Enthralling Adsorption of Different Dye and Metal Contaminants from Aqueous Systems by Cobalt/Cobalt Oxide Nanocomposites Derived from Single‐Source Molecular Precursors

Abstract

AbstractThe cobalt/cobalt oxide nanocomposites (Co/CoO NCs), NC‐1 and NC‐2 were synthesizedfrom our recently reported single‐source molecular precursors (SSMPs) [Co(hep‐H)(H2O)4]SO4, (1) and [Co(hep‐H)2(H2O)2](NO3)2, (2), [hep‐H= 2‐(2‐hydroxylethyl) pyridine], respectively, via wet‐chemical reduction method. Our purpose was to study the effect of different counter anions (i. e. SO42− and NO3−) of precursors on the surface properties of synthesized materials. Both the nanocomposites were characterized by Powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy‐dispersive X‐ray analysis (EDAX), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. Two distinct morphological as well as surface features have been obtained using 1 and 2 viz. variable spheres (NC‐1) with low surface area and flakes (NC‐2) with high surface area. The adsorption behavior of these nanocomposites on industrial dyes and metals showed excellent dye adsorption (99.6% to 97.2%) and good to moderate metal adsorption efficiency of NC‐1. The NC‐1 could be recycled up to five times for dyes and three times for metals, advocating its practical applications in industry.