Copper(II) Removal from Aqueous Solutions by PANI-Clay Hybrid Material: Fabrication, Characterization, Adsorption and Kinetics Study

In this study, polyaniline/Clay nanomaterials (PANI/Clay) was synthesized through one-step method and used as an adsorbent to remove Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution. The PANI/Clay was characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, cyclic voltammograms and physical adsorption of gases. Adsorption parameters such as contact time, pH value, and initial metal ion concentration were investigated. The results revealed that PANI/Clay exhibits a much higher adsorption capacity than the natural clay; the attractive adsorption capacity reached 22.77 mg/g with 0.05 g of 100 mg PANI/Clay at an initial pH solution of 6 and adsorption temperature of 25 degrees C. Moreover, the Langmuir model well describes the adsorption data with the maximum sorption capacity of 22.77 mg/g. Pseudo-second-order model can fit well the kinetic data obtained from batch Cu(II) removal experiments. The Cu(II) adsorption on PANI/Clay nanocomposite was mainly attributed to electrostatic interaction, donor-acceptor interaction and intermolecular interactions.