Preparation, characterization and application on dye adsorption of a well-defined two-dimensional superparamagnetic clay/polyaniline/Fe3O4 nanocomposite

Well-defined two-dimensional superparamagnetic clay/polyaniline/Fe3O4 nanocomposites were successfully prepared for dye adsorption based on montmorillonite and vermiculite via a one-pot method combining in situ intercalation polymerization and coprecipitation technique. The results of XRD revealed that montmorillonite and vermiculite were well intercalated and even completely exfoliated by polyaniline and Fe3O4. Furthermore, the generated Fe(3)O(4)nanopartides with a diameter of about 10 nm and polyaniline were well confined to the surface of clay without the free aggregates. The as-prepared two-dimensional superparamagnetic nanocomposites could be served as a recycled adsorbent for the removal of dyes from aqueous solution by magnetic separation. The adsorption ratio toward 100 ppm of Brilliant green, Methylene blue, and Congo red reached 96.2%, 99.6% and 98.1%, respectively. In addition, the adsorption kinetics and the adsorption isotherm well fitted pseudo second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. It suggested that the two-dimensional superparamagnetic nanocomposites exhibited excellent adsorption ratio to cationic dyes as well as anionic dyes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.