TY - JOUR A1 - del Rocío Silva-Calpa, Leydi A1 - de Souza Bernardes, Andrelaine A1 - de Avillez, Roberto Ribeiro A1 - Smales, Glen J. A1 - Camarena, Mariella Alzamora A1 - Ramos Moreira, Carla A1 - Zaitsev, Volodymyr A1 - Archanjo, Braulio Soares A1 - Letichevsky, Sonia T1 - From support to shell: An innovative design of air-stable nano zero-valent iron–nickel catalysts via structural self-assembly N2 - This work presents the design of air-stable core–shell zero-valent iron–nickel nanofilaments supported on silica and zeolite, developed to overcome the oxidation limitations of nano zero-valent iron in environmental catalysis. The nanofilaments feature ∼ 100 nm iron–nickel cores surrounded by ultrafine iron-rich threads embedded with aluminates and silicates, originating from partial support dissolution during synthesis. By varying the iron reduction time, three catalysts were prepared: one on silica reduced for 30 min, and two on zeolite reduced for 30 and 15 min. They were thoroughly characterized using nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy with elemental analysis, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and small-angle X-ray scattering. The zeolite-supported catalyst reduced for 15 min showed the highest activity for hexavalent chromium reduction (rate constant 8.054 min−1), attributed to a higher fraction of reactive iron–nickel phases formed under shorter reduction. Its tailored core–shell structure improves air stability and surface reactivity, highlighting its potential as a next-generation zero-valent iron nanocatalyst for aqueous remediation KW - nanofilaments KW - Core–shell nanostructures KW - Air-stable nanomaterials KW - Structure-controlled FeNi nanoparticles KW - Hexavalent chromium reduction KW - X-ray scattering KW - MOUSE PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtcomm.2025.114142 SN - 2352-4928 VL - 49 SP - 1 EP - 15677 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-65087 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -