Iron oxides such as magnetite and maghemite coated with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) are very promising materials for wastewater treatment because iron oxide can be easily separated from solutions using the magnetic separation procedure Iron oxide (IO) coated CTAB was synthesized by an adapted co-precipitation method. In the present study, the IO-CTAB was used for removing arsenic from water for the first time. In the present study, the performance of iron oxide coated CTAB biocomposites as an adsorbent for arsenic removal from aqueous solutions was examined. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and the results revealed a cubic phase Fd-3 m of Fe3O4 with lattice a = 8.40 Å and average crystal size equal to 17.26 ± 3 nm. The mean particle size calculated from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was 19.86 ±1.7 nm. The results of the adsorption batch experiments and the data determined using the Langmuir and Freundlich models emphasized that IO-CTAB nanoparticles were favorable for the adsorption of As(III) ions from aqueous solutions. Ultrasound measurements have shown that IO-CTAB is a cost-effective biocomposite for removing arsenic from contaminated solutions. Moreover, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has shown that during the process of arsenic absorption, there is oxidation from As(III) to As(V), which leads to a decrease in toxicity during this process. The results of the cytotoxic assays confirmed that the IO-CTAB nanoparticles did not induce any morphological changes in the HeLa cells and did not affect their proliferation after 24 h of incubation.
Keywords: CTAB coated iron oxide; adsorption; arsenic; removal; ultrasound measurements.