Simultaneous removal of Cd(II) and phenol pollutions through magnetic graphene oxide nanocomposites coated polyaniline using low temperature plasma technique

Abstract

Herein, polyaniline functionalized magnetic graphene oxide composites (PANI-g-MGOs) are successfully prepared through adopting low temperature plasma induced technique. The synthesized PANI-g-MGOs composites having excellent saturation magnetization and physicochemical stabilization can be separated using external magnet and removed simultaneously cadmium ion and phenol contaminants. The underlying interaction mechanisms of PANI-g-MGOs towards cadmium ion and phenol are conducted under coexistence experimental conditions. The adsorption kinetics processes and isotherms performances of cadmium ion and phenol onto PANI-g-MGOs composites can be remarkably imitated with pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir model, respectively. The adsorption performance of Cd(II) ion onto PANI-g-MGOs composites is remarkably increased by coexistent phenol, whereas the adsorption of phenol onto PANI-g-MGOs composites is not influenced with Cd(II) ion coexisting in binary solutions systems. The outer-sphere surface complexation or ion exchange is dominantly assigned to Cd(II) ion adsorption onto PANI-g-MGOs composites at low pH values, and then inner-sphere surface complexation is primary adsorption mechanism at high pH values. The adsorption performance of phenol onto PANI-g-MGOs is contributed to π–π conjugate interaction between aromatic ring of phenol and special structures of PANI-g-MGOs. The experimental results illustrate that PANI-g-MGOs composites can be utilized as latent adsorbents for efficient remove of cadmium ion and phenol from wastewater in environmental remediation.