[Adsorption of methylene blue onto vanadium-doped magnetite]

A series of vanadium-doped magnetite (Fe3-x VxO4, x < 0.4) synthesized by an oxidation-precipitation method, were characterized using chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), as well as thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) analyses. The obtained results show that the synthetic Fe3-x VxO4 has spinel structure while vanadium mostly replaces Fe3+ in the octahedral sites. The synthetic Fe3-x VxO4 is magnetic material, with crystal size ranging from 28 to 35 nm. The substitution of vanadium in the magnetite structure increases the amount of surface hydroxyls. The experimental adsorption results indicate that, in neutral pH condition, the maximum adsorption capacities of Fe3-x VxO4 increase obviously with the increase of vanadium concentration in magnetite while the adsorption isotherm complies well with the Langmuir model. The adsorption of methylene blue (MB) on Fe3-x VxO4 can get equilibrium in the first 25 min, supporting a pseudo-second order equation. Moreover, the rise of the solution pH value results in an increase of the adsorption capability of MB on Fe3-x VxO4.