Green synthesis, characterization, application and functionality of nitrogen-doped MgO/graphene nanocomposite

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2021-06, Vol.28 (22), p.28014-28023
• Main Authors: Husein, Dalal Z., Uddin, Mohammad Kashif, Ansari, Mohammad Omaish, Ahmed, Sameh S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Aquatic Pollution; Aqueous solutions; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Deionization; Drinking water; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Electrochemistry; Electron diffraction; Electron microscopy; Electrons; Endothermic reactions; endothermy; energy-dispersive X-ray analysis; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Field emission microscopy; Graphene; Lead; Magnesium oxide; Metal ions; Microscopy; Nanocomposites; Nitrogen; Photoelectron spectroscopy; Photoelectrons; Research Article; river water; Rivers; Scanning electron microscopy; Spectrum analysis; Synthesis; tap water; temperature; thermodynamics; Transmission electron microscopy; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater; Water analysis; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water sampling; X ray powder diffraction; X-ray diffraction; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; X-ray spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-12628-z

A facile, feasible, and green synthesis via an electrochemical exfoliation process was applied to synthesize nitrogen-doped MgO/graphene nanocomposite (N-MgO/G). The N-MgO/G nanocomposite was characterized by several analytical techniques including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, selected area electron diffraction, and elemental mapping analysis. N-MgO/G nanocomposite was then applied to adsorb lead metal ions (Pb 2+ ) from aqueous solutions. The N-MgO/G nanocomposite demonstrated a remarkably high Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity (294.12 mg/g) for Pb 2+ ions under the optimum experimental conditions at a pH of 5.13, time of 35 min, dose of 0.025 g, the concentration of 400 mg/L, and a temperature of 36 °C. Adsorption kinetics results fitted with a pseudo-second-order model and a thermodynamic study showed that Pb 2+ adsorption is an endothermic process. The practical application of N-MgO/G was also investigated to test its applicability in real water samples collected from different sources such as deionized water, tap water, wastewater, and river water.