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Rapid, efficient, and thermal degradation of chlorophenols using polymer-coated or metal-doped magnetic nanoparticles, with and without the application of AMF
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  • Published: 09 February 2026

Rapid, efficient, and thermal degradation of chlorophenols using polymer-coated or metal-doped magnetic nanoparticles, with and without the application of AMF

  • Hawraa A. Mohammed1,
  • Nawal Madkhali2,
  • O. M. Lemine2,
  • Basma Al-Najar3,
  • Wael A. Amer1,4 &
  • …
  • Kheireddine El-Boubbou1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

  • 457 Accesses

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Chemistry
  • Environmental sciences
  • Materials science
  • Nanoscience and technology

Abstract

Chlorophenols (CPs) are hazardous persistent organic pollutants widely used in many industries, yet they pose serious risks on the environment and human health. Thus, there is a great demand for innovative, effective, and rapid CPs remediation to safer harmless products. Herein, we prepared different panels of tailor-made iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), either coated with polymers (i.e. PVP, Chitosan, Starch) or doped with transition metals (i.e. M2+ = Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+) and explored how the identity of the coated polymer or doped metal influences the catalytic performance towards removal of two common organic CP contaminants: 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) and 2-Chlorophenol (2-CP). All MNPs were thoroughly characterized using TEM, XRD, FTIR, SEM-EDX, and VSM, confirming nanosized particles (~ 8–15 nm), highly crystalline spinel structures (pure Fe3O4 and MFe2O4 phases), and superparamagnetic behavior (Ms = ~ 40–70 emu/g). Experimental degradation studies showed that both polymer-coated MNPs (PMNPs) and metal-doped MNPs (MMNPs) were highly effective at eliminating CPs, albeit at different efficiencies. While polymer coatings provide structural stability, they tend to reduce degradation rates by limiting active site exposure. Interestingly, MMNPs, particularly CoFe2O4, exhibited outstanding performance, achieving complete degradation of 4-CP and 2-CP (50 ppm, neutral pH) within only few seconds with an exceptionally high-rate constant (kr = 5.743 min−1) and an extremely short half-life of 0.12 min, indicating one of the fastest reported nanocatalysts. In contrast, both NiFe2O4 (kr = 0.172 min−1, t½ = 4.03 min) and ZnFe2O4 (kr = 0.342 min−1, t½ = 2.03 min) demonstrated slightly lower but excellent activities. Degradation data well fitted the pseudo-first-order kinetics model. All these variations highlight the critical role of dopant metal type or surface modification in tuning catalytic properties. Additional factors including a wide pH range (3–10), catalyst dosage (2–10 mg/mL), pollutant concentration (10–70 ppm), H₂O₂ levels, and temperature (25–55 °C) were also tested and were found to influence degradation. Reusability studies demonstrated that the different MNPs could be reused for six consecutive cycles with high removal efficiencies (~ 80–100%), without the use of any desorption agents. Interestingly, thermal degradation driven by the application of an alternating magnetic field (AMF) inducing heat dissipation from MNPs, markedly accelerated the degradation process. According to our knowledge, these results utilizing AMF to thermally degrade CPs are presented for the first time. This underscores the promise of such MMNPs/PMNPs as fast, efficient, and reusable nanocatalysts for potential industrial wastewater treatment.

Data availability

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its SI. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported and funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (grant number IMSIU-DDRSP2602). The authors thank the continuous support of the College of Science at University of Bahrain (UoB). The authors would also like to thank Mrs. Saja Algessair and Alia Mustafa for helping with heating measurements and XRD Rietveld analyses, respectively. Last but not least, special thanks to Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) company metallography laboratories for conducting the SEM-EDX analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, 32038, Bahrain

    Hawraa A. Mohammed, Wael A. Amer & Kheireddine El-Boubbou

  2. Department of Physics, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11623, Saudi Arabia

    Nawal Madkhali & O. M. Lemine

  3. Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Sakhir, 32038, Bahrain

    Basma Al-Najar

  4. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt

    Wael A. Amer

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  1. Hawraa A. Mohammed
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Contributions

K.H.B. conceived, designed, and conceptualized the study. H.A.M. prepared all the polymer-coated and metal-doped MNPs and performed the chlorophenol removal experiments. O.M.L. and N.M. conducted magnetic parameters and heating performances, respectively. W.A.A. carried out kinetics and thermodynamic studies. B.A. helped in conducting CPs degradation in the presence of AMF. K.H.B. and H.A.M. analyzed the experimental data and wrote the manuscript. All authors revised and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kheireddine El-Boubbou.

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Mohammed, H.A., Madkhali, N., Lemine, O.M. et al. Rapid, efficient, and thermal degradation of chlorophenols using polymer-coated or metal-doped magnetic nanoparticles, with and without the application of AMF. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38408-8

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  • Received: 15 September 2025

  • Accepted: 29 January 2026

  • Published: 09 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38408-8

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