Magnetic Magnetite-Graphene Oxide (Fe3O4-GO) Nanocomposites for Removal of Dyes from Aqueous Solution

Abstract

Magnetic magnetite-graphene oxide (Fe3O4-GO) was synthesized using an in-situ precipitation technique and applied in the adsorption of cationic rhodamine B (RhB) and anionic methyl orange (MO) dyes from aqueous solution. The nanocomposite was characterized by different techniques including FTIR, XRD, Raman, XPS, PPMS, BET, SEM and TEM techniques. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to investigate the effect of solution pH, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dosage and contact time. The synthesized Fe3O4-GO exhibited characteristic magnetic properties (saturation magnetization of 34 emu/g) and it separated from aqueous solution with ease through the application of an external magnetic field. The adsorption equilibrium time on the adsorption of RhB and MO onto Fe3O4-GO showed best removal of 99.12% for RhB after 60 min, while MO was removed efficiently after 120 min with a removal efficiency of 97.60%. The adsorption of the azo dyes followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model with high correlation coefficients (0.99995) for RhB and (0.99925) for MO. Maximum removal of the dye pollutants by occurred at pH 8 for RhB and pH 4 for MO, while the optimal adsorbent dosage was 30 mg. The results showed that adsorption equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir isotherm model and maximum monolayer adsorption capacities for RhB and MO at 70.64 and 15.94 mgg−1, respectively. The magnetic adsorbents were reused for a maximum of 7 cycles and showed reasonable stability and reproducibility. Furthermore, the results showed that Fe3O4-GO nanocomposite can be used as an effective material in the removal of dyes from wastewater.