Synthesis of Fe3O4-CeO2-NH2/ chitosan/Polyvinyl alcohol nanohybrid adsorbent by casting method for adsorption of heavy metal cations from aqueous solutions

The performance of the Fe3O4- CeO2- NH2/ chitosan/ Polyvinyl alcohol nano hybrid synthesized by casting method was investigated for the adsorption of Cu (II) and Ni (II) cations from water system. The synthesized nano hybrid adsorbents were characterized by FESEM, BET and FTIR analyses. The effect of single and binary oxides content, Fe3O4-CeO2-NH2 content, pH, initial cation concentration, contact time and temperature on the adsorption capacity was evaluated in a batch system. The results showed that the adsorption capacity significantly increased after modification of adsorbent with Fe3O4- CeO2- NH2 nanoparticles. The kinetic and equilibrium data were accurately evaluated by the double- exponential and Redlich- Peterson models, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of nano hybrid adsorbent was estimated to be 246.9 and 88.6 mg / g at 45 º C for Cu (II) and Ni (II) cations, respectively. Thermodynamic investigation indicated an endothermic and spontaneous adsorption for both metal cations; and adsorption was favored at higher temperature. The synthesized nano hybrid can be easily regenerated after five cycles of adsorption- desorption.