Dye removal from water by zinc ferrite-graphene oxide nanocomposite

In this work, zinc ferrite magnetic and zinc ferrite-graphene oxide nanocomposites were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal method and their absorbing capability for dye removal was studied. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposite. The UV-Vis results showed that the addition of as-prepared magnetic nanoparticles on the graphene oxide sheets significantly improved the adsorption of organic dye pollutants from aqueous solution. Magnetic hysteresis measurements were done on a vibrant sample magnetometer (VSM) viewing the soft paramagnetic property of the resulting products at room temperature. Structural and morphological analyses were also performed in detail. The adsorption kinetics was described by pseudo-second-order model. Zinc ferritegraphene oxide nanocomposite could be recycled suitably and possessed of adsorptive property, so it can be developed as an inexpensive and alternative adsorbent for dye wastewater treatment. Prog. Color Colorants Coat. 11 (2018), 85-92© Institute for Color Science and Technology.