Magnetic-Based Coreshell Nanoparticles as Potential Adsorbents for the Removal of Cu2+ Under Ultraviolet (UV) Light

Abstract

The magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γFe2O3) nanopartides, magnetite-silica-silver chloride (Fe3O4-SiO2-AgCl) and maghemite-silica-silver chloride (γFe2O3-SiO2-AgCl) coreshell structures have successfully been synthesized by using a simple wet chemistry method. The efficiency of these particles as the adsorbents for the removal of copper ion, Cu2+ in aqueous solution under UV light was investigated. Two different parameters were studied, namely the adsorbents contact time (60, 120, 180, 240 and 300s) and the solution-stirring rate (100, 200 and 300 rpm). From the results, the removal percentage of the copper ions from the solution were above 90% after 5 hours of adsorption process at 300 rpm by using Fe3O4 (94%) and γFe2O3 (92%) nanoparticles. The maximum removal of copper ions was nearly 100% when yFe2O3-SiO2-AgCl & Fe3O4-SiO2-AgCl coreshell particles were used. The samples that were prepared without magnetic core such as AgCl-SiO2, AgCl and SiO2 particles, showed lower percentage of the copper ions removal (78%, 60% and 20%, respectively). This situation shows that the magnetic nanoparticles plays and important role during the adsorption process due to their large active sites for the adsorption to occur.