Magnetic solid phase adsorption, preconcentration and determination of methyl orange in water samples using silica coated magnetic nanoparticles and central composite design

This work evaluates the efficiency of SiO2- coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (SMNPs) for adsorption of methyl orange (MO). Adsorption of MO on the studied nanoparticle was developed for removal, preconcentration and spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of it. To find the optimum adsorption conditions, the influence of pH, dosage of the adsorbent and contact time was explored by central composite design. In pH 2.66, with 10.0 mg of the SMNPs and time of 30.0 min, the maximum adsorption of MO was obtained. The experimental adsorption data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. Both models were fitted to the equilibrium data and the maximum monolayer capacity qmax of 53.19 mg g-1 was obtained for MO. Moreover, the sorption kinetics was fitted well to the pseudo-second-order rate equation model. The results showed that desorption efficiencies higher than 99 % can be achieved in a short contact time and in one step elution by 2.0 mL of 0.1 mol L-1 NaOH. The SMNPs were washed with deionized water and reused for two successive removal processes with removal efficiencies more than 90 %. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 10.0–120.0 ng mL-1 for MO. A preconcentration factor of about 45 % was achieved by the method.