The existence of heavy metals and organic pollutants in wastewater is a threat to the ecosystem and a challenge for researchers to remove using common technology. Herein, a facile one-step in situ oxidative polymerization synthesis method has been used to fabricate polyaniline@waste cellulosic nanocomposite adsornt, polyaniline-embedded waste tissue paper (PANI@WTP) to remove copper(II) and phenol from the aqueous solution. The structural and surface properties of the synthesized materials were examined by XRD, FTIR, TEM, and a zeta potential analyzer. The scavenging of the Cu(II) and phenol onto the prepared materials was investigated as a function of interaction time, pollutant concentration, and solution pH. Advanced kinetics and isotherms modeling is used to explore the Cu(II) ion and phenol adsorption mechanisms. The synthesized PANI@WTP adsorbent showed a high intake capacity for Cu(II) than phenol, with the maximum calculated adsorption capacity of 605.20 and 501.23 mg g-1, respectively. The Langmuir equilibrium isotherm model is well-fitted for Cu(II) and phenol adsorption onto the PANI@WTP. The superior scavenging capability of the PANI@WTP for Cu(II) and phenol could be explained based on the host-guest interaction forces and large active sites. Moreover, the efficiency of the PANI@WTP for Cu(II) and phenol scavenging was excellent even after the five cycles of regeneration.
Keywords: PANI@WTP nanocomposite; adsorption; copper; isotherms; kinetics; phenol.