Issue 6, 2023

Nanocrystalline structured ethylene glycol doped maghemite for persistent pollutants removal

Abstract

In this study, a new type of maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticles, doped with ethylene glycol (EG) were investigated. The nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and N2 adsorption/desorption technique for their morphological, structural, mineralogical and textural properties and examined in multiple adsorption/desorption cycles. Factors such as pH of the environment, adsorbent dosage and initial concentration of pollutant were studied. In case of γ-Fe2O3 the nanoparticles diameter is found to be in the range of 120–180 nm, while EG functionalized γ-Fe2O3 revealed an average diameter of about 50 nm by SEM analysis, confirmed also by TEM evaluation. The FT-IR investigation confirms the functionalization of γ-Fe2O3 with EG and EG presence within γ-Fe2O3 structure. The BET results show a substantial increase (ca. 2.9 fold) of the surface area for the nanoparticles that were synthesized in the presence of EG as opposed to EG-free nanoparticles. The maximum removal efficiency of 97.38% was obtained at pH 4 and at initial RY84 concentration of 10 mg L−1. The adsorption is slower in wastewater effluent. The adsorption of RY84 onto magnetic adsorbent was better fitted by pseudo-second order (PSO) model for the adsorption test at concentration above 20 mg L−1. However, at low dye concentrations, the experimental data were fitted slightly better by the Elovich model. The recyclability results showed that after 8 repeated experiments the adsorbent retained same very good activity, being a promising adsorbent for wastewater treatment.

Graphical abstract: Nanocrystalline structured ethylene glycol doped maghemite for persistent pollutants removal

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Dec 2022
Accepted
05 Apr 2023
First published
06 Apr 2023

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2023,9, 1634-1645

Nanocrystalline structured ethylene glycol doped maghemite for persistent pollutants removal

A. E. Maftei, I. Ahmed, M. Neamtu, C. G. Coromelci, M. Ignat and L. Brinza, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2023, 9, 1634 DOI: 10.1039/D2EW00986B

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