97 / 2016-07-08 12:05:22

Adsorption of radioactive materials from aqueous solution using template synthesized polypyrrole nanoparticles- Kinetic and isotherm studies

Polypyrrole is one of the conducting polymers of immense applications in wastewater treatment due to the presence of reactive functional groups which can coordinate with different metal ions in the solution but their ability is influenced greatly by the polymerization conditions. In this study, polypyrrole conducting polymer was synthesized on a surfactant template via chemical oxidative polymerization and the sorption ability for radioactive cobalt was investigated. The as-prepared polypyrrole material was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric (TG) and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) analysis. Adsorption behavior was studied under common environmental conditions and found that the optimum conditions of the adsorption were: pH 6, contact time of 5 h, adsorbent dose of 0.2 g and the maximum adsorption was 46.948 mg g‒1 at 20 oC. The kinetic data were well fitted with the pseudo second-order kinetic model and the isotherm data was in good agreement with the Freundlich model. Based on the results obtained, polypyrrole synthesized on a surfactant-template could be a suitable alternative adsorbent for the removal of radioactive cobalt from the aqueous solution.