Efficiency of green synthesised carbon nanotubes from Moringa oleifera leaf extract as potential toxic metals adsorbent in polluted water

Abstract

Abstract Among the many drawbacks of the current wastewater treatment systems are their high energy consumption and creation of harmful sludge. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are advantageous for the treatment of water due to their strong adsorption capacity and selectivity towards various pollutants. Thus, creating methods for treating water by producing CNTs from Moringa oleifera leaf extract can greatly help with the clean water problem. The synthesised material’s Ultra Visible (260–385 nm), FTIR (764–3295 cm−1) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) characterizations have demonstrated their CNTs characteristics. The repeatability testing yielded the %RSD values for Ca = 0.4, Cu = 0.24, Mg = 0.9, Pb = 1.06 and Zn = 0.36 which suggest that the AES approach demonstrated a high degree of precision. The findings show that the quantity of recovered metals increases with retention period. Mg > Cu > Zn > Ca > Pb was the order of the metal adsorption capacity throughout retention durations of 3, 6, 24, and 48 h. As the initial concentrations of the components under research were doubled and tripled, so were the removal capacities of CNTs increased which may be as a result of an increase in metal ions in the solution. The outcomes show how well the synthetic CNTs can remove heavy metals from wastewater.