Simulated-Sunlight-Driven Cell Lysis of Magnetophoretically Separated Microalgae Using ZnFe2O4 Octahedrons

Seo, Jung Yoon; Jeon, Hwan-Jin; Kim, Jeong Won; Lee, Jiye; Oh, You-Kwan; Ahn, Chi Won; Lee, Jae W.

Simulated-Sunlight-Driven Cell Lysis of Magnetophoretically Separated Microalgae Using ZnFe2O4 Octahedrons

2018

In an effort to help meet the demand for promising renewable sources of energy, research into innovative downstream processing for microalgae biorefineries is actively underway. In the current work, we used octahedrally shaped ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles for both harvesting and disrupting the cells of microalgae. We were able to use ZnFe₂O₄ octahedrons as magnetic flocculants and cell-disruption agents because ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles have both magnetic and photocatalytic properties. The ZnFe₂O₄ octahedrons, when simply functionalized with the aminosilane N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl] ethylenediamine, enabled a rapid and energy-efficient harvesting of microalgae. Furthermore, the ZnFe₂O₄ octahedrons, well-known for having photocatalytic properties superior to those of ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles with other morphologies, were used to lyse the algal cell wall with the aid of H₂O₂ under simulated sunlight irradiation. We expect microalgae whose cells can be both magnetophoretically separated and lysed by the same ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles to be utilized as bioenergy resources for more efficient downstream processing than is currently available.

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