Physical studies on polymer composites of chitosan with high doping nano-clays and their effect on removing iron from the ground water / Mai Abdelmonem Mahfouz ; Supervised Adel Mohamed Badawy Shehap , Rbab Ahmed Nasr Elsheikh

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Physics

Chitosan biopolymer and the nanoclaymontmorillonite (MMT) are prepared in form of thin films by casting technique with different weight percentage (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 %) of MMT/Chitosan. Sonication method is used to obtain well dispersion as possible of MMT into chitosan. XRD, IR, UV/visible and thermal studies have been used to investigate the structural changes and the thermal stabilities for these high doping samples in order to be applicable for certain applications. The XRD confirms the existence of the interaction between chitosan and MMT and the IR showed that disappearance of some bands ,the displacement of amid groups and the changes of intensities in IR spectra that support the existence of structure changes depending upon the percentage of the load nanoclay MMT in Chitosan .The UV visible spectra showed certain absorption bands in the UV ranges at the low percentage of MMT as well as an evidence of the plasmon effect at high loading. The optical parameters such as the absorption edge, band tail , optical band energy and the refractive index are estimated for the all different samples.The thermal analysis such as DSC and derivative TGA data are used to calculate the thermodynamic parameters through the decomposition processes that provide an evidence of the thermal stability and the complexion between nanoclaywith Chitosan. On the other side three high doping samples are treated for the adsorption process for iron ions from ground water taking in consideration the effect of pH, Temperature, adsorbent dose and the initial concentration of adsorbant. Theoretical models such as langumiur and Frendulich are used to study the isotherm process of clatting and to calculate the thermodynamic parameters such as G (Gibes function) ,H (Heat of information) ,and

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