Facile Preparation of Magnetic CuFe₂O₄ on Sepiolite/GO Nanocomposites for Efficient Removal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) from Aqueous Solution

CuFe2O4 nanoparticles were synthesized and immobilized on sepiolite fibers and graphene oxide sheets, producing a CuFe2O4/sepiolite/GO (CFSG) nanocomposite via a facile single-pot method. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized using TEM, FTIR, SEM-EDX, XRD, and TGA techniques to determine its composition, structure, and thermal stability. The adsorptive removal of Pb-(II) and Cd-(II) heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions was studied using the synthesized CFSG nanocomposite. Adsorption parameters such as CFSG loading, pH, contact time, and temperature were investigated. The CFGS nanocomposite showed a higher Pb-(II) removal (q(m) = 238.1 mg/g) compared to Cd-(II) (q(m) = 14.97 mg/g) in a Pb-(II) and Cd-(II) binary system. The Pb-(II) and Cd-(II) adsorption fitted well with the Langmuir model, followed by the pseudo-second-order model, and was found spontaneous. Adsorption thermodynamic analysis showed that the Pb-(II) adsorption process was exothermic while Cd-(II) adsorption was endothermic. The CuFe(2)O(4)nanoparticles on the CFSG surface could facilitate the adsorption of heavy metal ions through electrostatic interaction and complexation processes.