Iron impregnated carbon materials with improved physicochemical characteristics

• The morphology of raw AC was altered upon Fe impregnation and surface oxidation.
• Surface modification had increased the pores diameter and surface functionalities.
• Development of iron oxides have been expected on Fe impregnated carbon materials.
• The M1, M2 and M3 have revealed magnetic susceptibility in applied magnetic field.
• Dyes removal efficiency of M3 was notably higher (90–99%) than the raw AC (60–85%).

This paper highlights the effect of iron impregnation and surface oxidation on the physicochemical characteristics of iron impregnated carbon materials. These materials were characterized by various techniques like surface area, pore size distribution, SEM/EDX, CHN, XRD, FTIR, TG/DT, VSM and XPS analyses. The increase in the surface functionalities and pores diameter (3.51–5.49 nm) of the iron-impregnated carbon materials was observed with the increase in iron contents and surface oxidation. The saturated magnetization values (0.029–0.034 emu/g) for the iron-impregnated carbon materials reflected the magnetic tendency due to the development of small size iron oxides on their surfaces. The XPS spectra revealed the existence of different oxidation states of the corresponding metals on the iron impregnated carbon materials. The percentage removal of model dyes (Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange) by iron-impregnated carbon materials was enhanced (>90%) with the increase in iron contents and pores diameters.