Adsorption of simazine herbicide from aqueous solution by novel pyrene functionalized zinc oxide nanoparticles: Kinetics and isotherm studies

This study reports on the synthesis of novel functionalized zinc oxide nanoparticles for the removal of simazine from aqueous solution. The zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via co-precipitation method. The func-tionalization was done with 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4-phenyl-2,3-diazobutadiene via covalent coupling. The synthesized materials were characterized with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyzer (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscope (EDX), x-ray diffractometer (XRD) and thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) and found that the materials were successfully synthesized. From all batch adsorption experiments, the adsorbent showed high removal efficiency (maximum adsorption efficiency = 72%) and high adsorption capacity (highest adsorption capacity = 137 mg/g). Kinetics and isotherm studies were done using three commonly used kinetic models and isotherms respectively. The material also showed reusability and desorption capability. These results showed that this material could serve as an alternate material for the removal of simazine from aqueous solutions and other contaminants.