Modification and Improvement of Fe 3 O 4 - Embedded Poly(thiophene) Core/Shell Nanoparticles for Cadmium Removal by Cloud Point Extraction

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.