A rapid combustion process for the preparation of NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 nanoparticles and their adsorption characteristics of methyl blue

Abstract

A rapid combustion process for the preparation of magnetic NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 (x = 0.1–0.9) nanoparticles was introduced. Magnetic NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED, and VSM. The results showed that x value, the volume of absolute alcohol and the calcination temperature were the three key factors to the size and properties of NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 nanoparticles. Ni0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles calcined at 400 °C for 2 h with absolute alcohol of 25 mL were employed to research their adsorption characteristics of methyl blue (MB). The results indicated that the adsorption kinetics of MB onto Ni0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles could match the pseudo-second-order kinetics model very well, while the adsorption isotherm could be described by Langmuir model. It revealed that the adsorption of MB onto Ni0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles was monolayer adsorption mechanism. Besides, the effect of pH on adsorption was investigated, and the maximum adsorption capacity was up to 78.3 mg/g when the pH value of solution was 5. Magnetic NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 nanoparticles were prepared via a rapid combustion process, and were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED, and VSM. The three key factors of x value, the volume of absolute alcohol, and the calcination temperature for the preparation of NixCu(1−x)Fe2O4 nanoparticles were investigated. Ni0.5Cu0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles were employed to research their adsorption characteristics of methyl blue (MB), and the adsorption kinetics, the adsorption isotherm, and the adsorption mechanism were analyzed.