Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt Ferrite/Zinc Oxide Nanocomposite Combined with Activated Carbon for Cu Removal Application Falichal Abida Fi Ramadhani, Ahmad Taufiq*, Nandang Mufti, Robi Kurniawan, Arif Hidayat, ST. Ulfawanti Intan Subadra
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Malang
Abstract
In this research, cobalt ferrite/zinc oxide nanocomposite combined with activated carbon for the application of Cu removal was successfully synthesized by co-precipitation and sol-gel methods. Identification of the crystal structure through X-ray diffraction characterization showed the formation of the spinel cubic structure for the cobalt ferrite nanoparticles and the hexagonal wurtzite structure for the ZnO nanoparticles. The result of the SEM characterization showed that the morphology of the sample had a spherical shape and chunks. The average particle size for the spherical shape was 65.4 nm. FTIR spectrum confirmed the presence of all component materials that contained of cobalt ferrite, zinc oxide, and activated carbon. The adsorption performance for Cu removal was tested by varying contact time for 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes. The adsorption activity showed that the Cu removal efficiency reached 99% with an adsorption capacities of 11.00 mg/g. Therefore, the prepared cobalt ferrite/zinc oxide nanocomposite combined with activated carbon opens a new potency as a new material for Cu removal application.
