Enhanced removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous media using a highly stable and magnetically separable rosin-biochar-coated TiO2@C nanocomposite

Balal Yousaf; Guijian Liu; Qumber Abbas; Ruwei Wang; Habib Ullah; Md Manik Mian; Amina; Audil Rashid

doi:10.1039/C8RA02860E

Enhanced removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous media using a highly stable and magnetically separable rosin-biochar-coated TiO₂@C nanocomposite†

Balal Yousaf,

^ab Guijian Liu,*^ab Qumber Abbas,^a Ruwei Wang,^b Habib Ullah,^a Md Manik Mian,^a Amina^c and Audil Rashid^d

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a CAS-Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and the Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China
E-mail: lgj@ustc.edu.cn
Fax: +86-551-63621485
Tel: +86-551-63603714

^b State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710075, China

^c Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Farmland Ecological Conservation and Pollution Prevention, School of Resource and Environment, Anhui Agriculture University, Hefei 230026, PR China

^d EcoHealth Research Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Abstract

Recently, nanosized metal-oxides have been extensively investigated for their ability to remove metal ions from aqueous media. However, the activity and capacity of these nanosized metal-oxides for removing metal ions decrease owing to their agglomeration in aqueous media. Herein, we synthesized a highly stable and magnetically separable rosin-biochar-coated (RBC) TiO₂@C nanocomposite through a facile and environment-friendly wet chemical coating process, followed by a one-step heating route (pyrolysis) for efficient removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. An array of techniques, namely, TEM, HRTEM, TEM-EDS, XRD, FTIR, VSM, BET and TGA, were used to characterize the prepared nanocomposite. The pyrolysis of rosin into biochar and the fabrication of Fe onto the RBC-TiO₂@C nanocomposite were confirmed by FTIR and XRD examination, respectively. Moreover, TEM and HRTEM images and elemental mapping using TEM-EDS showed good dispersion of iron and carbon on the surface of the RBC-TiO₂@C nanocomposite. Sorption of Cr(VI) ions on the surface of the RBC-TiO₂@C nanocomposite was very fast and efficient, having a removal efficiency of ∼95% within the 1^st minute of reaction. Furthermore, thermodynamic analysis showed negative values of Gibb's free energy at all five temperatures, indicating that the adsorption of Cr(VI) ions on the RBC-TiO₂@C nanocomposite was favorable and spontaneous. Conclusively, our results indicate that the RBC-TiO₂@C nanocomposite can be used for efficient removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous media due to its novel synthesis and extraordinary adsorption efficacy during a short time period.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C8RA02860E
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 03 Apr 2018
Accepted: 03 Jul 2018
First published: 19 Jul 2018
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2018,8, 25983-25996

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Enhanced removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous media using a highly stable and magnetically separable rosin-biochar-coated TiO₂@C nanocomposite

B. Yousaf, G. Liu, Q. Abbas, R. Wang, H. Ullah, M. M. Mian, Amina and A. Rashid, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 25983 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA02860E

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