Preparation and Characterization of Materials Based on Graphene Oxide Functionalized with Fe, Mn, Ni, and Cu Oxides and Their Testing for the Removal of Water Pollutants

TL;DR

This paper explores the creation of graphene oxide materials combined with metal oxides to effectively remove pollutants like pesticides and drugs from water.

Contribution

The study introduces new graphene oxide-metal oxide nanocomposites with enhanced adsorption capabilities for water purification.

Findings

The nanocomposites showed high removal efficiencies for pesticides like cymoxanil and triadimefon.

Functionalization with metal oxides significantly improved the material's structure and adsorption potential.

The best drug removal was observed for diclofenac with 99.59% efficiency.

Abstract

Nanotechnology has emerged as a highly focused field of research due to the unique properties of nanometric materials, particularly their large specific surface areas and excellent adsorption capabilities. This study investigated the synthesis of materials based on graphene oxide (GO) functionalized with different metal oxides (MnO2, Fe3O4, CuO, NiO), with potential applications in water decontamination. The morphological, structural, and compositional properties of these nanocomposites were extensively characterized using different experimental techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) for magnetic property evaluation. Preliminary adsorption tests were performed for the removal of pesticides and drugs from aqueous solutions. The synthesized materials demonstrated a higher affinity for selected pesticides compared to drugs. The best removal efficiencies were 98.59% for cymoxanil, 97.93% for triadimefon, 63.33% for sulfamethoxazole, and 99.59% for diclofenac. The results indicate that the functionalization of GO with metal oxides modifies the material’s structure, increasing its potential for environmental applications such as water purification.

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