Preparation of Fe3O4 -HNTs-polypyrrole nanocomposite for efficient adsorption of Cu(II) and Cd(II) from aqueous solution

Abstract

Easy synthesis of Fe3O4-HNTs-polypyrrole (FHP) nanocomposite was performed by in situ polymerization on the synthesized Fe3O4-HNTS by co-precipitation method. The adsorption properties of the nanocomposites for the heavy metal removal (Cu(II) and Cd(II)) were investigated. It was found that the adsorption efficiency percentage for Cd(II) and Cu(II) by 30 mg of adsorbent in 60 min was 77.2% and 82.8%, respectively. Also, the maximum adsorption capacity for Cu(II) and Cd(II) is 74.7 mg/g and 66.3 mg/g, respectively. Adsorption parameters such as contact time, solution concentration, adsorbent dosage, and pH were also studied. The adsorption was investigated by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms as well as pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. SEM images show the surface morphology of the sample, its surface porosity, and the approximate size of the nanoparticles. FTIR, BET, VSM, and TGA analyses were used to investigate the magnetic and physical properties of the nanocomposite.