Facile synthesis of flower shaped magnesium ferrite (MgFe2O4) impregnated mesoporous ordered silica foam and application for arsenic removal from water

Abstract

Magnesium ferrite (MF_0.33) impregnated flower-shaped mesoporous ordered silica foam (MOSF) was successfully synthesized in present study. MOSF was added with precursor solution of MF_0.33 during MF_0.33 synthesis which soaked the materials and further chemical changes occurred inside the pore. Therefore, no additional synthesis process was required for magnesium ferrite impregnated mesoporous ordered silica foam (MF_0.33-MOSF) synthesis. MF_0.33-MOSF showed higher morphological properties compared to other magnesium ferrite modified nanomaterials and adsorbed arsenic III [As(III)] and arsenic V [As(V)] 42.80 and 39.73 mg/g respectively. These were higher than those of other Fe-modified adsorbents at pH 7. As MOSF has no adsorption capacity, MF_0.33 played key role to adsorb arsenic by MF_0.33-MOSF. Data showed that MF_0.33-MOSF contain about 2.5 times lower Fe and Mg than pure MF_0.33 which was affected the arsenic adsorption capacity by MF_0.33-MOSF. Adsorption results best fitted with Freundlich isotherm model. The possible mechanism of arsenic adsorption might be chemisorption by electrostatic attraction and inner or outer-sphere surface complex formation.