A new reusable adsorbent of polyvinyl alcohol/magnesium peroxide (PVA/ MgO2) for highly selective adsorption and dye removal

New adsorbent polyvinyl alcohol/magnesium peroxide (PVA/MgO2) nano-composite films have been designed for high selective adsorption and dye removal applications. Creation of MgO2 within 40 +/- 3 nm has been confirmed by TEM. PVA/MgO2 films have a large surface area of 59.130 m(2) g(-1), high pore volume 0.191 cm(3) g(-1) and a high negative surface charge -36.4 mV at pH environment similar to 12, which plays an important role in increasing the uptake capacity, removal efficiency and the selective adsorption performance. PVA/MgO2 nanocomposite shows a high selective adsorption for MB dyes from a mixture solution containing both MB and MO dyes. Experiments showed that 30 mg of PVA/MgO2 has the ability to remove 50 mL of 25 mg/L of MB dye with an efficiency (99.9 +/- 0.1%) in a fast time similar to 15 min under the experimental conditions. The Langmuir model is the isotherm model, the pseudo second order is the adsorption kinetics as well as the exothermic is thermodynamic process of the adsorption process. In addition, PVA/MgO2 nano-composite shows a high catalytic activity, in the recycling test, for ten cycles of MB adsorption.

Automated summary

The new PVA/MgO2 nano-composite films have been designed for high selective adsorption and dye removal applications, showing a large surface area, high pore volume, and high negative surface charge at a specific pH environment to enhance uptake capacity and removal efficiency. The nanocomposite exhibits a high selective adsorption for MB dyes and can remove 99.9% of 25 mg/L MB dye in 15 minutes under experimental conditions. Additionally, it shows high catalytic activity in MB adsorption over ten cycles.