Efficient treatment of lead-containing wastewater by CoFe2O4/graphene nanocomposites

Reports verified that lead contamination in water is the major reason behind numerous chronic health problems, and its removal was the crucial concern issue. Versatile hard-prepared nanoferrite particles were utilized as a sorbent material for removal of some heavy metal ions from water such as lead(II). In this contribution, magnetic nanoparticles with graphene adsorbents (CoFe2O4/GR) have been synthesized by citrate auto-combustion techniques. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analyser. The high saturation magnetization of the samples can be affected by the external magnetic field, which is encouraging in the high capacity adsorption application. The effects of pH value and the contact time on the adsorption process were studied and optimized in order to achieve the maximum possible adsorption efficiency of the cobalt–graphene. The analyses reveal that 99% of Pb(II) has been removed from water by CoFe2O4/0.02GR. The specific advantages of the prepared samples are ease of separation, high adsorption per unit area, low cost as well as recycled with remarkable efficiency. Two models of adsorption isotherms (Freundlich and Langmuir) are utilized to understand the adsorption mechanism. The investigated samples are recommended to be used as a refillable adsorbent for highly efficient removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions.