Magnetic nanocellulose: A potential material for removal of dye from water

Nasim Amiralian; Mislav Mustapic; Md Shahriar A Hossain; Chaohai Wang; Muxina Konarova; Jing Tang; Jongbeom Na; Aslam Khan; Alan Rowan

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122571

Magnetic nanocellulose: A potential material for removal of dye from water

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Jul 15:394:122571. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122571. Epub 2020 Mar 20.

Authors

Nasim Amiralian¹, Mislav Mustapic², Md Shahriar A Hossain³, Chaohai Wang⁴, Muxina Konarova⁴, Jing Tang⁴, Jongbeom Na⁴, Aslam Khan⁵, Alan Rowan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia. Electronic address: n.amiralian@uq.edu.au.
² Department of Physics, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek, Trg Ljudevita Gaja 6, 31000, Osijek, Croatia.
³ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia; School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
⁴ Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia.
⁵ King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 32229386
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122571

Abstract

In this study, cellulose nanofibers are used as a template to synthesise magnetic nanoparticles with a uniform size distribution. Magnetic nanoparticles are grafted on the surface of nanofibers via in situ hydrolysis of metal precursors at room temperature. Effects of different concentrations of nanofibers on the morphology, the crystallite size of magnetic nanoparticles, and the thermal and magnetic properties of the membrane produced from the cellulose nanofibers decorated with magnetic nanoparticles are examined. The sizes of magnetic nanoparticles produced in this study are below 20 nm, and the crystallite size of the nanoparticles is in the range of 96-130 Å. The flexible magnetic membranes containing a high concentration of magnetic nanoparticles (83-60 wt%) showed superparamagnetic behaviour with very high magnetic properties (67.4-38.5 emu g^-1). The magnetic membrane was then used as an environmentally friendly, low-cost catalyst in a sulphate radical-based advanced oxidation process. The membranes successfully activated peroxymonosulphate (PMS) to remove Rhodamine B (RhB), a common hydrophilic organic dye applied in industry. 94.9 % of the Rhodamine B was degraded in 300 min at room temperature, indicating that the magnetic nanocellulose membrane is highly effective for catalyzing PMS to remove RhB.

Keywords: Advanced oxidation processes; Cellulose nanofiber; Dye removal; Iron oxide; Magnetic nanoparticles; Nanocellulose; Water treatment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't