Facile synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4/analcime nanocomposite for the efficient removal of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions from aqueous media

Faisal K Algethami; Asma S Al-Wasidi; Eida S Al-Farraj; Hanadi A Katouah; Ehab A Abdelrahman

doi:10.1186/s11671-023-03848-y

Facile synthesis and characterization of Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite for the efficient removal of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions from aqueous media

Discov Nano. 2023 Apr 25;18(1):70. doi: 10.1186/s11671-023-03848-y.

Authors

Faisal K Algethami¹, Asma S Al-Wasidi², Eida S Al-Farraj¹, Hanadi A Katouah³, Ehab A Abdelrahman^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11623, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia. asalwasidi@pnu.edu.sa.
³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, 21955, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, 11623, Saudi Arabia. EAAAhmed@imamu.edu.sa.
⁵ Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, 13518, Egypt. EAAAhmed@imamu.edu.sa.

Abstract

In the water purification field, heavy metal pollution is a problem that causes severe risk aversion. This study aimed to examine the disposal of cadmium and copper ions from aqueous solutions by a novel Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite. A field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the synthesized products. The FE-SEM images showed that the analcime and Fe₃O₄ samples consist of polyhedral and quasi-spherical shapes with average diameters of 923.28 and 28.57 nm, respectively. Besides, the Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite consists of polyhedral and quasi-spherical shapes with average diameters of 1100.00 nm. The greatest uptake capability of the Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite toward the copper and cadmium ions is 176.68 and 203.67 mg/g, respectively. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir equilibrium isotherm best describe the uptake of copper and cadmium ions using the Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite. The uptake of copper and cadmium ions using the Fe₃O₄/analcime nanocomposite is exothermic and chemical in nature.

Keywords: Adsorbents; Cadmium ions; Copper ions; Nanostructures.