Removal of Hg2+ by carboxyl-terminated hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) dendrimers grafted superparamagnetic nanoparticles as an efficient adsorbent.

In this research, carboxyl-terminated hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) dendrimers grafted superparamagnetic nanoparticles (CT-HPMNPs) with core-shell structure were synthesized by the chemical co-precipitation method, the core of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and a shell of polyamidoamines (PAMAM) and carboxyl groups, as a novel adsorbent for removing Hg2+ from aqueous systems. The surface of the particles was modified by 3-(aminopropyl) triethoxysilane, and finally, PAMAM and carboxyl dendrimers were grown on the surface up to 5.5 generation. The synthesized polymer was characterized physically and morphologically using different techniques. Also, they were evaluated in terms of adsorption capacity to remove inorganic pollutants of Hg2+, selectivity, and reusability. The adsorption mechanism Hg2+ onto CT-HPMNPs was investigated by single-step and two-step isotherms that the adsorption capacity of Hg2+ obtained 72.3 and 32.88 mg g-1 respectively at pH 5, adsorbent dosage 2 g L-1, Hg2+ initial concentrations 20 mg L-1, contact time 60 min, and temperature of 298 K by CT-HPMNPs. Also, the kinetics of Hg2+ followed the pseudo-second-order model and adsorption isotherms of Hg2+ onto CT-HPMNPs were fitted well by Freundlich (as a single-step) and two-step adsorption models with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997 and 0.9999 respectively. The results showed a significant potential of Hg2+ ions removing from industrial wastewater and spiked water by CT-HPMNPs.

Preparation of functionalized graphene oxide and its application as a nanoadsorbent for Hg(2+) removal from aqueous solution.

A poly(allyl acetoacetate)-grafted graphene oxide (GO-GAA) was successfully synthesized using Hummer's method by divinyl sulfone modification and allyl acetoacetate polymerizaton. This novel functionalized graphene oxide was characterized thoroughly by FTIR, XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, and TG-DT analyses. GO-GAA was then employed as an adsorbent for Hg(2+) removal from aqueous solutions. It exhibited higher adsorption capacity with regard to the pristine graphene oxide because of its effective functionalities, especially the dicarbonyl groups which are significant chelating agents. The effects of pH, temperature, and contact time on Hg(2+) adsorption were also investigated. The optimum Hg(2+) adsorption was obtained at pH 4 and T = 20-30 °C. The adsorption isotherm and kinetics were found to follow the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, respectively, with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 for both. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent was 282.7 mg Hg(2+) per unit mass of GO-GAA, which is much more than 56 mg/g of that obtained for GO. The results showed that adsorption reaches up to 95 % of its maximum in less than 2 min. The synthesized GO-GAA as a novel and efficient adsorbent has been regenerated by HNO3 and reused. It retained its performance for Hg(2+) removal for several times and a less than 5 % decrease in removal efficiency was observed after four cycles of adsorption-desorption.