Abstract
ABSTRACTWe report a facile and green route for the synthesis of superparamagnetic magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) using aqueous leaf extract of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. for efficient adsorption of organic pollutant, methylene blue (MB). The phytochemicals present in the aqueous leaf extract Zanthoxylum armatum DC. are not only responsible for the formation of Fe3O4 NPs, but also act as capping agent for Fe3O4 NPs. The formation of Fe3O4 NPs was confirmed by a range of spectroscopy and microscopy techniques such as UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer. The spectroscopic results indicated the successful formation of Fe3O4 NPs. FE-SEM and TEM images revealed the spherical shape with particle size of 17 nm. Fe3O4 NPs showed superparamagnetism. Green synthesized Fe3O4 NPs shows enhanced adsorption efficiency toward MB from contaminated water. The kinetic data of adsorption fitted very well with the pseudo-second order. The adsorption isotherm data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and it was found to be 10.4712 mg/g adsorption capacity and it implies that the chemisorptions of MB on to Fe3O4 NPs.
Highlights
During the past decade, there has been increasing concern about the organic pollutants, heavy metals and pathogens in an aquatic environment due to their wide distribution and potential adverse health effects [1]
For the first time, we report a simple and environmentally friendly method for the preparation of Fe3O4 NPs using the aqueous leaf extract of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. for the adsorption of organic dye, methylene blue (MB)
Fe3O4 NPs were synthesized based on co-precipitation method in the presence of aqueous leaf extract of Zanthoxylum armatum DC. as a reducing and capping agent
Summary
There has been increasing concern about the organic pollutants, heavy metals and pathogens in an aquatic environment due to their wide distribution and potential adverse health effects [1]. Various treatment approaches for removing organic dyes from contaminated water are available, such as adsorption, bioremediation, precipitation, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and photocatalysis [2] These methods have proved to be ineffective for removal of dyes from water effluents due to high chemical stability of dyes, high cost and low efficiency of these processes. Numerous methods have been reported for synthesis of Fe3O4 NPs such as co-precipitation, thermal decomposition of organic iron precursor, sol–gel method, Polyol method, surfactant- or polymer-assisted precipitation including reverse micelle, co-polymer templatesassisted synthesis, solvothermal synthesis and hydrothermal synthesis [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18] All these synthetic methods have employed the chemicals such as sodium borohydride, dimethyl formamide, hydrazine and carbon monoxide as reducing agents and they are highly reactive and have both biological and environmental negative effects. To find the optimum adsorption conditions of Fe3O4 NPs for removal of MB dye, adsorption isotherms and kinetic studies were extensively investigated
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