Carboxymethyl cellulose assisted morphology controlled synthesis of Mn3O4 nanostructures for adsorptive removal of malachite green from water

The physicochemical properties of manganese oxides and their different applications mainly depend upon their crystallite size, morphology, phase structure, and surface properties, which are again dependent on the preparation methods. So, a simple, cost-effective, and versatile synthesis method for such materials is highly desirable. Intending to accomplish this, herein we report the synthesis of Mn3O4 nanostructures by alkaline hydrolysis of the corresponding metal ions in an aqueous medium. The addition of a biodegradable polymer, sodium salt of carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC) assisted the development of specific morphology, which is tunable by varying the concentration of the biopolymer. The spectroscopic, microscopic, and diffractometric analyses of the synthesized Mn3O4 nanostructures confirm that this particular simple technique is very effective in controlling the morphology of the formed nanostructures. These Mn3O4 nanostructures exhibit excellent adsorption capacity in the removal of malachite green (MG) from its aqueous solution under ambient conditions. The adsorption process is exothermic following pseudo-second-order kinetics with a maximum dye adsorption capacity of 489.68 mg g- 1 according to the Sips isotherm model. The Mn3O4 nanostructures can be reused for up to five cycles of dye adsorption without significant loss of their adsorption performance.