title: Morphological synthesis of Prussian blue analogue Zn3[Fe(CN)6]2⋅xH2O micro-/nanocrystals and their excellent adsorption performance toward methylene blue.
abstract: Prussian blue analogue Zn3[Fe(CN)6]2⋅xH2O (Zn-PBA) micro-/nanocrystals with well-defined spherical, cubic and polyhedral morphologies have been successfully synthesized by a simple room-temperature solution method. The morphologies and sizes of the micro-/nanocrystals can be easily tuned by HCl dosage and polymer additive. The as-prepared products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and Brunauer Emmet Teller adsorption-desorption analysis. The possible formation mechanism for these Zn-PBA micro-/nanocrystals is then proposed. In addtion, adsorption performances of these micro-/nanocrystals toward organic dyes are systematically investigated. It is demonstrated that they exhibit strong adsorption selectivity to methylene blue (MB) with an extraordinary adsorption capacity as high as 1.016gg(-1) due to the proper pore size and large specific surface area (643.2m(2)g(-1)) of the product as well as the strong electrostatic interaction between MB molecules and Zn-PBA particles. It is found that the morphology and size of the micro-/nanocrystals have an important effect on their adsorption performance. Moreover, the adsorbed MB dye can be well released in some organic solvents such as ethanol and trichloromethane. The facile morphology-controlled synthesis and excellent adsorption property afford the materials promising application in adsorption related fields.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China; Inner Mongolia Medical University, College of Pharmacy, Hohhot 010059, PR China. Electronic address: shikuiwu@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Shikui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China. Electronic address: xiaopingshen@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, PR China.
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
authors.forename: Guoxing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Medical University, College of Pharmacy, Hohhot 010059, PR China.
authors.forename: Rongyan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhenyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, PR China.
authors.forename: Kangmin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Inner Mongolia Medical University, College of Pharmacy, Hohhot 010059, PR China.
authors.forename: Chaojun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Adsorption; Micro-/nanocrystals; Organic dye; Prussian blue analogue; Synthesis