Insight into microwave-assisted synthesis of the chitosan-MOF composite: Pb(II) adsorption

• Main Authors: Gul Zaman, H., Baloo, L., Kutty, S.R., Aziz, K., Altaf, M., Ashraf, A., Aziz, F.
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2022
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85136564214&doi=10.1007%2fs11356-022-22438-6&partnerID=40&md5=6863f8bfd9bf2d7ccfa481d735ce38a6; http://eprints.utp.edu.my/33784/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Abstract: Heavy metal contamination has increased over the globe, causing significant environmental issues owing to direct and indirect releases into water bodies. As a result, metal removal from water entities must be addressed soon. Various adsorbents such as MOFs and chitosan have demonstrated promising results in water treatment. The present study prepared a composite material (chitosan-UiO-66-glycidyl methacrylate MOF) by a microwave-assisted method. The structure and morphology of the chitosan-MOF composite were studied using FE-SEM, EDX, XRD, BET, FT-IR, and TGA techniques. In addition, the adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solution onto the chitosan-MOF composite was analyzed in a batch study concerning pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentration, and adsorbent dosage. The composite has a large surface area of 867 m2/g with a total pore volume of 0.51 cm3/g and thermal stability of up to 400 �C. Following an analysis of the adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics, the Langmuir model showed an excellent fit with the adsorption data (R2 = 0.99) and chi-squared (X2 = 3.609). The adsorption process was a spontaneous exothermic reaction and the pseudo-second-order rate equation fitted the kinetic profile well. Moreover, the composite is recyclable, retaining 83.45 of its removal effectiveness after 5 consecutive cycles, demonstrating it as a sustainable adsorbent for metal recovery. This study introduces a novel synthesized composite with enhanced recyclability and a higher potential for eliminating pollutants from industrial wastewater. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.