Core-shell Fe3O4@zeolite NaA as an Adsorbent for Cu2+

Here, using Fe3O4@SiO2 as a precursor, a novel core-shell structure magnetic Cu2+ adsorbent (Fe3O4@zeolite NaA) was successfully prepared. Several methods, namely X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) were used to characterize the adsorbent. A batch experiment was conducted to study the Cu2+ adsorption capacity of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA at different pH values, contact time, initial Cu2+ concentration and adsorbent does. It is found that the saturated adsorption capacity of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA on Cu2+ is 86.54 mg/g. The adsorption isotherm analysis shows that the adsorption process of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA to Cu2+ is more consistent with the Langmuir model, suggesting that it is a monolayer adsorption. Adsorption kinetics study found that the adsorption process of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA to Cu2+ follows the pseudo-second kinetics model, which means that the combination of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA and Cu2+ is the chemical chelating reaction. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the adsorption process of Fe3O4@zeolite NaA to Cu2+ is endothermic, with increasing entropy and spontaneous in nature. The above results show that Fe3O4@zeolite NaA is a promising Cu2+ adsorbent.