Paula Duenas Ramirez

Dr. Paula Duenas Ramirez


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
1 February 2023 in Nanomaterials
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
PRPaula Duenas Ramirez
Paula Duenas Ramirez
CLChaedong Lee
Chaedong Lee
RFRebecca Fedderwitz
Rebecca Fedderwitz
ACAntonia R. Clavijo
Antonia R. Clavijo
DBDebora Barbosa
Debora Barbosa
SBSylvie Bégin-Colin
Sylvie Bégin-Colin
Phosphates in high concentrations are harmful pollutants for the environment, and new and cheap solutions are currently needed for phosphate removal from polluted liquid media. Iron oxide nanoparticles show a promising capacity for removing phosphates from polluted media and can be easily separated from polluted media under an external magnetic field. However, they have to display a high surface area allowing high removal pollutant capacity while preserving their magnetic properties. In that context, the reproducible synthesis of magnetic iron oxide raspberry-shaped nanostructures (RSNs) by a modified polyol solvothermal method has been optimized, and the conditions to dope the latter with cobalt, zinc, and aluminum to improve the phosphate adsorption have been determined. These RSNs consist of oriented aggregates of iron oxide nanocrystals, providing a very high saturation magnetization and a superparamagnetic behavior that favor colloidal stability. Finally, the adsorption of phosphates as a function of pH, time, and phosphate concentration has been studied. The undoped and especially aluminum-doped RSNs were demonstrated to be very effective phosphate adsorbents, and they can be extracted from the media by applying a magnet.