Green synthesis, characterization, and application of metal oxide nanoparticles for mercury removal from aqueous solution

Abstract

In this work, a novel surface-modified, green-based wheat straw-supported magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) were synthesized via the green synthesis method, and the adsorption of mercury (Hg(II)) ion from aqueous solutions was methodically investigated. The synthesized wheat straw-supported magnetite (Fe3O4-WSS) NPs were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) methods. FT-IR and TGA confirmed that the surface of Fe3O4-NPs was functionalized well. The XRD analysis revealed the existence of magnetite in the synthesized wheat straw-supported Fe3O4-NPs of 19.83nm average crystalline size. SEM analysis showed Fe3O4-NPs were almost spherical, with an average particle size of 22.48nm. Adsorption studies were carried out to investigate the adsorption of Hg(II) ions onto Fe3O4-WSS NPs and the effect of various adsorption parameters such as pH, time, adsorbent dosage, and Hg(II) ion concentration. The optimum adsorption conditions were obtained: pH of 6, contact time of 45min, adsorbate of 40mg/L, and adsorbent of 1g. A maximum of 98.04% Hg(II) ion removal efficiency was obtained at these optimum conditions. FT-IR analysis also indicated that surface functional groups such as C = C,-OH, and C-C of the newly produced Fe3O4-NPs led to the more efficient removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solution. The synthesized nano-adsorbent showed an excellent adsorption capability of 101.01mg/g. Hg(II) ions adsorption onto Fe3O4-WSS NPs fitted well with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Therefore, these reasonable findings reveal that Fe3O4-WSS NPs are an efficient and promising adsorbent for Hg(II) removal from aqueous water environments.