Synthesis of polyacrylonitrile/graphene oxide nanocomposite for the removal of Cd(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous solutions

Composite adsorbent polyacrylonitrile/graphene oxide (PAN/GO) was synthesized by grafting chemical polymerization of acrylonitrile in the presence of GO nanoplatelet. The GO was prepared from activated carbon prepared from date pits and distributed within the polymeric network as nanoplatelet which was reflected on the improved adsorption performance. The synthesized PAN/GO composite (GO content of 14%) was characterized using fourier transformed infrared, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and XRD. The adsorptive removal of Cd(II) and Pb(II) onto PAN/GO was studied at varied affecting conditions. The higher adsorption obtained are 72.04% and 81.27% for Cd(II) and Pb(II), respectively. Adsorption kinetic and isotherm models studies showed considerable fitting with pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models. The results obtained from the thermodynamic parameters confirmed the spontaneous nature of the process. The prepared PAN/GO composite adsorbent proved potential removal of Cd(II) and Pb(II) with adsorbed amount 14.07 and 11.17 mg/g, respectively.