Iron oxide nanoparticles modified with ionic liquid as an efficient adsorbent for fluoride removal from groundwater

A promising ionic liquid modified iron oxide was synthesized with a co-precipitation method using trihexyltetradecylphosphonium chloride ionic liquid as a multifunctionalized material. The removal of fluoride was investigated by batch study. Ionic liquid with iron oxide nanoparticle characterization was conducted by Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscope, X-ray powder diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. Batch adsorption was analyzed by varying parameters namely pH (8), contact time (30 min), adsorbent dosage (0.06 g/L), temperature (30 degrees C), initial concentration (10 mg/L), and stirring rate (400 rpm). The regression coefficient (R-2) was the best fit at pseudo-second-order which was 0.99. The best isotherm model was Langmuir model which showed an adsorption capacity of 67.9 mg/g with maximum fluoride removal 96%. However, iron oxide modified with ionic liquid showed an efficient fluoride removal capacity and it can also be considered as an excellent adsorbent from aqueous solution. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.