Facile synthesis of α-Fe₂O₃@ porous hollow yeast-based carbonaceous microspheres for fluorescent whitening agent-VBL wastewater treatment

Porous hollow carbonaceous microspheres (PHCMs) fabricated from yeast cells by hydrothermal treatment have stimulated interest because of their outstanding chemical and physical properties. Herein, the functionalizations of PHCMs by further coating of α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles onto the surface were carried out. The structure of resulted α-Fe₂O₃@PHCMs products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and BET specific surface area measurements (BET), respectively. Its promising application was evaluated by the Fenton-like degradation of fluorescent whitening agent-VBL from aqueous solutions. - Graphical abstract: In this work, novel α-Fe₂O₃@porous hollow carbonaceous microspheres (α-Fe₂O₃@PHCMs) were synthesized through a combination of hydrothermal method and calcinations route and achieved excellent removal efficiency for fluorescent whitening Agent-VBL. - Highlights: • The hybrid α-Fe₂O₃@ porous hollow microspheres (PHCMs) were firstly fabricated. • The formation mechanism of α-Fe₂O₃@PHCMs microspheres was proposed and verified. • Dithizone played a key role in the synthesis of α-Fe₂O₃@PHCMs composites. • A favorable removal for the fluorescent whitening agent-VBL were achieved.