Ultrasound assisted co-precipitation synthesis Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a magnetic adsorbent for Congo red removal

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were synthesized by the ultrasound assisted co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by various analytical tools including XRD, FESEM & TEM, VSM, BET, and FTIR. It was indicated that Fe3O4 nanoparticles have cubic structure. The size of spherical-shape Fe3O4 particles ranges from 10 to 15 nm. The Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were applied as a magnetic adsorbent to remove Congo red from aqueous solution. It is assumed that the adsorption process follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics equation. Equilibrium data fits well with Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacity is of 169.8 mg/g. This suggests that the synthesized magnetic nanoparticles could be a promising adsorbent for organic dyes removal in aqueous solutions.