Synthesis and characterization of nano-materials containing iron oxides and their application for the removal of some toxic metal ions from water / Yassmin Abdelkader Abouelyazied Shammakh ; Supervised Nada F. Atta

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

Nano-magnetite is prepared and characterized by XRD and HRTEM; then employed as sorbent for removal of Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Cr³⁺ from contaminated and drinking water. FESEM image showed the agglomeration of magnetite particles upon adsorption. EDX and FTIR were used to prove the adsorption of the metal ions on the magnetite surface. Langmuir adsorption isotherm indicated that the maximum adsorption capacities were 576.4, 144.3 and 301.0 mgg-1 for Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Cr³⁺, respectively. This finding indicated the remarkable sorption ability of magnetite compared to other sorbents reported in literature. The adsorption was endothermic and spontaneous. The presence of naturally occurring cations such as Na⁺, Ca²⁺, and Mg²⁺ slightly retards the adsorption. Anions such as Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻, and PO₄³⁻ had no significant effect on the sorption process 4 4 except for PO₄³⁻. Moreover, magnetite can adsorb Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Cr³⁺ from a ternary 4 mixture with the same efficiency as from their individual solutions. The presented sorbent can be regenerated and reused. Real samples analysis is performed with satisfactory results compared to the deionized water which means that the magnetite performance was not affected by the matrix effect. The concentrations of metal ions were measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy

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