Efficient removal of arsenic using graphene-zeolite based composites

Removing heavy metals from water can be considered an important problem of global magnitude due to their toxic and carcinogenic properties. The main aim of this presentation was to synthesize different composites of graphene (graphene oxide (GO) or reduced graphene oxide (RGO is referred to reduced graphene oxide, which was obtained using solvothermal method)) with Cu-exchanged zeolite A (Cu-ZEA) and nanoparticles of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) (including Fe₃O₄/RGO/, GO/Cu-ZEA, Fe₃O₄/RGO/Cu-ZEA and Fe₃O₄/GO/Cu-ZEA) for improving the properties of the individual components of mentioned composite and eventually investigate the composites' efficiency in arsenic adsorption. Among prepared composites, Fe₃O₄/RGO/Cu-ZEA composite had the highest efficiency in removing arsenic according to atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) results due to the high specific surface area, which was provided by the presence of Cu-ZEA and Fe₃O₄ in the structure of composite. Moreover, the adsorption kinetic investigation revealed that the adsorption of arsenate from aqueous suspension of Fe₃O₄/RGO/Cu-ZEA and Fe₃O₄/RGO composites followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model.