Polymeric Nanocomposites of Iron–Oxide Nanoparticles (IONPs) Synthesized Using Terminalia chebula Leaf Extract for Enhanced Adsorption of Arsenic(V) from Water

Abstract

This study demonstrates the ecofriendly synthesis of iron-oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and their stabilization with polymers, i.e., chitosan (C) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-alginate (PA), along with a further investigation for the removal of arsenic(As(V)) from water. IONPs with an average diameter of less than 100 nm were prepared via a green synthesis process using an aqueous leaf extract of Terminalia chebula. Batch experiments were conducted to compare the removal efficiency of As(V) by these adsorbents. Factors such as pH and adsorbent dosages significantly affected the removal of arsenate As(V) by IONPs and polymer-supported reactive IONPs. Several adsorption kinetic models, such as pseudo first-order, and pseudo second-order Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, were used to describe the adsorption of As(V). The removal of As(V) by IONPs follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The highest monolayer saturation adsorption capacity as obtained from the Langmuir adsorption isotherm for IONPs was 28.57 mg/g. As(V) adsorption by polymer-supported IONPs best fit the Freundlich model, and maximum adsorption capacities of 34.4 mg/g and 40.3 mg/g were achieved for chitosan-and PVA-alginate-supported IONPs, respectively. However, among these absorbents, PVA-alginate-supported IONPs were found to be more effective than the other adsorbents in terms of adsorption, stability, and reusability.Among the various water treatment technologies, adsorption seems to be a more convenient and effective method for the removal of heavy metals in terms of cost and simplicity of process [10]. Iron and related adsorbents are popular for the remediation of water pollutants [11]. The intervention of nanotechnology opened a new horizon in the field of water purification [12]. Iron nanoparticles (NPs), which possess a high surface area and surface reactivity, are effectively used for water treatment [13,14]. Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVIs) and iron oxide nanoparticles, such as Fe 2 O 3 and Fe 3 O 4 NPs, are among those commonly employed for the remediation of environmental pollution, particularly for the decontamination of water [15][16][17][18]. Magnetic nanoparticles and modified magnetic nanoparticles were found to be very effective for the removal of arsenic because of their strong adsorption activities, and they can be easily separated by employing an external magnetic field [19][20][21]. Evidence of the particle size influence on the ability to remove (adsorb) arsenic from water was observed, as smaller nanoparticles were found to exhibit more adsorption capacity and faster kinetics due to their higher specific surface area, shorter intraparticle diffusion distance, and larger number of surface reaction sites of nanoparticles [22,23]. The nanopowder form of metal oxides/hydroxides provides a high surface area for increased adsorption capacity; however, this small particle size also drives the need for energy-intensive post-treatment filtration to recover the nanoparticles for regeneration and reuse [24]. To overcome this issue,...

Unveiling the role of novel biogenic functionalized CuFe hybrid nanocomposites in boosting anticancer, antimicrobial and biosorption activities

“…More so, the presence of a small background hump at 2θ range 20°–30° could be assigned to bacterial organic biomolecules associated with the NPs, which was frequently observed in green protocols and also reflected the successful functionalization with metal/metal oxides. That was supported by FT-IR as described below 6 , 23 , 32 .…”

“…As a general observation, the sharp and distinct peaks in XRD diffractograms revealed the crystalline nature of biosynthesized NPs with the lowest surface energy 22 . However, other biologically or even chemically synthesized NPs signified the production of imperfect crystals or amorphous phase 9 , 23 . The diffractogram of FCNPs showed characteristic peaks at 2θ = 30.9°, 39.42°, 44.82°, 53.53°, and 68.38° which correspond to (110), (111), (− 202), (020), and (200), Bragg’s reflection, respectively.…”

Adsorption Studies of Arsenic(V) by CuO Nanoparticles Synthesized by Phyllanthus emblica Leaf-Extract-Fueled Solution Combustion Synthesis

“…It is widely cultivated in different regions of Asia and native to Pakistan, while it is the least researched plants [30,31]. Hence, in continuation of our research being carried out by our group [32][33][34][35][36], in the present study, we have demonstrated the synthesis of CuO NPs using a solution combustion method using the leaf extract of P. emblica as fuel, which is a green alternative to synthetic-organic-compounds-based fuel such as glycine, urea, carboxymethylcellulose, DL-malic acid [37,38]. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by different techniques.…”

Advances in Methods for Recovery of Ferrous, Alumina, and Silica Nanoparticles from Fly Ash Waste

“…The magnetic properties make their recovery very easy at the end of the reaction, and they are recyclable and lower in cost. In general, IONPs exists in various forms (magnetite, maghemite, and hematite) [229][230][231] which are commonly used for the remediation of heavy metals from wastewater. These IONPs remediate heavy metals by adsorption techniques, which is one of the most effective techniques in comparison to precipitation [232,233], coagulation [232][233][234], chemical reduction [235,236], ion exchange [235,237,238] and low expenditure.…”