Efficiency of Superparamagnetic Nano Iron Oxide Loaded Poly(Acrylamide-co-Maleic acid) Hydrogel in Uptaking Cu²⁺ Ions from Water

Abstract

A novel superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles loaded poly(acrylamide-co-maleic acid) hydrogel (superparamagnetic PAM hydrogel) has been synthesized and cross-linked by methylene bisacrylamide for the investigation of its efficiency in uptaking copper ions from aqueous solution by batch method. The swelling behavior of the hydrogel was investigated. Metal ion uptake capacity of the adsorbent was evaluated in the light of varying pH, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dose, and different copper ion concentration. The synthesized superparamagnetic PAM was characterized by FTIR and XRD analysis. The structure and coating of the magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and FTIR analysis respectively. The adsorption data was fitted well in the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin models and various static parameters were calculated. It is stated that this hydrogel could be regenerated efficiently (>97%) and used repeatedly.

Keywords:

• Adsorption
• copper ions
• hydrogel
• poly(acrylamide-co-maleic acid)
• superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express thanks to the Department of Atomic Energy, BRNS, BARC, Mumbai, India (2010/37C/54/BRNS/2535, dated 23.02.2011) for providing financial assistance. The authors are also thankful to UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research Indore, India for XRD and FTIR analysis.