Magnetic Graphene Based Cation Ion Exchange Material for Removal of Heavy Metal Ion (Pb²⁺) from Water

Abstract

In current scenario, water pollution is a major worldwide problem. Many of the toxic heavy metals present in the water affected human body as well as aquatic animal life. Nowadays it has been a great attention to fast removal, cost-effective, sustainable detoxification/elimination of inorganic pollutants from wastewater. In this work, we have synthesized the magnetic Graphene-based hybrid nanocomposites, which is more sensitive and better supporting material for the removal of toxic pollutants from water. The hybrid nanomaterial was prepared by mixing iron (II) and iron (III) salt precursors in the presence of GO dispersion through the co- precipitation method followed by in situ chemical reduction of GO. Further, Magnetic Graphene Oxide (MGO) functionalized with the sulfonic acid group and oxidized by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The synthesis of magnetic graphene based nanocomposites was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, Field emission Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) & EDS and magnetic behavior by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Further, sulfonated magnetic graphene oxide (SMGO) (deposited on glassy carbon electrode) acts as a strong cationic exchanger, in which the negatively charged stationary phase electrostatically binds to the positively charged Pb(II) ions and Pb(II) ion exchange by hydrogen ion. The method exhibited a linear range of Pb(II), 1ppb-10ppm using CV. The CV, EIS and SWASV showed the incorporation of SMGO for electrode improvement with specific surface area, electrocatalytic activity and conductivity supported by GO sheets. This showed that enhanced analytical performance due to higher number of active sites, resulting higher ion exchange capacity and binding affinity of SMGO. It is a simple platform to develop novel electrochemical sensor for detecting heavy metals with high performance. Subsequently, regeneration of eco-friendly SMGO and corresponding reference method for quantitative detection and removal analysis of Pb(II) ions will be tested using ion chromatography method. Figure 1