition, PVP-stabilized NPs are known to show low toxicity and excellent

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temporal stability in terms of aggregation and dissolution changes in changing environmental

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milieux.22,23 The NPs were systematically evaluated for separation of oil-water mixtures. In

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particular, oil samples from the Deepwater Horizon spill were chosen for this study to facilitate

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practical applicability. This is the first report of using easy-to-synthesize, cost-effective, and

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directly water-soluble PVP-coated iron oxide NPs for oil removal. These PVP-iron oxide NPs

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could potentially open the route for an easily scalable and benign oil remediation technique,

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given that practically relevant oil samples were used.

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EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

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Nanoparticle Synthesis. Iron oxide NPs were synthesized using a modified polyol method.24

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Specifically, the capping molecule, PVP (MW 10 kDa, 0.03 mmol, GBiosciences) was heated to

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dissolution in tri-ethylene glycol (TREG, 99%, 1 mL, Alfa Aesar) at 90 °C for 10 min. The iron

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precursor, iron (III) acetylacetonate (Fe(acac)3, 99%, 2 mmol, 0.7 g, Acros Organics) was added

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to this solution and mixed for 10 min, prior to thermal decomposition at 260 °C for 1 h. The

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entire synthesis was conducted in air without inert gas protection. To study the effect of PVP

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coating on oil sorption, the iron oxide NPs were synthesized with different precursor-to-capping

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agent molar ratios (e.g., 66.7:1, 22.2:1, and 12.5:1) and with a different PVP polymer (MW 40

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kDa, 0.03 mmol, Sigma-Aldrich), keeping all other parameters the same. Additionally, to

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investigate the influence of NP size on oil removal, different reaction times (e.g., 1 and 2 h) were

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used, keeping all other conditions the same (Table S1). The as-synthesized NPs were

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magnetically collected and redispersed in ultra-pure water (Milipore) to remove excess solvent.

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The target concentration of NPs was set to 20 g/L. The aqueous NP products were subsequently

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used for oil removal studies.

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Oil Removal. In a typical oil removal experiment, crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill

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(Aecom Environment) was mixed well with ultra-pure water (Milipore) in a vial via sonication

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(Branson 2800, 40 kHz, ambient conditions) for 30 min to prepare the oil samples (0.6-0.9 g/L,

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pH 6-8). PVP-iron oxide NPs were added to the oil samples at target oil:NP weight ratios of

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1.4:1, 2.6:1, 4.3:1, 6:1, and 7.3:1, respectively. To investigate the oil extraction capacity of NPs,

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the oil-NP solutions were magnetically separated for different time periods (3 h, 5 h, 7 h, 12 h,

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and 72 h) using a 1” cubic neodymium magnetic collector. The remaining clear solutions in each

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vial were collected for subsequent analysis to quantify the amount of oil removed. These clear

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solutions were ultracentrifuged (45000 rpm, 1 h, Sorvall MTX Micro-ultracentrifuge) and

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measured again in some cases to remove interferences from remnant NPs. The oil-coated NPs

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magnetically collected to the side of the vial were sonicated in methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE, ≥

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99%) for oil recovery. The oil sample, oil-coated NPs, and the final clear solution batches were

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further characterized via UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), gas chromatography-mass

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spectrometry (GC/MS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM)

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imaging to measure oil removal.

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Characterization and Quantification. The size and morphology of the PVP-iron oxide NPs

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before and after oil absorption were examined on an Asylum Cypher AFM operating in non-

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contact mode in ambient air. Noncontact mode silicon AFM cantilevers (ACM240TM,

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Olympus) were used for the characterization. Samples were carefully prepared via an adsorption

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technique.25 Specifically, the sample solutions (~ 50 μL) were dropped on freshly sliced mica

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slides via micro-pipettes and washed with ultra-pure water, prior to drying in an enclosed vial to

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prevent airborne contamination. Data collection and analysis were conducted with Asylum

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software package. To obtain size histograms, the AFM images were analyzed quantitatively with

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section analysis in the AFM software.26 The measured sizes of 300 particles were classified into

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intervals of 5 nm width for a representative size plot. In addition, a 200 kV Hitachi H8000

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transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to confirm the size and morphology of PVP-

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iron oxide NPs. The hydrodynamic size and zeta potential of PVP-iron oxide NPs and oil coated

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PVP-iron oxide NPs were measured on a Malvern Zetasizer Nano DLS. Three consecutive

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measurements were recorded at 25 °C to calculate a Z-average size for each sample.

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A Shimadzu UV-2600 UV-vis was used to measure the concentration of oil in the different

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samples, based on the absorbance spectra. A calibration plot was obtained with known oil

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concentrations. The UV spectra were carefully measured for the initial oil-water samples, NPs

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samples used for oil studies, oil-water-NP solution samples, oil recovery samples after sonication

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of oil-coated NPs, and the final separated solution samples. Based on the height of absorbance

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peaks for the different samples and the calibration plot, the oil removal efficiency was quantified.

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Pictures were taken for each sample prior to UV measurement.

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The concentrations of oil samples before and after the NP-based separation were further

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measured on a double focusing magnetic sector VG 70S GC/MS. The samples were prepared via

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extraction in MTBE (≥ 99%, 1 mL, Sigma-Aldrich). The chromatograph oven was operated from

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60 °C to 300 °C rising at 10 °C/min. Compounds were separated on a Restek RTx-5 (length 30

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m, 0.25 mm ID, and 0.2-mm film). The electron ionization was set at 70 eV with a helium carrier

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gas at 10 psi operating pressure. An injection volume of 1 μL was used. Ion chromatograms were

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recorded for mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) of 40 to 450 for qualitative identification of the

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spectrum and 208 to 370 for quantitative analysis of the oil samples, particularly the high

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percentage of aliphatics. A full scan mode was used for both cases. To compare the oil samples

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before and after NP-based separation, the C25H52, C22H46, C18H38, and C15H32 were monitored in

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the closer scan (208 to 370) for quantitative measurement.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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PVP-Iron Oxide Nanoparticles. Iron oxide NPs are attractive for their inherent low toxicity

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and excellent magnetic properties.27 The magnetic property of iron oxide NPs is easily tunable

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via control over size, morphology, or ligand coating.28 Iron oxide NPs are currently used in

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several bio-applications e.g., FDA approved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast

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agents.29 Typically, sterically stabilized polymer-coated NPs, such as PVP coating, are known to

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remain largely unaffected in complex environmental milieux and also pose little hazard.23,22 The

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PVP-iron oxide NPs are potentially attractive candidates for benign oil remediation material

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where PVP serves to absorb both aliphatic and aromatic components of oil while the iron oxide

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acts as the structural support and subsequently allows easy magnetic separation from the aqueous

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phase. Both materials exhibit low toxicity. Here, a modified polyol method was used to directly

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synthesize water dispersible and crystalline PVP-iron oxide NPs. This cheap and facile method

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has advantages in that it is a relatively low energy method requiring small amounts of low

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toxicity reactants. Other methods suffer from some issues in practical use e.g., the thermal

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decomposition in non-polar solvents can form highly crystalline and monodisperse iron oxide

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NPs, but requires additional aqueous phase transfer.30 Iron oxide NP products from the co-

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precipitation route are hydrophilic but can lack crystallinity. The outer PVP-coating in this study

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rendered the NPs hydrophilic.31 To reduce synthesis cost, the quantity of TREG was minimized

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(Table S1, Supporting Information). Figure 1 shows the size and morphology of the PVP-iron

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oxide NPs via AFM and DLS. Based on the AFM image, the NPs are discrete NPs of size 13 ±

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0.2 nm (Figure 1a and b). The hydrodynamic diameter was 69 nm with a pdi of 0.1 as measured

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by DLS (Figure 1c). The single peak below 100 nm suggested good colloidal stability of the

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aqueous NP dispersion (Figure 1d). The NPs were sterically stabilized via PVP, as expected,

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with a zeta-potential (4.1 mV) insufficient to provide colloidal stabilization.23 Figure 1d shows

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the stable aqueous dispersion of the PVP-iron oxide NPs. The size and spherical morphology of

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these highly stable and water-soluble PVP-iron oxide NPs could also be confirmed via TEM

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(Figure S2).

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Figure 1. PVP-iron oxide NPs (a) topographical AFM image, (b) size distribution histogram

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from AFM (n=300), (c) DLS plot, and (d) NP solution.

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Measurement of Oil Removal with UV-vis spectroscopy. The potential of these PVP-iron

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oxide NPs to remove oil was systematically investigated using Surrogate Deepwater Horizon oil

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samples prepared at concentrations relevant to, but slightly higher than, typical oil spill

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concentrations and waste waters (0.6 – 0.9 g/L).32,33 Typically, the surrogate oil was mixed in

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ultrapure water via sonication to make the target oil samples. Different amounts of PVP-iron

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oxide NPs were added to the oil-water samples to give a range of oil: NP ratios, well-mixed via

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sonication and left to magnetically separate overnight using a standard 1”x1” neodymium

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laboratory magnet. The treated clear sample was retrieved for measurement. The oil-coated PVP-

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iron oxide NPs attracted to the magnet were sonicated in MTBE to measure oil recovery. UV-vis

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was used as a simple, rapid, and inexpensive method to measure mass concentrations, although

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we acknowledge the limitations of this method, primarily related to background NP signal

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overlapping with the oil signal.34 Both the aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons of oil-water

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sample were likely detected by the UV-vis, based on the control hexane-water and xylene-water

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samples. Figure 2a shows sample UV-vis plots. The concentration is measured from the

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difference in peak heights based on a calibration plot. The oil-water samples for the calibration

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curve were separately prepared via careful dilution of the same sample to minimize error. As

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seen from the UV-vis data, the typical absorbance curve for oil is reduced to near zero for the

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final treated sample (oil remaining), suggesting near complete oil removal. The absorbance for

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water and PVP-iron oxide NPs before addition to oil are plotted for reference. However, it was

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challenging to quantify the oil recovered from the oil-coated NPs because of strong interference

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from the NPs. Figure 2b shows the oil sample at each stages of the treatment with PVP-iron

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oxide NPs. Oil removal was near 100%, as suggested by the transparent final sample compared

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to the cloudy oil-water initial mixture. Similar results were observed for oil-water mixtures at

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different pH (Figure S3).

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Figure 2. Measurement of oil removal with UV-vis (pH 7) (a) absorbance plots of samples and

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(b) images of samples used in a.

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AFM and DLS Characterization for Oil Removal. The oil-coated NPs used for oil recovery

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measurements were further characterized to confirm oil absorption on the NPs. The morphology

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of the NPs after oil sorption is completely different from those observed for pristine PVP-iron

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oxide NPs (Figure 1a). Figures 3a and b show the topographical and amplitude AFM images of

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the oil-coated iron oxide NPs. Compared to the initial discrete small NPs (Figure 1a), an

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aggregated morphology is observed, indicative of oil sorption. Additionally, the size distribution

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obtained from the AFM for the oil-coated NPs is broader with a peak centered at 30 nm with a

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pdi of 2 (Figure 3c). The increased size and polydispersity of the PVP-iron oxide NPs suggest oil

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sorption on the NPs. The hydrodynamic diameter measured on the DLS increased from 69 ± 0.1

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nm to 389 ± 0.194 nm for the oil-coated NPs (Figure 3d). Oil bound to the NP surfaces was

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quantified based on the DLS measurements and geometric considerations. For a given volume,

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each NP sorbed approximately 178 times its own volume of oil, indicating a promising oil

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separation capacity of the PVP-iron oxide NPs. The aromatic and aliphatic portions of the outer

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PVP ligand layer likely serves as a suitable oil sorption interface such that the oil forms a second

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surface layer to encapsulate an ensemble of NPs, driven by hydrophobic considerations. It should

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be noted that the NPs were sonicated for 30 min prior to DLS measurements to eliminate any

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aggregation effects due to prolonged magnetic separation of the oil-coated NPs. Figure 3d, insert

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shows a well-sonicated aqueous dispersion of oil-coated PVP-iron oxide NPs.

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Figure 3. AFM images and DLS plot of PVP-iron oxide NPs after oil absorption (a)

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topographical AFM, (b) amplitude image, (c) AFM based size histogram, and (d) DLS, insert,

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photo of oil-NP sample.

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Measurement of Oil Removal with GC-MS. To accurately measure the oil removal with

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PVP-iron oxide NPs, GC-MS was used, providing a more reliable quantification. The same

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samples analyzed on the UV-vis were used for GC-MS measurements to maintain comparability.

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Specifically, the initial surrogate oil-water sample (0.8 g/L) and the clear final sample after NP

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treatment were extracted into volatile methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE, 1 mL) solvent to prepare

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samples suitable for GC-MS (Figure 4). The chromatograms for oil sample showed prominent

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aliphatic peaks, characteristic of crude oil (Figure 4a).35,36 The peaks are indexed as Cn in the

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chromatogram. The peaks are significantly reduced in the NP-treated sample (Figure 4b). Oil

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removal was calculated based on the reduction in chromatogram peak area. Minimum remnant

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oil was observed in the treated sample e.g., 0.66% of the original docosane (C22H46) and 1% of

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the initial pentacosane (C25H52) remained. Most oil constituents were below the limit of detection

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in the cleaned water. The GC-MS data, therefore confirmed the near 100% oil sorption by the

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PVP-iron oxide NPs.

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Figure 4. GC-MS plots (a) oil-water sample and (b) oil-water sample after NP based separation.

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The aim was to maximize the oil removal using minimum NPs and time for cost-effective

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practical application. To find the best conditions for oil absorption with PVP-iron oxide NPs, the

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magnetic separation time and the oil: NP weight ratios were varied. Table 1 summarizes selected

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oil sorption efficiency of the NPs at each reaction condition, as obtained from the UV-vis data.

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Based on the results, in batch studies a minimum of 307.6 mg NPs (oil:NP wt. ratio, 2.6:1) is

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required to fully remove approximately 0.9 g L-1 in 12 hours. Interference from remnant PVP or

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PVP coated iron oxide NPs in the final cleaned solution was a potential issue to measure oil

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removal with UV-vis in some cases. Ultracentrifugation was used to remove these remnant NPs

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before measurement. However, under optimal conditions, there was near 100% oil removal by

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the NPs and no difference observed before and after ultracentrifugation. Maximum and stable oil

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removal was observed ~ 12 h, based on the oil sorption of the NPs measured after different

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periods of magnetic interaction (e.g., 3 h, 5 h, 7 h, 12 h, and 72 h; Figure S4). At earlier times (3-

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7 h), the measured oil removal capacities were affected from remaining NPs in the solution.

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Table 1: Oil removal with PVP-iron oxide NPs under different conditions, based on UV-vis Time (h)

Wt. of NPs (mg)

Oil conc. (g/L)

% Removal

12

128.6

0.9388

97.83

12

145.6

0.8658

96.58

12

206.6

0.899

93.13

12

307.6

0.8

100

12

623.9

0.8851

100

72

151.3

0.9

98.73

72

151.9

0.6733

95.86

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Finally, the PVP-coated iron oxide NPs provide a simple, low hazard but powerful tool to

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potentially remove oil from oil-water mixtures caused by, for instance, oil discharges such as

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those that occurred at the Deepwater Horizon spill. Approximately 100% oil removal under

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optimum conditions was observed. A major implication of this study is the facile, easy-to-scale-

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up, inexpensive synthesis, and oil removal analysis methods developed for the highly effective

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PVP-iron oxide NPs. The reported method holds great potential for designing smart materials to

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remediate oil with minimal environmental impact.

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ASSOCIATED CONTENT

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Supporting Information

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Additional information on synthesis parameters and colloidal stability of different PVP-iron

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oxide NP formulations tested for oil sorption is provided in SI. DLS calculations for oil sorption

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are also provided. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

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Corresponding Author

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*Phone: (803) 777-0091. E-mail: [email protected].

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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The authors thank Dr. Mike Walla and the Mass Spectrometry Centre at the University of

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South Carolina for use of GC-MS. We thank Aecom for providing reference MC252 surrogate

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oil. We also thank Seyyedali Mirshahghassemi for TEM imaging.

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