Green beginnings: creating an affordable advanced enquiry-based experimental nanochemistry learning module with catalytically active ‘green’ iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs)

In the following report, we disclose an affordable, scalable, and ‘green’ inaugural experiment for a nanochemistry and nanomaterials teaching laboratory course. Iron oxide NPs (IONPs) generated through co-precipitation is a well-known class of nanomaterials. They combine a relatively simple synthesis with an abundance of pedagogy-friendly functional properties such as energy band-gap, surface charge and capping ligand properties, size, morphology, crystal phase, and magnetic behaviour. Additionally, catalytic behaviour shown by IONPs in Fenton-type reactions provides us with an easy application suitable for the undergraduate laboratory. This month-long synthesis, purification, characterization, and application ‘mini-project’ is meant for inclusion in upper-division courses in inorganic chemistry or materials science. We believe that it sets students up for success in and outside a teaching laboratory and can be implemented in the first weeks of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) as a way to acquaint students to the necessary skills to engage in authentic research. This project is also in close alignment with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG) numbers 4 (Quality Education for All) and 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).