Preparation of magnetic ionic liquid/chitosan/graphene oxide composite and application for water treatment

Magnetic chitosan and graphene oxide-ionic liquid (MCGO-IL) composites as biodegradable biosorbents were synthesized by impregnating MCGO with ionic liquid. The characteristic results of FTIR, SEM, and XRD showed that MCGO-IL were successfully prepared with large surface area and good magnetic responsiveness. They were used for the removal of Cr(VI) from simulated wastewater with a fast solid-liquid separation in the presence of external magnetic field. The influence of various analytical parameters on the adsorption of Cr(VI) such as pH, contact time, and initial ion concentration were studied in detail. The adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics. The equilibrium adsorption was well-described by the Langmuir isotherm mode and the maximum adsorption capacity was 145.35 mg/g. The stronger intermolecular hydrogen bond between MCGO-IL and Cr(VI) and the hydroxyl and amine groups were believed to be the metal ion binding sites. Moreover, the MCGO-IL could be repeatedly used by simple treatment without obvious structure and performance degradation. The obtained results indicated that the impregnation of the room temperature IL significantly enhances the removal efficiency of Cr(VI). The MCGO-IL may be suitable materials in heavy metal ion pollution cleanup if they are synthesized in large scale and at low price in near future.