Remediation of malachite green in wastewater by ZIF-8@Fe/Ni nanoparticles based on adsorption and reduction.

Abstract Dye-contaminated wastewater resulting from rapid industrialization and urbanization is a global problem. In this study, a ZIF-8@Fe/Ni sample was synthesized for the removal of malachite green (MG), removing more than 99% of an initial MG concentration of 50 mg L-1 within 120 min with a 318 K adsorption capacity of 151.520 mg g-1. To understand the dye removal mechanism based on adsorption and reduction, ZIF-8@Fe/Ni was characterized by various techniques. XRD showed that the ZIF-8@Fe/Ni composite had a characteristic peak attributable to Fe/Ni around 44.8°, where the presence of Fe/Ni did not affect the structure of ZIF-8. SEM confirmed that ZIF-8@Fe/Ni was successfully prepared, while XRD and FTIR revealed that the structure of ZIF-8@Fe/Ni remained stable following the introduction of Fe/Ni. XPS showed that while Fe/Ni nanoparticles existed in ZIF-8-Fe/Ni, partial oxidation also occurred. GC-MS demonstrated the creation of two major MG degradation products, (4-aminophenyl) (phenyl) methanone and 4-aminophenol. While the overall adsorption process of MG to ZIF-8@Fe/Ni conformed to pseudo-second-order kinetics, degradation followed pseudo-first-order reduction kinetics. When applied to the remediation of wastewater, ZIF-8@Fe/Ni removed 92% of MG. Overall, this study demonstrated that ZIF-8@Fe/Ni could be a promising material for the treatment of wastewater.