Hagenia abyssinica-Biomediated Synthesis of a Magnetic Fe3O4/NiO Nanoadsorbent for Adsorption of Lead from Wastewater

Abdurohman Eshetu Ferenj; Daniel Manaye Kabtamu; Ayalew H Assen; Gangaraju Gedda; Adem Ali Muhabie; Mhamed Berrada; Wubshet Mekonnen Girma

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c08151

Hagenia abyssinica-Biomediated Synthesis of a Magnetic Fe₃O₄/NiO Nanoadsorbent for Adsorption of Lead from Wastewater

ACS Omega. 2024 Feb 2;9(6):6803-6814. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c08151. eCollection 2024 Feb 13.

Authors

Abdurohman Eshetu Ferenj¹, Daniel Manaye Kabtamu², Ayalew H Assen^{1

3}, Gangaraju Gedda^{4

5}, Adem Ali Muhabie⁶, Mhamed Berrada⁷, Wubshet Mekonnen Girma¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Science, Wollo University, P.O. Box 1145, Dessie, Ethiopia.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
³ Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence (ACER CoE), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Lot 660 - Hay Moulay Rachid, 43150 Ben Guerir, Morocco.
⁴ Central Research Laboratory, K S Hegde Medical Academy, NITTE (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangaluru 575018, Karnataka, India.
⁵ Department of Animal Science & Technology and BET Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 17546, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural and Computational Science, Woldia University, P.O. Box 400, Woldia, Ethiopia.
⁷ Institute of Science Technology and Innovation (IST&I), Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Lot 660 - Hay Moulay Rachid, 43150 Ben Guerir, Morocco.

Abstract

Magnetic nanocomposite adsorbents are cost-effective, environmentally friendly, easy to use, and highly efficient at removing metals from large volumes of wastewater in a short time by using an external magnetic field. In this study, an Fe₃O₄/NiO composite nanoadsorbent was prepared by varying the mass percent ratios of NiO (50, 40, 30, 20%), which are denoted Fe₃O₄/50%NiO, Fe₃O₄/40%NiO, Fe₃O₄/30%NiO, and Fe₃O₄/20%NiO, respectively, using Hagenia abyssinica plant extract as the template/capping agent and a simple mechanical grinding technique. The nanocomposites were characterized using an X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption, and ζ-potential measurements. The adsorption performance of the nanoadsorbent was assessed for the removal of lead (Pb²⁺) ions from aqueous solutions. Among the composite adsorbents, Fe₃O₄/50%NiO demonstrated the best Pb(II) removal efficiency (96.65%) from aqueous solutions within 80 min at pH 8, at a 100 mg/L lead concentration and 0.09 g of adsorbent dose. However, with the same parameter, only 62.8% of Pb(II) was removed using Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs). The adsorptive performance indicated that the optimum amount of porous material (NiO) in the preparation of the Fe₃O₄/NiO composite nanoadsorbent, with the aid of H. abyssinica plant extract, enhances the removal of toxic heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Multiple isotherm and kinetic models were used to analyze the equilibrium data. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic studies were found to follow the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics, respectively.