Effective removal of phosphate from aqueous solution using mesoporous rodlike NiFe2O4 as magnetically separable adsorbent

• The oxalate precursor is synthesized by wet chemistry route in the control of PVA.
• Mesoporous rodlike NiFe2O4 built by nanoparticles has been prepared.
• The rodlike NiFe2O4 possesses large specific surface area and good magnetic property.
• The adsorption behavior of P on the as-prepared NiFe2O4 is investigated in detail.
• The used materials can be magnetically separated and regenerated.

A mesoporous rodlike NiFe2O4 built by nanoparticles has been prepared via thermal decomposition of the oxalate precursor, which was synthesized by wet chemistry route at room temperature. The morphology and structure of the products have been characterized by SEM, TEM, TG–DTA, XRD, FTIR and nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement. The results show that the obtained mesoporous NiFe2O4 possesses uniform morphological structure, large specific surface area and good magnetic property. The adsorption behavior of phosphate onto the as-prepared NiFe2O4 in aqueous solutions is also investigated. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetic experiments indicate that the adsorption isotherm data are well fitted by Langmuir isothermal model with the maximum adsorption capacity of 39.3 mg g−1 and the adsorption kinetics follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation. Furthermore, the used materials can be magnetically separated and regenerated. The as-prepared mesoporous NiFe2O4 is an effective adsorbent for the removal of phosphate from waste water.

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