Efficient Adsorption of Heavy Metal Ions by A Novel AO-PAN-g-Chitosan/Fe3O4Composite

In this study, a novel amidoxime-based magnetic adsorbent (AO-PAN-g-Chitosan/Fe3O4) was prepared by grafting acrylonitrile onto the surface of chitosan (CS) and magnetic Fe(3)O(4)composite, followed by amidoximation. The magnetic adsorbents were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The adsorption properties of the magnetic adsorbents for heavy metal ions in aqueous solutions were investigated under different conditions, including pH, contact time, and initial concentration of heavy metal ions. Under optimum conditions, the maximum Cu(II) and Ni(II) ion adsorption efficiencies were determined to be 38.39 mg/g and 32.68 mg/g by AO-PAN-g-Chitosan/Fe3O4, respectively. Significantly, the Fe3O4/AO-PAN-g-CS can be reproduced in a simple way and reused after five adsorption-desorption cycles without any significant loss in the adsorption capacity.