Synthesis and Characterization of Magnetite Nanoparticles, Activated Carbon and their Composites

摘要

Magnetite nanoparticle (MNP), Fe_3O_4 was prepared via co-precipitation method, activated carbon was produced from coconut coir pith through chemical activation process. As coconut coir showed maximum weight loss at temperatures lower than 500°C, it was carbonized at 400°C in a muffle furnace in the absence of air after which it was cooled and impregnated with H_3PO_4. The synthesized Fe_3O_4 was composited with powder activated carbon synthesized from coconut coir pith in two forms. The adsorbents synthesized were characterized by physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods. The physico-chemical parameter employed include, Brunauer Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area, percentage yield, bulk density, pH, pzc, surface area, iodine value, moisture contents, volatile components, while the spectroscopic methods include Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The surface areas of MAG, ACT, MAG-AC (1:3) and MAG-AC (1:5) composites were found to be 276.956, 833.641, 444.095 and 454.569 m2/g, respectively which falls within the range of their specific surface area with the pore volume and pore sizes of (10.97, 32.86, 17.27 and 15.73 cc/g) and 3.015, 3.148, 3.091 and 3.335 nm respectively. The synthesized adsorbents can be used for a variety of environmental application including treatment of drinking water, removing colour from industrial effluents and removal of heavy metals due to their high surface area and porosity.