Abstract
Considering the great impact of a material’s surface area on adsorption processes, hollow nanotube magnetic zinc oxide with a favorable surface area of 78.39 m2/g was fabricated with the assistance of microwave technology in the presence of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as a stabilizing agent followed by sonic precipitation of magnetite nano-particles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs identified the nanotubes’ morphology in the synthesized material with an average aspect ratio of 3. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis verified the combination of magnetite material with the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO in the prepared material. The immobilization of magnetite nanoparticles on to ZnO was confirmed using vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The sorption affinity of the synthesized magnetic ZnO nanotube for phenolic compounds from aqueous solutions was examined as a function of various processing factors. The degree of acidity of the phenolic solution has great influence on the phenol sorption process on to magnetic ZnO. The calculated value of ΔH0 designated the endothermic nature of the phenol uptake process on to the magnetic ZnO nanotubes. Mathematical modeling indicated a combination of physical and chemical adsorption mechanisms of phenolic compounds on to the fabricated magnetic ZnO nanotubes. The kinetic process correlated better with the second-order rate model compared to the first-order rate model. This result indicates the predominance of the chemical adsorption process of phenol on to magnetic ZnO nanotubes.
Highlights
Nanotechnology has become one of the most active research areas in modern materials science.Generally, it is well known that the intrinsic properties of nanomaterials are inversely proportional to their size
Hollow structured magnetic zinc oxide nanotubes were successfully synthesized using the microwave method in the presence of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as a stabilizing agent followed by sonic precipitation of magnetite nano-particles
The prepared material was examined using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques to confirm its purity, nano-size and magnetic properties, respectively. Improvement in both the phenol solution temperature and material dosage has a positive impact on the percentage of phenol decontamination
Summary
Nanotechnology has become one of the most active research areas in modern materials science.Generally, it is well known that the intrinsic properties of nanomaterials are inversely proportional to their size. The nanomaterials are characterized by their effectiveness and a high capacity for decontaminating pollutants from wastewater compared to their larger counterpart materials. These characteristic features adapt their performance at water and wastewater treatment applications. Phenolic pollutants are considered priority pollutants in the water stream since they are harmful to organisms at low concentrations, can be toxic when present at elevated levels, and are known or suspected to be carcinogens. They are discharged mainly into environmental water from many industries, such as petroleum-refining, high-temperature coal conversion, resins and plastics. The adsorption capabilities of many nanomaterials and their composites such as nano-zeolites [15,16,17,18], nano-ion exchange materials [19,20,21]
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