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. 2022 Mar 7;12(12):7433-7445.
doi: 10.1039/d2ra00034b. eCollection 2022 Mar 1.

Novel magnetic nickel ferrite nanoparticles modified with poly(aniline- co-o-toluidine) for the removal of hazardous 2,4-dichlorophenol pollutant from aqueous solutions

Mahmoud Abdelwahab Fathy  1 , Ayman H Kamel  1   2 , Saad S M Hassan  1
Affiliations

Novel magnetic nickel ferrite nanoparticles modified with poly(aniline- co-o-toluidine) for the removal of hazardous 2,4-dichlorophenol pollutant from aqueous solutions

Mahmoud Abdelwahab Fathy et al. RSC Adv. .

Abstract

Chlorinated organic and phenolic compounds are still purely studied by many researchers because of their severe damage to the aquatic environment and their carcinogenic effect on many living organisms. Therefore, there is a great interest in removing these environmental pollutants from aqueous mediums by easy and inexpensive methods. Herein, novel nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nano composite modified with poly(aniline-co-o-toluidine) (PAOT) is prepared, characterized, and used for the removal of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) as an organic chlorinated environmental pollutant. The morphological properties of the composite are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) methods. The prepared composite is tested for the removal of the hazardous dichlorophenol pollutant from aqueous solutions. Under optimized conditions and with effective control of parameters including, contact time, pH of the test solution, adsorbent dose, and temperature, over 83% of the pollutant is adsorbed and removed. The adsorption capacity is 162 mg g-1. Adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherm and some physicochemical parameters of the reaction are evaluated. The Redlich-Peterson isothermal model is the appropriate model for describing the adsorption process. These results indicate that NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposites are promising adsorbents for the removal of persistent organic pollutants (e.g., DCP) from aqueous solutions. The results also reveal that modification of NiFe2O4 particles with poly(aniline-co-o-toluidine) (PAOT) significantly enhances the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent. This is probably due to the electrostatic attraction and non-covalent interactions (e.g. π-π) between the aromatic rings in both dichlorophenol and poly(aniline-co-o-toluidine) copolymer. Advantages offered by using NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposites are the high stability, reasonable efficiency, reusability for at least five adsorption-desorption cycles and the ability to remove the adsorbent from aqueous solutions for reuse using an external magnetic field.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with the submission to your esteemed journal.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. FTIR spectra of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images of (A) NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and (B) NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Effect of contact time on 2,4-DCP removal from aqueous solutions by: (A) NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and (B) NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite [conditions: initial conc. of 2,4-DCP solution = 30 mg L−1, adsorbent dose = 0.04 g for (A) and 0.03 g for (B), pH = 4, volume of solution = 50 mL].
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Kinetics plot of pseudo first order (I) and second order (II) for adsorption of 2,4-DCP onto NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (a) and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite (b).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6. Effect of adsorbent dose on 2,4-DCP removal from aqueous solutions using NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (a) and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite (b) [conditions: initial conc. of 2,4-DCP solution = 30 mg L−1, contact time = 4 h and 2 h for (a) and (b); respectively, pH = 4, volume of solution = 50 mL].
Fig. 7
Fig. 7. Effect of pH on 2,4-DCP removal from aqueous solution using NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (a) and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite (b) [conditions: initial conc. of 2,4-DCP solution = 30 mg L−1, volume of solution = 50 mL, contact time = 4 h and 2 h, and adsorbent dose = 0.04 g and 0.03 g for (a) and (b); respectively].
Fig. 8
Fig. 8. Plots of zeta potential as a function of pH for NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9. Effect of initial concentration of 2,4-DCP solution using NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (a) and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite (b) [conditions: adsorbent dose = 0.04 g for (a) and 0.03 g for (b), pH = 4, volume of solution = 50 mL, contact time = 4 h for (a) and 2 h for (b)].
Fig. 10
Fig. 10. (I) Langmuir, (II) Freundlich, and (II) Redlich–Peterson isotherms for removal of 2,4-DCP using NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (a) and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite (b).
Fig. 11
Fig. 11. 2,4-DCP adsorption–desorption cycles on NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 12
Fig. 12. 3D-Simulation of the adsorption mechanism of 2,4-DCP on NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
Fig. 13
Fig. 13. Schematic 2D-Simulation for the adsorption mechanism of 2,4-DCP on NiFe2O4 nanoparticles and NiFe2O4/PAOT nanocomposite.
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