Diverse Surface Chemistry of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles to Optimize Copper(II) Removal from Aqueous Media

Water pollution by heavy metals is one of the most serious worldwide environmental issues. With a focus on copper(II) ions and copper complex removal, in the present study, ultra-small primary CoFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with octadecylamine (ODA) of adequate magnetization were solvothermally prepared. The surface modification of the initial MNPs was adapted via three different chemical approaches based on amine and/or carboxylate functional groups: (i) the deposition of polyethylimide (PEI), (ii) covalent binding with diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), and (iii) conjugation with both PEI and DTPA, respectively. FT-IR, TGA, and DLS measurements confirmed that PEI or/and DTPA were successfully functionalized. The percentage of the free amine (−NH2) groups was also estimated. Increased magnetization values were found in case of PEI and DTPA-modified MNPs that stemmed from the adsorbed amine or oxygen ligands. Comparative UV–Vis studies for copper(II) ion removal from aqueous solutions were conducted, and the effect of time on the adsorption capacity was analyzed. The PEI-modified particles exhibited the highest adsorption capacity (164.2 mg/g) for copper(II) ions and followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics, while the polynuclear copper(II) complex Cux(DTPA)y was also able to be immobilized. The nanoadsorbents were quickly isolated from the solution by magnetic separation and regenerated easily by acidic treatment.