Dyes are considered as recalcitrant compounds and are not easily removed through conventional water treatment processes. The present study demonstrated the fabrication of polyaniline hollow microsphere (PNHM)/MnO2/Fe3O4 composites by in situ deposition of MnO2 and Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the surface of PNHM. The physicochemical characteristics and adsorption behavior of the prepared PNHM/MnO2/Fe3O4 composites towards the removal of toxic methyl green (MG) and Congo red (CR) dyes have been investigated. The characterization study revealed the successful synthesis of the prepared PNHM/MnO2/Fe3O4 adsorbent with a high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 191.79 m2/g. The batch adsorption study showed about 88 and 98% adsorption efficiencies for MG and CR dyes, respectively, at an optimum dose of 1 g/L of PNHM/MnO2/Fe3O4 at pH ∼6.75 at room temperature (303 ± 3 K). The adsorption phenomena of MG and CR dyes were well described by the Elovich and pseudo-second-order kinetics, respectively, and Freundlich isotherm model. The thermodynamics study shows that the adsorption reactions were endothermic and spontaneous in nature. The maximum adsorption capacity (Qmax) for MG and CR dyes was observed as 1142.13 and 599.49 mg/g, respectively. The responsible adsorption mechanisms involved in dye removal were electrostatic interaction, ion exchange, and the formation of the covalent bonds. The coexisting ion study revealed that the presence of phosphate co-ion considerably reduced the CR dye removal efficiency. However, the desorption-regeneration study demonstrated the successful reuse of the spent PNHM/MnO2/Fe3O4 material for the adsorption of MG and CR dyes for several cycles. Given the aforementioned findings, the PNHM/MnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposites could be considered as a promising adsorbent for the remediation of dye-contaminated water.
Keywords: adsorption mechanism; dye removal; magnetic separation; polyaniline hollow microsphere; reusability; water treatment.