Synthesis of ZnFe2O4: 1 wt% Ce3+/Carbon fibers composite and investigation of its adsorption characteristic to remove Congo red dye from aqueous solutions

Abstract

In this work, ZnFe2O4: 1 wt% Ce3+/Carbon fibers composite-based adsorbent with high adsorption capacity was synthesized using electrospinning as well as solvothermal approaches. Then, the produced compounds were characterized by XRD, SEM, FE-SEM, EDS and BET methods. Adsorption behavior was studied by using Congo Red (CR) solution. The effects of pH, initial dye concentration, as well as contact time on removal behavior were investigated. The results showed that, at the acidic environment, the removal of contamination due to the negatively charged surface of adsorbent would be enhanced. The investigation of contact time revealed that, with increasing time, the rate of removal efficiency increased up to its maximum value at the equilibrium time. The BET analysis revealed that the specific surface area of the mesoporous structure composite is as high as 93.7 m2/g and it provides a high surface area to the adsorption contaminate. In this work, Langmuir and Freundlich models were employed to investigate the mechanism of interaction between adsorbent and adsorbate, and the obtained results indicated that the Langmuir model is predominant for this adsorption system with the maximum adsorption capacity of 265.2 mg/g.