Fabrication and adsorption properties of novel magnetic graphene oxide composites for removal of methylene blue

ABSTRACT

The hybrid material of magnetic graphene oxide (MNPs/GO) was prepared with a facile route and adsorption properties for removal of methylene blue (MB) were investigated. Initially, the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) was modified with poly(glycidyl methacrylate) by the surface-initiated reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The modified MNPs and graphene oxide (GO) were fabricated to form MNPs/GO in N,N-dimethylformamide at 60°C. The composites were characterized by using XRD, SEM, TEM, and vibrating sample magnetometry analyses. The adsorptive removal of MB on the adsorbent obeyed a pseudo-second-order kinetic whose equilibrium data were fitted well to the Langmuir isotherm model and the maximum MB uptake of MNPs/GO was estimated from this model to be 153.85 mg/g. MNPs/GO adsorbent could be recycled and maintained 75.3% of its initial adsorption capacity for MB after five regeneration cycles.

KEYWORDS:

• Magnetic nanoparticles
• graphene oxide
• RAFT polymerization
• kinetic
• dye

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2015R1D1A3A01019109).