Preparation and Characterization of Polyaniline/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite and its Assessment for Removal of Chromium (VI) from Aqueous Media

Graphene oxide (GO) and its composites have attracted widespread attentionas a new absorbent to remove various pollutants of heavy metals from aqueous media. In this research, Polyaniline/Graphene Oxide (PANI/GO) was prepared by in situ polymerization of aniline in presence of GO nanosheets. Then the efficiency of prepared nanocomposite was assessed for removal of chromium (VI). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate the chemical structure of PANI, GO and PANI/GO and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was applied to study the thermal properties of prepared materials. The electrical conductivity was measured for GO, PANI and PANI/GO nanocomposite. The corresponding values were 0.380 S/m, 3.005 S/m and 6.113 S/m for GO, PANI and PANI/GO respectively. Effects of contact time showed that the kinetic absorption in PANI/GO is much faster than pure PANI. As the PANI/GO nanocomposite is able to remove chromium (VI) up to 97.63% within 2 hours. The absorption capacity for this nano-adsorbent was also obtained 395.3mg/g. Kinetic studies showed that removal of Cr (VI) by PANI/GO nanocomposite follows pseudo-second-order kinetic model.