Removal of Pb(II) Ion from Aqueous Solution Using As-synthesized CuO/Cu2O Nanocomposites

In this paper, the spherical CuO/Cu2O nanocomposites were synthesized using co-precipitation accompanied by annealing at 500 and 600 degrees C. The as-synthesized CuO/Cu2O nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The XRD and FT-IR results proved the successful synthesis of the CuO/Cu2O nanocomposite. Spherical shapes of the samples confirmed by the TEM images with narrow particle size distribution. The average size of the nanocomposites synthesized at 600 degrees C (39 nm) was smaller than that of the nanocomposites synthesized at 500 degrees C (46 nm). In addition, the samples were chemically activated using H2O2 and used as new adsorbents to remove the Pb(II) ion from an aqueous solution. The effect of solution pH, sorbent dose, initial Pb(II) concentration, and the contact time were studied. Results showed that the highest efficiency (85% for the nanocomposites synthesized at 500 degrees C and 92% for the nanocomposites synthesized at 600 degrees C) was obtained at pH 6, 90 min contact time, 30 ppm Pb(II) solution, and 0.02 g of the sorbent. The Pb(II) adsorption equilibrium data were fitted well to the Langmuir model.