Synthesis of magnetic graphene oxide grafted polymaleicamide dendrimer nanohybrids for adsorption of Pb(II) in aqueous solution.

Abstract In this paper, using maleic anhydride and ethylenediamine as functional monomers, graphene oxide (GO) loaded magnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles modified by (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane as support, magnetic graphene oxide grafted polymaleicamide dendrimer (GO/Fe 3 O 4 - g -PMAAM) nanohybrids were fabricated by divergent method and magnetic separation technology. The obtained samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elementary analyzer and vibrating sample magnetometer. The effects of PMAAM generations, solution pH, Pb(II) initial concentration, temperature and contact time on the adsorption property of the samples for Pb(II) in aqueous solution were studied. The results demonstrated that nitrogen content and adsorption capacity of the as-synthesized samples with amino terminal groups were all higher than their adjacent generations PMAAM with carboxyl terminal groups. Moreover, with increasing generations of PMAAM grafted on to the GO/Fe 3 O 4 , the nitrogen content and the adsorption capacity of the samples with the same terminal groups gradually increased. The maximum adsorption capacity of GO/Fe 3 O 4 - g -G3.0 for Pb(II) was 181.4 mg g −1 at 298 K. The rising of temperature was beneficial for the adsorption. The adsorption kinetics had a better agreement with pseudo-second-order equation, and equilibrium data followed the Langmuir model.