Piyush Gupta, Amrita Kaushik, Garima Nagpal, Markus Diantoro, Firdaus Mohamad Hamzah, Faisal Islam Chowdhury, Pramod K. Singh
The ZnFe₂O₄-PANI nanocomposite has been developed as an adsorbent for the removal of Crystal Violet (CV) dye from aqueous solutions in the present study. The structural and functional characteristics of this material were systematically evaluated through various characterization techniques such as BET, FTIR and XRD. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed significant vibrational bands associated with key functional groups that facilitate dye adsorption and confirmed the successful synthesis of the zinc-ferrite polyaniline nanocomposite, as evidenced by shifts in the peaks corresponding to ZnFe₂O₄ and PANi. The adsorption efficiency demonstrated a pH-dependent behaviour, increasing from 42 % at pH 3.0 to 88 % at pH 9.0, while a decline was observed above pH 9, attributed to electrostatic repulsion effects. The adsorption kinetics were effectively described by the pseudo-second-order model, with a maximum removal efficiency of 89 % achieved after a contact period of 60 mins. The analysis of the adsorption isotherm corroborated the applicability of the Langmuir model, indicative of a monolayer adsorption mechanism. Under optimal conditions (pH 9, 0.5 g of adsorbent in 50 ml of solution, and a 60-minute contact time), the ZnFe₂O₄-PANi nanocomposite exhibited endothermic and spontaneous adsorption characteristics. These findings suggest that this material possesses a high capacity and strong affinity for CV, thereby positioning it as a viable adsorbent for dye removal. © 2025 The Authors
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, NCR Campus, Delhi−NCR Campus, Delhi−Meerut Road, Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, 201204, India; School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Seneca College, Canada; Department of Environmental Sciences, School of Basic Science and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201306, India; Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; Centre for Defence Foundation Studies, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, Kem Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, 57000, Malaysia; Department of Chemistry, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh; Center for Solar Cells and Renewable Energy, Dept. of Physics, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201306, India
