Bio-inspired fabrication of Cu-ZrO2 nanocomposites for the remediation of Cr(VI) from water system

Abstract In laboratory scale experiment, Cu-ZrO2 nanocomposite was synthesized using a leaf extract of Melia azedarach plant as a capping agent. The nanocomposite seems to be highly selective for the abolition of Cr(VI) fromwater system. The chemical compositionsand morphology of nanocomposite has beeninspected using Fourier transform infrared spectrogram (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and electron dispersive X-ray (EDX).The adsorption mechanism ofCu-ZrO2 nanocompositewas extremely dependent onsolutionpH. The maximum adsorption for Cr(VI) was found at 2.0 pH. Approximately, 95% of Cr(VI)has been adsorbed using Cu-ZrO2 nanocomposite.The experimental data precisely follows Langmuir plot (R2 equal to 0.99). Thisindicates the single layeradsorptionof Cr(VI).Kinetics studyindicates the chemical nature of adsorption. Thermodynamic study corresponds tofeasible, spontaneous, and endothermic adsorption.