Publication

Abstract : The present work, simple sol-gel polymerization technique was used to produce novel polymeric nanocomposite materials made up of Maleic Acid / Polyethylene Glycol / Silver (MA/PEG/Ag). It was effectively used as adsorbents to eliminate chromium (VI) (Cr (VI) ion from wastewater. Swelling behaviour was explored with various pH solutions and the maximum swelling equilibrium (%) 3500 acquired in basic pH solution. The modification of functional group and rough cavity surface morphology of MA/PEG/Ag nanocomposite hydrogel was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to examine the spherical shape of nanoparticles ranging from 50 nm to 200 nm. The synthesized MA/PEG/Ag nanocomposite hydrogel is also utilized for the removal of Cr (VI) and calculating adsorption efficacy. Further, the effect of pH, adsorbent dosage and contact time were also examined. Maximum 94.8% of removal of Cr (VI) ion carried out at pH 10 with a maximum adsorption capacity of 297 mg/g was assessed by Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The optimum done at pH 10–12, contact time 240 min with an adsorbent dosage of 1.2 g for the removal of Cr (VI). Hence, the acquired results enabled to evaluate the feasibility to utilize the MA/PEG/Ag nanocomposite hydrogel for the elimination of Cr (VI) ion from wastewater through adsorption process.