Fabricating a Fe3O4@HNTs nanoreactor to expedite heterogeneous Fenton-like reactions

Heterogeneous Fenton-like reactions occurring in the confined space of a nanoreactor exhibited much higher efficiency than those in bulk solution. In this work, a Fenton-like nanoreactor was designed by selectively filling Fe3O4 nanoparticles into the lumen of halloysite. This nanoreactor was fabricated by vacuum impregnation method and characterized by various instrumental techniques. Experimental results indicated that, compared with Fe3O4 nanoparticles, this nanoreactor could remarkably expedite the degradation of 50 mg·L-1 methyl orange in presence of H2O2. •OH and 1O2 were detected as the main reactive radicals. A space confinement mechanism was proposed to expound the enhanced Fenton-like efficiency and radicals formation pathways.