1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate functionalized ZnO nanoparticles for removal of toxic organic dyes

Abstract

Herein, we report the successful synthesis and characterization of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-tetrafluoroborate (BMTF) functionalized zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles using a facile, straightforward, and single-step microwave (MW) irradiation technique. The detailed morphological and structural characterizations revealed that the prepared nanoparticles are grown in high density and possessing wurtzite hexagonal phase. For application point of view, the prepared nanoparticles were used as potential scaffold to remove the harmful toxic organic dyes form aqueous media. The detailed adsorption studies revealed that the cationic and azo dyes such as direct red 81 (59.06%), victoria blue (56.66%), rhodamine 6G (71.40%), fast green (78.60%), erichrome black T (62.50%) and acridine orange (61.60%) have shown little adsorption tendency over the BMTF functionalized ZnO nanoparticles after 2h of contact. Whereas, anionic dyes such as methyl orange (85.60%), and coomassie brilliant blue R-250 (BBR-250) (98.02%) made the solution colorless within 90min. The obtained results were also verified by adsorption isotherm and kinetic measurements and presented in this paper.