Synthesis of silica nanoparticles grafted with copolymer of acrylic acrylamide for ultra-removal of methylene blue from aquatic solutions

In this work, silica was grafted with copolymer of acrylic acrylamide (SAA) for the ultra-removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solutions. The physicochemical characterization of SAA was carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX or EDS) analysis, mapping and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Adsorption of MB on SAA was evaluated and the influence of parameters was studied using fractional factorial design. The experimental adsorption results were well in agreement with the isotherm and kinetic models. The pseudo-second-order equation revealed a high correlation (0.996-0.999) with the kinetic data obtained at different four temperatures. The synthesized SAA had admirable MB adsorption capacity (375.9 mg/g) in comparison with literature. The results demonstrated that the SAA can be evaluated as an effective and convenient sorbent for the exclusion of dyes from wastewaters.