Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid coated Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanocomposite: An effective adsorbent for the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions

A novel ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) supported on Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ nanocomposite with a core-shell structure was developed, aiming to remove of copper ions from aqueous media. During the first step, Fe3O4@SiO2 nanosphere core-shell is synthesized using nano-Fe3O4 as the core, TEOS as the silica source and PVA as the surfactant. Then, Fe3O4@SiO2 was coated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The properties of surface functional groups, crystal structure, magnetism and surface morphology of magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and vibration sample magnetometry (VSM). The effect of parameters influencing adsorption efficiency including adsorbent dosage and contact time of adsorbent on the sorption behavior was assessed and discussed. The adsorption kinetics studies of the novel adsorbent in removing copper ions from waste water showed that the maximum absorption amounts of Cu(П) were 95% at 25⁰C. Desorption and reusability of Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-EDTA was also investigated for tested copper ions based on sequential adsorption desorption cycles. Therefore, all the studied results indicated that Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-EDTA nanocomposites were an efficient and reusable adsorbent for removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions.