Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals is a serious threat. In the present work, removal of chromium was carried out using chitosan-magnetite nanocomposite strip. Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 ) were synthesized using chemical co-precipitation method at 80°C. The nanoparticles were characterized using UVvisible spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectrometer, atomic force microscope, dynamic light scattering and vibrating sample magnetometer, which confirm the size, shape, crystalline nature and magnetic behaviour of nanoparticles. Atomic force microscope revealed that the particle size was 15-30 nm and spherical in shape. The magnetite nanoparticles were mixed with chitosan solution to form hybrid nanocomposite. Chitosan strip was casted with and without nanoparticle. The affinity of hybrid nanocomposite for chromium was studied using K 2 Cr 2 O 7 (potassium dichromate) solution as the heavy metal solution containing Cr(VI) ions. Adsorption tests were carried out using chitosan strip and hybrid nanocomposite strip at different time intervals. Amount of chromium adsorbed by chitosan strip and chitosan-magnetite nanocomposite strip from aqueous solution was evaluated using UV-visible spectroscopy. The results confirm that the heavy metal removal efficiency of chitosan-magnetite nanocomposite strip is 92.33 %, which is higher when compared to chitosan strip, which is 29.39 %.

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