Ghezeljeh montmorillonite nanoclay as a natural adsorbent for solid phase extraction of copper ions from food samples

We demonstrate here the extraction and removal of Cu2+ ion from aqueous solutions by Ghezeljeh montmorillonite nanoclay as a new natural adsorbent material. A copper measurement is carried out by applying the solid phase extraction method in batch mode followed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The clay is characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). The results of XRD and FTIR of nanoclay confirm that montmorillonite is the dominant mineral phase. Based on SEM images of clay, it can be seen that the distance between the plates is nano. The limits of detection and quantification are 1 and 10 mu g/L, respectively. The dynamic linear range is within the range of 10 to 50 mu g/L. The adsorption capacity and preconcentration factor are 0.65 mg/g and 102, respectively. The experimental method has been successfully applied for the determination of Cu2+ ion in a variety of real water and food samples without interfering effect of various cations and anions.