Graphene oxide impregnated with iron oxide nanoparticles for the removal of atrazine from the aqueous medium

The present study proposes development of an adsorbent based on combination of graphene oxide (GO) and iron oxide (alpha-gamma-Fe2O3) nanoparticles for atrazine removal from water. The synthesized adsorbent (GO@ alpha-gamma-Fe2O3) was characterized using different techniques. Magnetic measurements proved that the adsorbent has superparamagnetic characteristics, thus facilitating its magnetic separation from the working suspensions. The maximum adsorption capacity was 42.5 mg g(-1). The Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second order kinetic models correlated adequately with the experimental data. The thermodynamic data showed that atrazine adsorption was spontaneous, endothermic and thermodynamically favorable.