Synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanocomposites based on Hydrogel-Fe₃O₄ and application to remove of organic dye from waste water

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Jahanbakhsh, Ali^a | Pirsa, Sajad^{a; *} | Bahram, Morteza^b

Affiliations: [a] Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran | [b] Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Sajad Pirsa, Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. Tel.: +989145454914; Fax: +9844 32752746; E-mail: pirsa7@gmail.com.

Abstract: In this work a new magnetic nanocomposites based on Fe3O4-Hydrogel and Fe3O4@SiO2-Hydrogel were synthesized. The poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) was used as hydrogel compound. The hydrogel has the strong ability to remove some organic and inorganic compounds like methylene blue from water samples. Fe3O4 nanoparticles have the magnetic character that could help to the separation of hydrogel from the water after removal process by a magnet. The morphology of the hydrogel, Fe3O4, Fe3O4-Hydrogel and Fe3O4@SiO2-Hydrogel was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The structure of hydrogel and presence of the Fe3O4 and SiO2 particles in the hydrogel nanocomposite was verified by FT-IR spectroscopy. The synthesized nanocomposites were used to remove the methylene blue from wastewater samples. Central Composite Design (CCD) and response surface method were used to optimize some parameters that affect the magnetic character, removal ability and removal efficiency, so the time of removal (minute), pH and the amount of hydrogel (mg) as important parameters were optimized by designing experiments. Determination of removal efficiency was done by spectrophotometric method. Results showed that the Fe3O4@SiO2-Hydrogel had the more efficiency than Fe3O4-Hydrogel and the removal efficiency of methylene blue from water by synthesized Fe3O4@SiO2-Hydrogel was between 50–95% that in the optimized condition it was almost 95%. Relative standard deviation (RSD) for 5 replicates the removal of methylene blue with synthesized sorbent was 4%.

Keywords: Fe₃O₄, magnetic particles, hydrogel, nanocomposite, waste water, methylene blue

DOI: 10.3233/MGC-170228

Journal: Main Group Chemistry, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 85-94, 2017