Fabrication of novel magnetic nanocomposite with a number of adsorption sites for the removal of dye

In this current work, a novel functional ionic liquid-coated Fe3O4@chitosan@graphene oxide was synthesized and tested as adsorbents for methylene blue through batch adsorption tests. The physicochemical properties of the adsorbent were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was evaluated as a function of initial dye concentration, pH, contact time and temperature. The adsorption results indicated that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics. The equilibrium adsorption was well-described by the Langmuir isotherm model and the maximum adsorption capacity was to be 262 mg/g. The negative value of Delta H degrees shows exothermic nature of adsorption process and the negative value of Delta G degrees indicated that the adsorption reaction is spontaneous. Moreover, the ionic liquid-coated Fe3O4@chitosan@graphene oxide could be repeatedly used by simple treatment without obvious structure and performance degradation. The obtained results suggested that the potential applications of ionic liquid-coated Fe3O4@chitosan@graphene oxide in deep-purification of polluted water. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.