Synthesis of conductive polymer-coated mesoporous MCM-41 for textile dye removal from aqueous media

Abstract

In this paper, we aimed to evaluate Acid Blue 62 removal from aqueous media, using mesoporous silicate MCM-41, loaded with polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PAni) composites. PPy/MCM-41 nanocomposite showed higher performance than PAni/MCM-41 due to its smaller molecule size. For characterizing the synthesized composites, different methods were applied. The Langmuir model showed the greatest agreement with the experimental findings (qm, 55.55 mg g−1). The kinetic study also confirmed the compatibility between the pseudo-second-order model and adsorption. Moreover, we measured Gibbs free energy changes (ΔGo) and enthalpy changes (ΔHo). Considering the negative ΔGo and positive ΔHo, AB62 adsorption on PPy/MCM-41 nanocomposite can be considered a spontaneous, endothermic reaction.