Synthesis and Characterization of TiFe2O4/AC Nanocomposite as Heavy Metal (Cd) Adsorbent
Soffy Septya Noviatin, Ahmad Taufiq*, Herlian Pujiarti, Arif Hidayat, Nandang Mufti, ST. Ulfawanti Intan Subadra

Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang, Jl. Semarang 5, Malang, 65145, Indonesia

Abstract

In this study, natural materials were used as the main precursors in the synthesis of TiFe2O4/AC nanocomposites for heavy metal (Cd) adsorption. The synthesis of the nanocomposite was carried out through the coprecipitation method. The characterization instruments used in this study were XRD, SEM, FTIR, Uv-Vis, and AAS to determine the structure, morphology, functional groups, and adsorption performance of the nanocomposite. The XRD pattern showed the formation of a single phase of TiFe2O4 with a cubic spinel structure. Meanwhile, AC diffraction peaks were not detected because of the very low composition in the nanocomposite. The results of refinement analysis using a Rietica program obtained a crystallite size of 9.6 nm. The SEM image showed that the morphology of the nanocomposite tended to agglomerate in nanometric size. FTIR data analysis showed the presence of AC absorption peaks that contain oxygen functional groups such as C-O and C=O. As Fe-O bonds were detected at a wavenumber of 528 cm-1. The Uv-Vis data showed that the band gap of TiFe2O4/AC nanocomposite was 2.82 eV. Furthermore, the results of AAS characterization showed that the capacity of the adsorption tended to fluctuate as the contact time increases- this was likely due to the presence of active sites of the adsorbent filled by the adsorbate. The percentage of Cd absorption produced by the TiFe2O4/AC nanocomposite was quite high, which was 93.36%.

Keywords: Heavy metal adsorbent, cadmium (Cd), TiFe2O4/AC, nanocomposite, adsorbent capacity

Topic: Magnetic materials