Effective Removal of Pb(II) from Aqueous Media by a New Design of Cu-Mg Binary Ferrite

Chinh Van Tran; Dang Viet Quang; Hoai Phuong Nguyen Thi; Tuan Ngoc Truong; Duong Duc La

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b04126

Effective Removal of Pb(II) from Aqueous Media by a New Design of Cu-Mg Binary Ferrite

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 24;5(13):7298-7306. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b04126. eCollection 2020 Apr 7.

Authors

Chinh Van Tran¹, Dang Viet Quang², Hoai Phuong Nguyen Thi¹, Tuan Ngoc Truong¹, Duong Duc La¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Chemistry and Materials, Cau Giay, Hanoi 10000, Vietnam.
² Faculty of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Phenikaa University, Hanoi 12116, Vietnam.

Abstract

Metal oxides and their composites have been extensively studied as effective adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions in environmental remediation. In this work, Cu_0.5Mg_0.5Fe₂O₄ was synthesized by a co-precipitation method followed by calcination (900 °C) and investigated for Pb(II) adsorption. The resultant samples were characterized by various analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction, N₂ adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results revealed that single-phase cubic spinel was obtained by the calcination of as-synthesized samples at a temperature of 900 °C. Cu_0.5Mg_0.5Fe₂O₄ ferrite is a mesoporous material with a surface area, a total pore volume, and an average pore size of 41.3 m²/g, 0.2 cm³/g, and 15.1 nm, respectively. Pb(II) adsorption on Cu_0.5Mg_0.5Fe₂O₄ fitted well to the Langmuir model, indicating monolayer adsorption with a maximum capacity of 57.7 mg/g. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model can exactly describe Pb(II) adsorption with the normalized standard deviation (Δq) of 1.24%. The obtained results confirmed that the Cu_0.5Mg_0.5Fe₂O₄ ternary oxides exhibit a high adsorption capacity toward Pb(II), thanks to the increase in active adsorptive sites of ferrite.