Eco-friendly ferrimagnetic-humic acid nanocomposites as superior magnetic adsorbents

Abstract

Recyclable, cheap, eco-friendly, and efficient adsorbent materials are very important for the removal of pollution. In this work, we report the design and implementation of ferrimagnetic-humic acid nanocomposites as superior magnetic adsorbent for heavy metals. Ferrimagnetic and ferrimagnetic-humic acid nanocomposite particles with different morphologies were prepared using the coprecipitation method and hydrothermal synthesis method, respectively. The results show that the morphology of the nanoparticles prepared by the coprecipitation method is more uniform and the size is smaller than that by the hydrothermal synthesis method. Adsorption experiments show that the ferrimagnetic-humic acid nanoparticles prepared by the coprecipitation method has high sorption capacity for cadmium, and the maximum adsorption capacity is about 763 µg/g. At the same time, magnetic technology can be used to realize the recycling of ferrimagnetic-humic acid adsorbents.