Mesoporous (organo) silica decorated with magnetic nanoparticles as a reusable nanoadsorbent for arsenic removal from water samples

Abstract

Over the last decade, numerous removal methods using solid-supported magnetic nanocomposites have been employed in order to remove arsenic from aqueous solution. In this report, removal of arsenic from aqueous solution by an organo silica, namely, magnetic mobile crystalline material-41 (MCM-41) functionalized by chlorosulphonic acid (MMCM-41-SO₃H), was investigated using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The synthesized magnetic mesoporous materials have satisfactory As (V) adsorption capacity. Linearity for arsenic was observed in the concentration range of 5–100 ppb. In addition, the coefficient of determination (R²) was more than 0.999 and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.061 ppb. Considering these results, MMCM-41-SO₃H has a great potential for the removal of As (V) contaminants and potentially for the application in large-scale wastewater treatment plants.

Keywords:

• magnetic nanoparticles
• mesoporous
• arsenic removal
• atomic absorption spectroscopy
• adsorbent

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support of this work by Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The authors are also grateful to Jafar Soleymani and Vahid Panahi-Azar for their assistance on experimental works.