Modification and Improvement of Fe3O4-Embedded Poly(thiophene) Core/Shell Nanoparticles for Cadmium Removal by Cloud Point Extraction

Advances in Applied NanoBio-Technologies 2020, Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages: 20-27
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Modification and Improvement of Fe3O4-
Embedded Poly(thiophene) Core/Shell
Nanoparticles for Cadmium Removal by Cloud
Point Extraction
Y. Sadeghipour1, F.Mojoudi2, G.Behbudi3*
1
Department of Biotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
2
Department of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.
Received: 20/01/2020 Accepted: 20/02/2020 Published: 20/03/2020
Abstract
Cloud Point Extraction (CPE) as an effective method for pre-concentration and separation of cadmium from aqueous solution is
widely utilized. This study involves a surfactant mediated CPE procedure in order to remove cadmium from waste water using
Polythiophene nanoparticle and Triton X- 100 as a non – ionic surfactant. Polythiophene – coated iron nanoparticles was successfully
synthesized with novel method and as a super magnetic nano-particles (MNPs) for cadmium removal from aqueous solution was
evaluated. Polythophene nano-particles emulsifying method have been synthesized and fabricated. Fabricated nano-particle was
characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and analysed transmission electron microscopy (SEM). Effects of
pH, buffer volume, extraction time, temperature, amount of nano-particle were essentially investigated. To reach in optimum
conditions, related experiments were replicated and accomplished as well. For removal of cadmium by CPE approach the optimization
conditions were gained at pH = 7 , volume of buffer acid 1.5 millilitre , electrolyte concentration (NaCl) of 10 -3 mole L-1 , Trinton
concentration 5 %, cloud point temperature 80 0 C , extraction time 40 minutes, and 5 mg of modified polythiophene nano-particle.
The calibration graph was liner with a correlation coefficient of 0. 9984 and represents appropriate liner correlation with an amount
and concentration. The results revealed that 5 gram of modified nanoparticle can significantly increase the efficiency of cadmium
removal.
Keywords: Polythiophene, Iron nanoparticles, Cadmium removal, Cloud Point Extraction
1 Introduction1
Heavy metals are released into the environment due to various
industrial activities such as mining, plating plants, metal
finishing, welding and ably manufacturing. Cadmium as one of
the most toxic metals is interred to human body via food chain
and air pollution. Cadmium has high –life time from 10 up to 33
years and can be readily accumulated in body organisms like
liver and kindness [1-5]. Heavy metals are not biodegradable and
with accumulation in living organisms, and having high toxicity
leading to serious health problems. Several techniques involving
reverse osmoses, membrane process, bio sorption, adsorption,
ion- exchange, solvent extraction, Chemical precipitation, Nano
filtration, Reveres osmoses have been widely used for waste
water treatment. Separation and preconcentration procedure
using a – non anionic surfactant can form a micelle solution that
in metal removal are easily used. Liquid- Liquid extraction
(LLE), Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), co precipitation , cloud
point extraction (CPE), dispersive liquid liquid micro extraction
(DLLME) and ionic liquid – based single step micro extraction
have commonly been considered and utilized for separation of
heavy metals. Polythiophene as a conjugated polymer with high
Corresponding author: G.Behbudi, Department of Chemical
Engineering, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.
E-mail: Gitybh@gmail.com
thermal stability and electrical properties at various industries
such as chemical and electrical is widely used [6, 7].
Polymerization of thiophene is formed with electro
polymerization, metal – catalyzed coupling reactions and
chemical oxidative polymerization. Cloud point extraction as a
separation approach has complied with “ Green Chemistry “ and
because of its simplified , highly efficient , low cost , has
attracted. Basic principles of CPE is related to phase change
behaviour of nonionic surfactants in aqueous solutions.
Cadmium ions are thoroughly transferred to the surfactant – rich
phase and measured by electro thermal atomic absorption
spectrometry and the surfactant – rich phase is separated by
centrifugation [1, 7]. It has been proven that this approach has
high efficiency both for organic and inorganic components.
Kemplova et al (2013) explored the utilization of the iron
nanoparticles for heavy metals removal Cadmium, Lead, and
Copper for environment. Cadmium, Lead, and Copper. Their
study showed after 24 hours of interaction, the surface of the
nanoparticles adsorbed 100 % applied concentration of all the
heavy metal. They used of Cd(No3)2, Pb(No3)2, Cu(No3)2,
standard, residues nanoparticles were removed by membrane
filtration. George Z and et al (2014) explored graghene oxide
and its application as an adsorbent for waste water treatment.
Usually graphene oxide as magnetic particle is used, and has
recently been used to waste water treatment. Their Study showed
that graghene oxide nanocomposites for the enrichment and
J. Adv. Appl. NanoBio Tech.
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21
removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from large volumes
of aqueous solution can be used [8-11]. Xiang zhao et al (2012)
investigated the removal of heavy metal ions Cd, Zn, Pb, Cu,
from aqueous solution by polymer- modified magnetic
nanoparticles. They proposed several nanoparticles such as,
Fe304 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) modified with 3- amino
propyltriethoxysilane (Aps) and copolymer of acrylic acid (AA)
and crotonic acid (CA). Their study showed that MNPs could be
more effective for removal of such heavy metal and maximum
adsorption capacity was seen at pH= 5.5. Abbas Afkhami et al (
2010 ) investigated simultaneous removal of heavy- metal ions in
waste water using nano- alumina modified with 2, 4-
dinitrophenyl hydrazine (DNPH). The results displayed that
adsorbent has the highest adsorption capacity for removal of Pb (
ii), Cr (iii) and Cd (II) [5, 12]. Xiupei Yang and et al (2017)
investigated cloud point extraction – flame atomic adsorption
spectrometry for preconcentration and determination of trace
amounts of silver ions in water samples. PH of the aqueous
solution as effective factor was presented and highest adsorption
was seen at pH 5.0 [13]. Shahrm nekouei and Farzin nekouei
(2015) investigated the application of cloud point exteraction for
manganese (II) determination in water samples. They studied
various parameters such as pH, concentration of CHAPSO as
chelating agent, Ion pairing reagent concentration, nonionic
surfactant concentration, and Ionic salt concentration. Their
study showed that the quantities of manganese in the water
samples from the rivers located in much more than the non-
industrial area [14]. Cloud point extraction based on ion
association system (CPE) has much higher sensitivity compared
to CPE located one simple metal- chelate complex. Wael et al
(2014) evaluated cloud point extraction of some precious metals
using Triton X- 114 and a thiomide derivative with salting – out
effect. The main factor such as pH, Concentration of the ligand,
amount of Trinton as nonionic surfactant were investigated.
They reported the enrichment factors 52, 46, and 56 for
palladium, silver, and gold respectively [15]. Dilek et al (2017)
studied pre concenteration and determination of Cd, Zn and Ni
using microorganism streptomycess [16]. The optimum pH
values, amount of adsorption, elution solution and flow rate were
studied. They reported recovery of Cd, Zn, and Ni by this
microorganism 77.83, 93.80, and 98.73 respectively. Cennet
Karadaş (2017) evaluated a novel cloud point extraction method
for separation and pre concentration of cadmium and copper
from natural waters. Various parameters such as sample pH,
ligand amount, concentration of surfactant, incubation
temperature and time were investigated and optimized. Their
results showed good agreement with certified values and was
applied to tap water, river water and seawater samples with
satisfactory results [17]. This work presents the improved nano-
particle in order to separate cadmium as heavy metal from
aqueous solution. Such nano-particle has been prepared with two
different approach and polythiophene nano-particle as super
magnetite was synthesized with emulsion method. In fact we
have improved and increased the efficiency of iron nano-particle
for better extraction.
2 Materials and Methods
2.1 Materials
All chemicals and reagents were analytical grade. SDS,
thiophene, hexadecane, FeCl2.4H2O (99.9% w/w), FeCl3.6 H2O
(96% w/w), diphenylamine sulfonic acid, KCl salt, citrate,
hydrochloric acid (37% w/w) and ammonia solution (25% w/w),
were purchased from Merck (Darmstadt, Germany) and used
without further purification. Cadmium (II) was purchased from
Sigma-Aldrich, Germany. The spectrophotometric measurements
were carried out with a Cintra 101 spectrophotometer (GBC
Scientific Equipment, Australia) at a wavelength of 420 nm. A
transmission electron microscope (906E, LEO, Germany), pH-
meter (632Metrohm, Herisau, Switzerland) and a super magnet
(1.2 T, 10cm×5cm×2 cm) were used. In order to determine the
particle size and morphology of the prepared nano-particles a
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) model Jsm 6400 jeol
company (Tokyo, Japan) was used. To observation of the formed
surface modification both nano-particle Fe and Fe3O4 @ PTe
nano-particle, Fourire – transform in frared (FT- IR) was
employed.
2.2 Experimental Section
Polythiophene – coated iron nano-particles was successfully
synthesized with novel method and as super magnetic nano-
particles (MNPs) for removal of cadmium from aqueous solution
was evaluated. Fabricated nanocomposites were characterized by
Fourier transform infer- red (FTIR), and analyzed transmission
electron microscopy. In order to sustain the pH of sample
solutions and at the determined optimum pH a suitable buffer
should be selected and used, therefore different buffers with pH
= 7 were investigated. For this purpose, a number of volumetric
balloons of 50 millilitres were prepared and 0.005 grams of
polythiophene / iron nanoparticles, 10 millilitres of triton (X-
100), 0.5 millilitres of sodium chloride solution and 0.5
millilitres from cadmium (II) solutions with concentrations of mg
10 milligram per litters and 1.5 millilitres of phosphate buffers,
folic acid, potassium hydrogen phthalate and citrate, with pH = 7
were added into them, with water were volume. After shaking
the balloons, the contents of the balloon were transferred to a
centrifuge tube of 50 millilitres. In order to carry out the
extraction process, the cloud points of the tubes were placed in a
hot bath at 80 ° C for 40 minutes and then were placed in an ice
bath for 30 minutes. The control solutions were prepared in the
same way in the absence of analyte. Then the upper blue phase
was discarded and the bottom phase, which was a pre-condensed
fermentation-rich phase, was centrifuged for 2 minutes and the
nanoparticles were discarded, then 3 millilitres of nitric acid 3
molar units were added to the nanoparticles and were centrifuged
for 3 minutes. Subsequently, the nanoparticles were transferred
to a test tube and the concentration of metal ions in the final
solution was measured by a flame atomic absorption device.
Based on the results, it can be seen that in the range of 0.1-0.5
millilitres of the physicochemical buffer, there is an increasing
trend in the recovery rate of cadmium, therefore, the amount of
1.5 millilitres of the financial buffer solution acid is considered
as an optimal buffer volume. The citrate buffer solution with pH
4.5 was prepared using citric acid (0.1 M), NaOH and HCL (0.1
M).
2.3 Preparation of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Modified by
Polythiophene Nanoparticles
The reaction was performed in a 250mL flask equipped with a
mechanical stirrer at 50 ◦C. 0.1 g SDS and 2 g thiophene was
added into 60mL deionized water and the mixture was stirred at
300 rpm for 20 min. Magnetic polythiophene nanoparticles were
prepared by co-precipitation method. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were
synthesized by the co-precipitation of ferric and ferrous salts.
The amount 4.55 g of FeCl3•6H2O, 3.89 g of FeSO4•7H2O and
1 g polythiophene nanoparticles were dissolved in 320 ml of
deoxygenated distilled water. After stirring for 1 h, chemical
precipitation was achieved at 80°C under vigorous stirring by
adding 40 ml of NH3 solution (25%, v/v). During the reaction
process, the pH was maintained approximately at 10. After
adding ammonia solution, it was stirred for 1 h. afterwards, the
precipitate was washed with distilled water to remove all existing
in the effluents. Next, using a magnet, magnetic adsorbent
prepared into the balloon bottom was collected and the above
solution was discarded. Then the adsorbent was washed 5 times

22
with distilled water and again by using a magnet the above
solution was discarded till non-magnated particles and also
additional non-reacted ammonia with chlorides and iron sulfates
were removed within the adsorbent particles. The discontinuous
extraction method is used in this research.
2.4 Adsorption Experiments
The adsorption experiments were done by means of batch
method. 0.03 g of Polythiophene – coated iron nano particles
were equilibrated with 50 ml of solution containing various
amounts of nickel in the presence of 0.03 g of diphenylamine
sulfonic acid. The pH value of the samples was adjusted by using
diluted solutions of NaOH and HCl (0.1 M). After addition of
Polythiophene – coated iron nano particles, the resulting solution
was stirred for a defined time 5 min. Then, the suspension was
allowed to settle by a magnet and the supernatant was analyzed
for measuring the remaining Cadmium (II) by atomic absorption
apparatus. In all experiments adsorption percentage of the
Cadmium (II) (R %) was calculated with equation (1):
(1)
Where C0 and Cf represent the initial and final ion
concentrations, respectively. All experiments were done
duplicate. Samples of the Cadmium (II) solution were analyzed
using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer at λmax=420 nm. All
measurements were conducted triplicate.
Where C0 and Cf represent the initial and final ion
concentrations, respectively. All experiments were done
duplicate. Samples of the Cadmium (II) solution were analyzed
using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer at λmax=420 nm. All
measurements were conducted triplicate.
3 Results and Discussion
3.1 Characterization of Nanocomposites:
To characterize the functional groups in adsorbent, FTIR was
applied. The FT-IR spectra of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in the range of
400-4000 cm-1
are represented in Fig. 2 (a). An adsorption band
at 593 cm-1 is belonged to the vibrations of the Fe-O functional
group. The bands appearing at 3447 cm-1
can be attributed to O-
H group that cover iron oxide surfaces in an aqueous
environment. Modification of Polythiophene –onto the Fe3O4
was also ascertained by FTIR. As shown in Fig2 (b), the sharp
peak at 612 cm-1
corresponds to Fe-O vibration in magnetite. The
peak at 3412 cm-1
belongs to the C-H bond of polythiophen that
indicates the presence of Polythiophene – coated iron nano-
particles. Also, several peaks have been viewed in this Figure
which can be related to the groups of C=C, N-H and etc.
Furthermore, SEM images provide information about size and
morphology of Polythiophene – coated iron nanoparticles. Figs
(15) and (16) are shown SEM images, respectively. It can be
observed that the magnetic nano-particles with the mean size of
70 nm have a high surface area and abundant pore for adsorption
of ions. Also, particle size distribution of adsorbent is displayed
in Fig 2 (b). As shown the average size of particles is about 70
nm.
3.2 Effect of Solution pH and Buffer Volume
Initial solution pH is one of the effective parameters in
adsorption of metal ions, because hydrogen ion competes with
metal ions to relocate active sites of the adsorbent (Rafatullah et.
al., 2009). As is shown from Fig (3), effect of solution pH on
recovery of cadmium at range 4 to 10 has been studied.
Figure 1. Schematic of PT- Fe3O4 preparation.
Figure 2. (a): FT-IR spectra of Fe3O4 nano-particles, (b): Particle size
distribution of adsorbent.
(a)
(b)

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Maximum of recovery is seen at pH = 7, therefore pH= 7 as
optimum pH was selected and optimization of other effective
factors to measure metal ions was accomplished at this pH. In
optimization step was observed that preconcentration process at
pH lower than 7 was not formed as well. As well as the results
showed that at pH high than 7.0 amount of adsorption decreases.
Showed decreased amount of adsorption at high than 7.0 .The
effect of pH was conducted by mixing 0.03 g (0.6 g/L) of
adsorbent in 50 ml Cadmium solution with the concentration of
20 mg/L. HCl and NaOH was utilized for the purpose of keeping
pH in the range of 4-10 throughout the experiments. It can be
observed that the removal of Cadmium increased with increase in
pH and reached a maximum at pH (7). At lower pH values,
Cadmium removal was inhibited, because at low pHs the
medium contains a high concentration of hydrogen ions,
therefore competition between H+ and Cadmium for the
available adsorption sites could be possible. The percentage
removal of Cadmium was observed to be sharp between pH
values of 7. At pH values greater than (7), the adsorption of
Cadmium decreases because of the precipitation of resulting
from Cadmium reacting with Polythiophene /Fe3O4
nanoparticles. In further works, the pH of the solutions was
adjusted by using Phosphate buffer volume. The effect of buffer
volume on the removal efficiency is displayed in Fig. (4)
Figure 3. Effect of solution pH.
Figure 4. Effect of buffer volume (ml).
Figure 5. Effect of electrolyte concentration.
Figure 6. Effect of temperature.
3.3 Select of the Buffer Type
The results show that the adsorption rate in the presence of a
fiscal acid buffer is in good agreement with the results obtained
from the pH optimization step. While phosphate buffers, citrate
and potassium hydrogen phthalate interfere with this
measurement method.
3.4 Effect of Electrolyte Concentration
The effect of different concentrations some multi-electrolytes
such as, (adjusted by KCl), on the cloud extraction point of iron-
modified poly-thiophene nanoparticles in the presence of ions of
cadmium (II) were investigated. According to the gained results,
it was observed that the presence of low electrolyte
concentrations up to a concentration of 3 to 10 molar pre-
concentration of the nanoparticles was carried out well in the
surfactant-rich phase and significant increase in concentration
greater than 10 -3 was not observed.
3.5 Effect of Cloud Extraction Temperature
In order to investigate the cloud extraction process in the
range of 85-70 ° C, As it is clear from figure (6) adsorption
recovery increased with increase of temperature and after 80
adsorption capacity decreased considerably. Accordingly this
temperature as optimum temperature is considered.
3.6 Effect of Contact Time
Contact time is one of the important parameters in adsorption
process. The effect of stirring time on the performance of nano-
particles in adsorbing cadmium (II) was investigated. The
solution pH and Fe3O4 nanoparticles modified by polythiophene

24
dosage were fixed at their obtained optimum values. Fig. (7)
Shows removal efficiencies for cadmium (II) as a function of
stirring times (20- 50 min). These data elucidate that adsorption
started immediately upon adding the Fe3O4 nanoparticles
modified by polythiophene to cadmium (II) solution. The
removal efficiency of cadmium (II) was rapidly increased from
as the stirring time was increased from 20 to 40 min. The results
showed that the adsorption efficiency with increasing contact
time and reached adsorption equilibrium within 40 min. After
this time, the increase in adsorption capacity for cadmium (II) is
not significant. Therefore, 40 minutes is selected as the optimal
time. The kinetics adsorption of cadmium (II) consists of two
stages: the initial rapid stage is related to the instantaneous
adsorption stage or external surface adsorption due to the
availability of more numbers of free adsorption sites and lower
mass transfer resistance on the surface during adsorption. The
second stage is slower, it refers to the gradual adsorption stage
where intraparticle diffusion controls the adsorption rate when
the total metal adsorption sites are saturated as long as the metal
adsorption reaches the equilibrium.
Figure 7. Effect of contact time.
Figure 8. Effect of adsorbent dosage.
The Effect of Polythiophen Modified with Iron Nano Particles
Regarding the results, it was observed that by adding more than 2
milligrams of polythiophene nanoparticles modified with iron
nanoparticles to the studied system, the absorption changes
diagram in terms of the amount of polythiophene nanoparticles
modified by the iron nanoparticles was added in a maximum
amount, with the slope that is very slight and the chart is almost
flat. Therefore, the optimal amount of polythiophene
nanoparticles modified with iron nanoparticles added to the
system with a final amount of 5 mg was considered.
3.7 Effect of Adsorbent Dosage
The effect of adsorbent dose on the removal of cadmium (II)
ions is studied by changes the adsorbent dosage and without any
changes in other parameters. The Figure ( 8 ) has shown with
increasing adsorbent dose, removal efficiency increased. This
phenomenon is due to an increase in the available binding sites
on the surface of the adsorbent to adsorption of cadmium (II)
ions. The removal efficiency of cadmium (II) increases
dramatically from 93.88% to 96.3% and from 94.82% to 98.65%
when the PT-Fe3O4 dosage increases from 0.1 to 0.3 g increases,
then the efficiency decreases with further increase of the
adsorbents dosage.
3.8 Calibration Curve
According to determined optimum condition in the previous
section the calibration curve using sample volume 50 mililiters
for different concentrations of cadmium (II) was plotted. This
curve as is shown in fig (8) in the concentration region (3-250
mg L-1) was linear for cadmium (II). The liner equation and
correlation coefficient for these results are obtained as follows
.The amount of the correlation coefficient in the linear of this
method is equal to .09984 and indicates the appropriate linear
relationship between the values of A and concentration.
0221/0 + C0043 / 0 = A
Where C is the concentration of cadmium in the sample
solution and A is the amount of absorption relative to the control.
The correlation coefficient for the method in the linear range of
this method is equal to 0.9989 and indicates the appropriate
linear relationship between the values of A and the
concentration.
Figure 9. Cadmium (II) calibration curve.
3.9 Adsorption Isotherms
Batch adsorption applications were analyzed using Freundlich
and Langmuir isotherm models. Freundlich model assumes that
the uptake of adsorbate occurs on a heterogeneous surface of the
adsorbent (fig11). The Langmuir model describes the monolayer
sorption process onto the adsorbent surface with specific binding
sites. The linearized forms of the model equation is given as

25
Freundlich model (Eq. 2) and linear plot of the model of
Freundlich is shown in Fig 11 [Freundlich, 1906].
(2)
Langmuir model (Langmuir, 1918):
Ce /qe = 1/KLqm +Ce/qm (3)
In Eq. (2) KF (Lg-1) and n (dimensionless) are Freundlich
isotherm constants, being indicative of the extent of the
adsorbent and the degree of nonlinearity between solution
concentration and adsorption, respectively. The plot of ln qe
versus ln Ce for the adsorption was employed to generate KF and
n from the intercept and the slope values, respectively. In Eq. (3)
qm is the monolayer adsorption capacity of the adsorption (mol
g-1); and KL is the Langmuir constant (L mol_1), and is related
to the free energy of adsorption. A plot of 1/qe versus 1/Ce for
the absorption of Cadmium (II) onto modified biomass shows a
straight line of slope, 1/qm KL, and intercept, 1/qm. In order to
determine the variability of adsorption, a dimensionless constant
called as separation parameter ‘RL’ was used and defined as in
the Eq (4):
(4)
Where Co is the highest initial Cadmium (II) concentration
(mol L-1
). The value of separation parameter indicates the shape
of isotherm to be either favorable (0 < RL < 1), unfavorable (RL
> 1), linear (RL = 1) or irreversible (RL = 0) (Hall et al., 1966;
Weber and Chakravorti, 1974).
3.10 Modeling of Isothermal Adsorption
The capacities of magnetic nanoparticles to adsorb Cadmium
(II) were examined by measuring the initial and the final
concentration of Cadmium (II) at the pH of 4.5 and the
temperature of 25 °C in a batch system. Both Langmuir and
Freundlich adsorption isotherms were used to normalize the
adsorption data. The correlation of ion adsorption data with the
Langmuir isotherm model was higher (with r2 values of 0.9825)
than the Freundlich model (r2 = 0.996). Summarizes the models,
constants, and coefficients are listed in Fig (10).and Fig (11).
According to this table, the maximum predictable adsorption
capacity Cadmium (II) is 454.54 mg ion/g adsorbent. KL
represents the equilibrium adsorption constant, and therefore
higher values of KL were indicative of a favorable adsorption
process.
3.11 Kinetic Modeling of Adsorption
To describe the adsorption behaviour and rate, the data
obtained from adsorption kinetic experiments were evaluated
using pseudo first- and pseudo-second-order reaction rate
models. Fig (12) gives a summary of these models and constants
along with the determination coefficients for the linear regression
plot of the testing ion. As shown in Fig.13 higher values of r2
were obtained for pseudo-second-order adsorption rate models,
indicating that the adsorption rate of Cadmium (II) onto the
magnetic nanoparticles can be described best by using the
pseudo-second order rate rather than the first-order.
Figure 10. Linear plot of the model of Langmuir.
Figure 11. Linear plot of the model of Freundlich
Figure 12. Linearized pseudo-first order plots

26
Figure 13. Linearized pseudo-second order plots
3.12 Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM)
Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) Figure (15) shows the
SEM images for the Fe3O4-Embedded Poly(thiophene)
Core/Shell Nanoparticles, which confirms that the Fe3O4 MNPs)
PT) are cubic and highly uniform in size. In addition, Figure (14)
shows the PSA image spectra for the Fe3O4 MNPs coated with
Poly (thiophene).
Figure 14. SEM images of Fe3O4 nano particle
Figure 15. SEM images of Poly thiophene/Fe2o3 particle
4 Conclusion
In this study Cloud Point Extraction (CPE) approach in order
to removal of cadmium from industrial waste water was used.
For separation and pre-concentration of cadmium ions, nano-
Poly(thiophene) particles with novel procedure have been
succucefully synthesized and calibrated. Different effective
parameter such as pH, extraction time, buffer volume, cloud
point temperature, and amount of used nanoparticles were
investigated. Results show with. Optimum condition and amount
5 mg of applied nano-particles, cadmium can be separated up to
95 %. The adsorption kinetics fit well with the pseudo-second-
order model and the equilibrium data fit well with the Langmuir
model. The kinetic studies concluded that the adsorption of
Modification Fe3O4- Poly (thiophene) Core/Shell Nanoparticles
followed pseudo-second order rate equation, while the removal
with iron oxide nanoparticles followed pseudo-first and pseudo-
second order rate equations. Resulting tests on the Cadmium (II)
removal from effluent using Modification of Fe3O4- Poly
(thiophene) Core/Shell Nanoparticles showed the potential
applicability of these absorbents in industrial waste water
treatment.
Ethical issue
Authors are aware of, and comply with, best practice in
publication ethics specifically with regard to authorship
(avoidance of guest authorship), dual submission, manipulation
of figures, competing interests and compliance with policies on
research ethics. Authors adhere to publication requirements that
submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere
in any language.
Competing interests
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that
would prejudice the impartiality of this scientific work.
Authors’ contribution
All authors of this study have a complete contribution for data
collection, data analyses and manuscript writing.
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