Volume 43, Issue 6 pp. 1214-1223
Research Article

Polyacrylonitrile/α-Fe2O3 Hybrid Photocatalytic Composite Adsorbents for Enhanced Dye Removal

Seyed Mohammadreza Miraboutalebi

Seyed Mohammadreza Miraboutalebi

Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Center of Excellence for Membrane Research and Technology, Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, 1684613114 Tehran, Iran

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Mohammad Peydayesh

Mohammad Peydayesh

Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Center of Excellence for Membrane Research and Technology, Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, 1684613114 Tehran, Iran

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Maryam Bagheri

Maryam Bagheri

Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Center of Excellence for Membrane Research and Technology, Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, 1684613114 Tehran, Iran

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Toraj Mohammadi

Corresponding Author

Toraj Mohammadi

Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Center of Excellence for Membrane Research and Technology, Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, 1684613114 Tehran, Iran

Correspondence: Toraj Mohammadi ([email protected]), Center of Excellence for Membrane Research and Technology, Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran, 1684613114, Iran.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 20 March 2020
Citations: 10

Abstract

The potential of a novel α-Fe2O3/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hybrid composite adsorbent to eliminate methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution was evaluated. PAN was selected as the base composite. The presence of α-Fe2O3 as nanophotocatalyst on the surface of PAN introduced an efficient photocatalytic hybrid composite adsorbent for degrading MB. Effects of α-Fe2O3 nanopowder loading, pH, temperature, MB initial concentration, solar light, and contact time were investigated. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms were applied to analyze the adsorption behavior. The Freundlich equation provided the best correlation with experimental data. Pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle models were employed. Thermodynamic studies indicated an endotherm and spontaneous adsorption process in a defined temperature range.

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