Kinetics and isotherm studies of methylene blue adsorption onto polyaniline nanotubes base/silica composite

Abstract

A cationic dye, such as methylene blue (MB), was adsorbed from water by using polyaniline nanotubes (PANI NTs) base/silica composite as adsorbent. Experiments were conducted by using the UV–visible spectroscopy and by varying parameters namely: initial concentration of MB and contact time. The percentage of color removal decreased with increase of initial dye concentration. Equilibrium data were fit to Langmuir isotherm. The Langmuir isotherm fits best the MB adsorption data on PANI NTs base/silica composite.The kinetic models: pseudo first order, pseudo-second order and the intraparticle diffusion models were applied to the experimental data. It was observed that pseudo-second order kinetic model described the adsorption process better than any other kinetic models. Results obtained indicate that PANI NTs base/silica composite could be employed as an efficient adsorbent much more than the conventional PANI base/silica composite powder for dye uptake.