Copper oxide nanoparticles for the removal of divalent nickel ions from aqueous solution

Abstract

This study focused on the synthesis of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles by chemical precipitation method for the uptake of divalent nickel ions from aqueous media. The adsorption capacity was 15.4 mg/g under optimum conditions. The kinetic models were applied to find out the mechanism for the removal of nickel ions. The study indicated that the optimum conditions for nickel sequestration were pH = 7.0, initial concentration = 100 mg/L, nanoparticle dose = 0.2 g/L, contact time = 90 min, temperature = 26 ± 1 °C and rpm = 180. These results could be useful for the sequestration of Ni(II) ions from wastewater.

Keywords:

• Kinetic models
• XRD
• adsorption
• CuO
• Nickel removal

Acknowledgements

The authors thank University Grant Commission (UGC), New Delhi for providing financial assistance in the form of Dr. D.S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship to the corresponding author. Authors would also like to acknowledge department of chemistry, for analyzing CuO nanomaterial for FTIR and Institute of Environment Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra for providing lab facilities.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by UGC in the form of Dr. D. S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship to the corresponding author.