Valorization of Industrial Mill Scales into Multiphase Iron Oxide Nanostructures for Alkaline Water Splitting and Photocatalytic Dye Degradation
6 affiliations
- 1Thin Films Lab, Advanced Materials and Sustainable Environments Research Group, Department of Metallurgical Engineering, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
- 2School for Engineering Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- 3Department of Energy and Environment Engineering, Dawood University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
- 4Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Dawood University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi 74800, Pakistan
- 5Electrical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
- 6Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman
Abstract
Herein, value-added iron oxide nanostructures are successfully synthesized directly from industrial steel mill scale via a simple precursor-free planetary ball milling technique for sustainable hydrogen production and environmental remediation. Comprehensive XRD analysis confirms heterogeneous crystalline phases comprising wüstite, magnetite, and hematite. The waste-derived catalysts demonstrate robust bifunctional electrocatalytic activity toward HER and OER in alkaline media, achieving low overpotentials of 342 and 356 millivolts at ten milliamperes per square centimeter for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, respectively, alongside favorable Tafel slopes and exceptional long-term operational stability. Furthermore, under natural sunlight, the nanostructures achieve efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, attaining 86.4 and 89.7 percent degradation efficiencies for 15 and 30 milligrams of catalyst. This comprehensive study successfully converts secondary metallurgy industrial byproducts into highly cost-effective multifunctional nanomaterials, thus presenting an exceptionally promising dual-purpose pathway for green hydrogen generation coupled with advanced industrial wastewater purification and environmental pollution control.
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BibTeX
@article{chandio2026valorization,
title = {{Valorization of Industrial Mill Scales into Multiphase Iron Oxide Nanostructures for Alkaline Water Splitting and Photocatalytic Dye Degradation}},
author = {Azmat Chandio and Iftikhar Ahmed Channa and Mukesh Kumar and Ayaz Ali Shah and Jaweria Ashfaq and Abdul Qadir Chandio and Esam Bahaidra and Tasneem Parvez and Ali Dad Chandio},
journal = {Catalysts},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/catal16100896},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/16/10/896},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Valorization of Industrial Mill Scales into Multiphase Iron Oxide Nanostructures for Alkaline Water Splitting and Photocatalytic Dye Degradation
AU - Azmat Chandio
AU - Iftikhar Ahmed Channa
AU - Mukesh Kumar
AU - Ayaz Ali Shah
AU - Jaweria Ashfaq
AU - Abdul Qadir Chandio
AU - Esam Bahaidra
AU - Tasneem Parvez
AU - Ali Dad Chandio
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Catalysts
DO - 10.3390/catal16100896
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/16/10/896
AB - Herein, value-added iron oxide nanostructures are successfully synthesized directly from industrial steel mill scale via a simple precursor-free planetary ball milling technique for sustainable hydrogen production and environmental remediation. Comprehensive XRD analysis confirms heterogeneous crystalline phases comprising wüstite, magnetite, and hematite. The waste-derived catalysts demonstrate robust bifunctional electrocatalytic activity toward HER and OER in alkaline media, achieving low overpotentials of 342 and 356 millivolts at ten milliamperes per square centimeter for the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions, respectively, alongside favorable Tafel slopes and exceptional long-term operational stability. Furthermore, under natural sunlight, the nanostructures achieve efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, attaining 86.4 and 89.7 percent degradation efficiencies for 15 and 30 milligrams of catalyst. This comprehensive study successfully converts secondary metallurgy industrial byproducts into highly cost-effective multifunctional nanomaterials, thus presenting an exceptionally promising dual-purpose pathway for green hydrogen generation coupled with advanced industrial wastewater purification and environmental pollution control.
SN - 2073-4344
ER -