Copper Oxide NanoParticles Loaded Chitosan Films for Adsorption of Azo Dyes

Abstract

Textile effluents contain variety of chemicals that have complex chemical composition and due to their stable nature they are difficult to be treated. There are different techniques for dye removal which includes chemical, physical and biological. Amongst these nano sized metal oxide nanoparticles and chitosan based porous films as adsorbents attracted much attention due to its low cost. Present study aims at using Neem leaves (Azadirachta indica) leaf extract for the preparation of NPs.In this work, a novel adsorptive membranes of chitosan/poly ethylene glycol (CH/PEG/CuO) nano composites were prepared:wherein Chitosan provides functional groups (-NH2) while PEG provides strength. Copper oxide(CuO) NPs were incorporated to determine its effect on Chitosan/PEG blend films. It was found that the two polymers were miscible in the blends of Chitosan PEG and CuO NPs. By adjusting the polymer concentration in solution, a variety of CH/PEG/CuO nano composite films with surface pore size in the range of ~120nm-250 nm analyzed from SEM were prepared. Moreover, PEG was added as a solution modifier. The fabricated nano composites were characterized using SEM , FTIR , (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and XRD. Batch experiments were conducted at varying parameters like dye concentration, nano adsorbent mass and effect of contact time to compare adsorptive efficiency of nano adsorbents. Results indicated that the methyl orange removal was more in comparison with Methylene Blue. Optimal removal of 96% was obtained for azo dyes. Contact time and kinetics of adsorption confirmed that the process could be explained by second order kinetics. This study concludes that biosynthesis procedure applied; offer simple, ecofriendly and cost effective method for nano adsorbents synthesis .