# US 11,298,690 B2 · Catalyst and a wastewater treatment method

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- Number: US 11,298,690 B2
- Document ID: US11298690B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/448,218
- Filed: 2019-06-21
- Published: 2020-12-24
- Granted: 2022-04-12
- Earliest claimed: 2019-06-21
- Assignees: City University of Hong Kong
- Applicants: City University of Hong Kong
- Inventors: Jian Lu; Zhe Jia; Qing Wang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11298690B2

## CPC

- B01J 27/1853: {with iron, cobalt or nickel}
- B01J 35/45: Nanoparticles
- B01J 37/0081: {Preparation by melting}
- C02F 1/722: {Oxidation by peroxides}
- C02F 1/725: {by catalytic oxidation}
- B01J 35/70: characterised by their crystalline properties, e.g. semi-crystalline (catalysts comprising carbon B01J21/18; molecular sieves B01J29/00)
- B01J 35/80: characterised by their amorphous structures
- B01J 2235/00: Indexing scheme associated with group B01J35/00, related to the analysis techniques used to determine the catalysts form or properties
- B01J 2235/15: X-ray diffraction
- B01J 2235/30: Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy
- C02F 2101/30: Organic compounds
- C02F 2103/30: from the textile industry
- C02F 2103/343: {from the pharmaceutical industry, e.g. containing antibiotics}
- C02F 2305/023: Reactive oxygen species, singlet oxygen, OH radical
- C02F 2305/026: Fenton's reagent
- B01J: CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
- C02F: TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE (separation in general B01D; special arrangements on waterborne vessels of installations for treating water, waste water or sewage, e.g. for producing fresh water, B63J; adding materials to water to prevent corrosion C23F; treating radioactively-contaminated liquids G21F9/04; regeneration of reactants for recirculation into processes, see the relevant places for the processes)

## Abstract

A catalyst including an amorphous matrix of a metallic glass including iron and phosphorous; wherein when the catalyst performs a catalytic reaction with a reactant, the metallic glass catalyst activates at least some of the reactant, and at least a portion of the catalyst at a surface of the metallic glass matrix transforms to a surface layer including a material property different from that of the metallic glass matrix being covered by the surface layer; and wherein the surface layer is arranged to maintain an amorphous structure of the metallic glass matrix and to facilitate the catalytic reaction to occur at the surface layer.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A catalyst comprising an amorphous metallic glass matrix; and a surface layer including a cover layer and an amorphous interlayer, wherein the surface layer covers the amorphous metallic glass matrix and the cover layer comprises a porous structure having porous channels sized to permit a persulfate or peroxymonosulfate to pass therethrough so as to contact the amorphous interlayer whereby, upon contact, a catalytic reaction transforms a portion of the amorphous interlayer into the porous structure of the cover layer, and wherein the portion transformed is transformed from an amorphous phase to a nanocrystalline phase; and
wherein the atomic component of the amorphous metallic glass matrix consists essentially of:
iron: 60-85%;
silicon: 0-20%:
boron: 0-20%:
phosphorus: 1-20%; and
carbon: 0-10%.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, wherein the surface layer has an iron content and the amorphous metallic glass matrix has an iron content, and the iron content of the surface layer is lower than the iron content in the amorphous metallic glass matrix.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, wherein the surface layer has an oxide content and the amorphous matrix has an oxide content, and the oxide content of the surface layer is higher than the oxide content in the amorphous matrix.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, wherein the catalyst comprises a material composition that gradually changes from the amorphous metallic glass matrix to the surface layer.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, wherein the amorphous interlayer comprises a dense amorphous structure having an atomic density higher than the atomic density of the cover layer.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, wherein the amorphous interlayer comprises a plurality of adsorption sites arranged to facilitate occurrence of the catalytic reaction.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 6, wherein the plurality of adsorption sites comprises a plurality of Fe sites each containing a first neighbor P atom or a first neighbor P atom and a second neighbor P atom.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 6, wherein the persulfate or the peroxymonosulfate operate as a treatment reagent for treating a target substance, and wherein the target substance is treated by the treatment reagent upon activation by the catalyst.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 8, wherein the metallic glass matrix activates the treatment reagent at the amorphous interlayer by transforming the treatment reagent into radicals of the treatment reagent.

### Claim 10 (depends on 8)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 8, wherein the target substance includes waste water pollutants.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, further wherein the catalyst is substantially flat in shape.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The catalyst in accordance with claim 1, further having a thickness of about 10 μm to about 80 μm.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

A method of fabricating a catalyst in accordance with claim 1, comprising the steps of:
melting an alloy comprising iron and phosphorous to form a melted alloy;
melt-spinning the melted alloy to form an amorphous structure of comprising the amorphous metallic glass matrix; and
exposing the amorphous metallic glass matrix to persulfate or peroxymonosulfate to transform a portion of the amorphous metallic glass matrix to form the surface layer.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the melting step comprises arc-melting the alloy.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the melting step comprises the step of further melting the melted alloy in a quartz crucible.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the further melting step is conducted at a temperature of from about 1200° C. to about 1500° C.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method in accordance with claim 15, wherein the melt-spinning step further comprises the step of ejecting the further melted alloy onto a rotating copper roll surface.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method in accordance with claim 17, wherein the rotating copper roll surface moves at a speed of from about 23 ms−1 to about 39 ms−1.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The method in accordance with claim 17, further comprising the step of rapidly quenching the further melted alloy ejected onto the rotating copper roll surface.

### Claim 20 (depends on 13)

The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the catalyst is substantially flat in shape.

### Claim 21 (depends on 13)

The method in accordance with claim 13, wherein the catalyst has a thickness of about 10 μm to about 80 μm.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

A method for treating wastewater comprising the step of utilizing the catalyst of claim 1 in wastewater.

### Claim 23 (depends on 1)

The catalyst of claim 1, wherein the amorphous metallic glass matrix has the formula Fe83Si2B11P3C1.