Magnetic CuHCNPAN nano composite as an efficient adsorbent for strontium uptake

Abstract

An excellent composite was synthesized for sorption of strontium from solution. The composite (CuHCNPAN) components were copper hexacyanoferrate, magnetite and PAN. The XRD method confirmed the formation and presence of two crystalline phases of magnetite and copper hexacyanoferrate in composite. Particle sizes were determined by XRD and SEM methods. It was found that the particles were nano size. Some other methods such as FT IR, BET and TG methods were also used to determine the properties of the composite.The composite was used for sorption of strontium from solution. It was found that the kinetic of strontium sorption by the composite could be modeled by pseudo-second order. Among the isotherms applied to modeling the sorption in various concentrations, the Langmuir isotherm was founded to be more appropriate to fitting the experimental data. An excellent correlation coefficient was obtained (R2 > 0.98). The qmax for sorption of strontium ions which was calculated by Langmuir model was 80 mg/g. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated by determination of sorption in various temperatures and using the Vant Hoff plot. ΔG°, ΔH◦, and ΔS◦ were calculated as −19.15, 2.28 and 0.071 kJ/mol respectively.