Nanocomposites of Magnetite and Layered Double Hydroxide for Recyclable Chromate Removal

Nanocomposites containing magnetic iron oxide (magnetite) nanoparticles and layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets were prepared by two different methods, exfoliation-reassembly and coprecipitation, for aqueous chromate adsorbent. According to X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, both nanocomposites were determined to develop different nanostructures; LDH nanosheets well covered magnetite nanoparticles with house-of-cards-like structure in exfoliation-reassembly method, while coprecipitation resulted in LDH particle formation along with magnetite nanoparticles. Zeta-potential measurement also revealed that the magnetite surface was effectively covered by LDH moiety in exfoliation-reassembly compared with coprecipitation. Time, pH, concentration dependent chromate adsorption tests, and magnetic separation experiments exhibited that both nanocomposites effectively adsorb and easily collect chromate. However, exfoliation-reassembly nanocomposite was determined to be slightly effective in chromate removal by ~10%. Chromate adsorbed nanocomposites could be regenerated by treating with bicarbonate and the regenerated nanocomposites preserved ~80% of chromate adsorption efficacy after three times of recycling.