Fabrication of Novel Manganese Ferrite/APTES- GO/PDMS Hybrid Nanocomposite Membrane for the Removal of Organic Wastes and Toxic Heavy Metals from Contaminated Water

Abstract

Magnetic Fe3O4/GO and Ag-Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites were synthesized by facile and easy methods. The synthesized adsorbents were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and Raman to ensure the successful incorporation of nanoparticles onto GO and to investigate their structure and morphology. A detailed comparison was made between magnetic Fe3O4/GO and Ag-Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite for adsorption of inorganic as well as organic pollutants. The adsorption mechanism of REEs, heavy metals and Malachite Green dye was studied deeply. The maximum adsorption capacities (qmax) for Lanthanum, Neodymium, Samarium, Gadolinium, and Yttrium ions onto the surface of Ag-Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite were estimated to be 338.98 mg/g, 367.64 mg/g, 458.71 mg/g, 248.75 mg/g, 317.46 mg/g respectively, which are higher than adsorption capacities calculated for Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite. Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite showed maximum adsorption capacities of 278.55 mg/g, 97.46 mg/g, 208.33 mg/g, 190.11 mg/g, 98.81 mg/g for La, Nd, Sm, Gd, and Y respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities (qmax) for Ni, Cr, Co, and Cd ions onto the surface of Ag-Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite were estimated to be 102.9 mg/g, 143.41 mg/g, 110.78 mg/g, and 90.75 mg/g respectively, which are higher than adsorption capacities of Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite for heavy metals. Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite showed maximum adsorption capacities of 92.55 mg/g, 120.46 mg/g, 87.33 mg/g, and 82.11 mg/g for Ni, Cr, Co, and Cd respectively. The adsorption of heavy metals onto the surface of both nanocomposites was monolayer adsorption. Adsorption kinetics suggested the chemisorption mechanism for adsorption of heavy metals cations onto the surface of both nanocomposites. The maximum adsorption capacity for MG onto the surface of Fe3O4/GO and Ag- Fe3O4/GO nanocomposites was calculated to be 43 mg/g and 56 mg/g respectively. Hence, a multifunctional, magnetically separable, nanohybrid Ag-Fe3O4/GO nanocomposite with enhanced adsorption capacity was modified out of Fe3O4/GO which can serve to control booming water pollution.