Novel magnetic Fe3O4-C nanoparticles as adsorbents for removal of organic dyes from aqueous solution

Highlights: → In this work, novel magnetic Fe3O4-C nanoparticles have been synthesized and employed as high efficient adsorbent for removal cationic dyes from polluted water. → While up to now, little study is done on adsorption of dyes by the Fe3O4-C nanoparticles. → Hence, here we provide a simply and environment friendly method for removal of cationic dyes or other pollutants from water. - Abstract: The magnetic Fe3O4/C core-shell nanoparticles have been synthesized by a simple strategy and used as adsorbents for removal of organic dyes from aqueous solution. The resulting products are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). Adsorption performances of the nanomaterial adsorbents are tested with removal of methylene blue (MB) and cresol red (CR) from aqueous solution. The effects of solution pH value, adsorption time and capacity of the nanocomposites have been fully investigated. The results reveal that the nanospheres can be easily manipulated by an external magnetic field with high separation efficiency. In addition, the process is clean and safe for purifying water pollution. The prepared Fe3O4/C complex nanomaterials could thus be used as promising adsorbents for the remove organic dyes, especially, cationic dye, from polluted water.