Abstract
Microwave (MW)-assisted remediation of heavy metals toxicity using a powerful environmental-friendly nanocomposite of magnetic graphene oxide functionalized tryptophan (MGO-Trp) was explored in this work. Magnetization of GO with Fe3O4 nanoparticles prepared in situ was uniformly achieved and then covalently bonded to Trp. The structural characterizations and thermal stability of synthetic MGO-Trp nanocomposite were investigated by FT-IR, XRD and TGA. A homogenous flake-like surface of well magnetized GO sheets was manifested by SEM and TEM images. The surface area measurements and BET method (adsorption/desorption curve) indicated a surface area = 10.157 m(2) g(-1) and mean pore diameter = 13.229 nm. MW-technique and MGO-Trp nanocomposite declared an efficacious sorption of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Cr(VI) ions with high adsorption capacity values. Different factors, MW-contact time, temperature, pH, nanocomposite dose and metal concentration affecting on the adsorption capacity, were followed up. The highest values of adsorptive capacities of Pb(II) and Cd(II) were observed to be 4800 and 5400 mu mol g(-1), respectively at pH 7 and MW-contact time of only 20s. The Cr(VI) species were efficiently extracted at pH 2 with capacity values = 3400 mmol g(-1). Kinetic studies brought to light that the adsorption system was agreeing with pseudo-second order and Elovich than either pseudo-first order or intraparticle diffusion models. Thermodynamic parameters (Delta H degrees, Delta S degrees and Delta G degrees) were also evaluated and provided spontaneous exothermic adsorption for both Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions, while spontaneous endothermic adsorption behavior was observed for Cr(VI) species. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) models and their parameters were investigated, confirming favorable and rapid adsorption processes. The potential applications of MGO-Trp as a felicitous and high performance nanocomposite of the mentioned metal ions in presence of other competing ions as well as from naturally contaminated water samples were successfully accomplished in fast effective operations with extraction percentages close to 100%. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.