Synthesis and characterization of Fe2O3–ZnO–ZnFe2O4/carbon nanocomposite and its application to removal of bromophenol blue dye using ultrasonic assisted method: Optimization by response surface methodology and genetic algorithm

Abstract

In this study Fe2O3–ZnO–ZnFe2O4/C nanocomposite as an efficient adsorbent according to a simple self-propagating solution combustion method was synthesized and subsequently applied for the removal of bromophenol blue (BPB) dye with an ultrasound-assisted method. Carbon is prepared in-situ during the formation of nanocomposite in the form of Pine fruit which act as both fuel and carbon source. The nanocomposites was characterized by various techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDS). The C, Fe, O, and Zn contents in the nanocomposite are found to be 46.14%, 8.56%, 33.24% and 2.64%, respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) and genetic algorithm (GA) were used for optimization. Using GA, optimum conditions were set at 15, 5.59, 0.005 and 9 for initial dye concentration (mg/L), pH, adsorbent amount (g), and sonication time (min), respectively. Equilibrium isotherm models for description of adsorption capacities of nanocomposite explore better efficiency of Langmuir model with maximum adsorption capacity of 90.91 mg/g. The analysis of adsorption rate at various sonication times displays that dye adsorption followed a pseudo-second order kinetic model.