Synthesis and high-efficiency methylene blue adsorption of magnetic PAA/MnFe2O4 nanocomposites

MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and polyacrylic acid PAA/MnFe2O4 nanocomposites were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and ultrasonic mixing process. The obtained materials were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, and VSM. XRD patterns indicate that the synthesized MnFe2O4 nanoparticles have a single cubic spinel phase. SEM images confirm the existence of three types of basic morphology of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles: octahedral, flower-like, and plate-like particles. High saturation magnetization Ms (up to 74.6 emu/g) of the as-synthesized MnFe2O4 nanoparticles was obtained. Experiments demonstrate that the variation of the hydrothermal reaction time does not remarkably affect the magnetic properties of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles. In PAA/MnFe2O4 nanocomposites, the coating of PAA leads to a slight decrease in magnetization of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles. Additionally, PAA coating greatly enhances the adsorption properties of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles for Methylene Blue (MB) dye. Especially, the removal efficiency reaches 96.3%. This research indicates that the as-synthesized PAA/MnFe2O4 nanocomposites exhibit excellent magnetic properties and can be taken as a promising adsorbent for removal of MB dye in industrial scale.