Synthesis of GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite as an ideal adsorbent for removal of tamoxifen from water

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the present study, Fe3O4 decorated with ZnO in the first stage and modified with chitosan in the second stage and then deposited on the GO as nanocomposites was utilised for adsorption of tamoxifen (TAM) from various water samples. The obtained nanocomposites (GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite) were checked through different methods like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), and X-ray diffraction spectrometry (XRD). Based on VSM the magnetisation of GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite was obtained to be around 22 emu g−1. The removal efficiency of TAM by GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite is 98.9 at pH = 7.0, primary TAM concentration = 10 mg L−1, GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite amount = 0.01 g, and equilibrium time = 50 min. Analytical models such as Langmuir (L), Freundlich (F), Temkin (T), Langmuir–Freundlich (L-F), Redlich–Peterson (R-P), pseudo-first-order (PFO), pseudo-second-order (PSO), Elovich (E), fractal-like pseudo-second-order (FL-PSO), and intraparticle diffusion (ID) were employed for modelling the isotherm and kinetic data. Using L-F and FL-PSO models, the outcomes of TAM adsorption onto GO/Fe3O4-ZnO/CS nanocomposite were shown to present extremely good adaptability with the empiric data. The maximum ability of TAM was 396.19 mg g−1.