Removal and Spectrophotometric Determination of Anionic Dye Using a Polymeric Nanocomposite

Removal and spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of methyl orange (MO) in tap and Nile water using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) supported over polyurethane foam were successfully carried out. AgNPs and samples of a nanocomposite of polyurethane foam and silver nanoparticles (PUF/AgNPs) were characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Several parameters affecting dye removal such as pH, contact time, initial dye concentration were investigated. Sorption isotherms, kinetics, thermodynamics, desorption, and nanocomposite reusability were investigated. Error analysis data showed the high suitability of the Freundlich model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model for better interpretation of the experimental data. The sorbed MO was desorbed and determined spectrophotometrically. Under the optimized conditions, the calibration curve was linear from 50 to 1000 mu g/L with a correlation coefficient 0.9987. The recoveries of the dye ranged from 96.43% to 103.65%, indicating the excellent performance of the proposed method for MO determination in real samples.